Eric - Creating Community and the Story of J.U.I.C.E. - Noise of the Broke Boys - Episode 011

Noise Of The Broke Boys

Eric, a bboy and Hip Hop community contributor, sits down to discuss the importance of community and the creation of J.U.I.C.E.

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A broke degenerate hooligan documents conversations about being a Bboy, Breakin', Hip Hop, Dance, Art, Music, Creativity, Innovation, and the slow subtle crumble of society in audio form.

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respiratory disease treatment and now on

to the show in today's episode I sit

down with a b-boy I met when I moved to

the LA area about a year ago he is the

president of juice an organization whose

aim is to support the local Los Angeles

hip-hop scene

I really respect the work they do please

enjoy this episode as I get to know

b-boy Eric hello everybody and welcome

to the terrible trashcan talk show I am

your host Kurt rock ski and today I have

a special guest his name is b-boy Eric

just you know government name he is the

president of juice what's up man hey

how's it going thanks for having me yeah

I'm glad you could come

what I want to ask you because I don't

actually know what juice stands for but

I like I just you know show up to you

guys as practice and stuff and use your

floor and everything so can you can you

talk to me a little bit about like what

juices yeah so juice is an acronym I

always tell people you know think about

orange juice and they

never forget so say he's juice hip-hop

and they go okay I remember looked that

up yeah

but juice is an acronym stands for

justice by uniting in creative energy so

Ju I see I'll say one more time it's

justice by uniting and creative energy

by uniting creative energy yeah

interesting okay yeah okay I think that

makes sense yeah it's like yeah it's

like justice that's tight okay so then

um where are you the one who started it

I know you're the president now but were

you the one who started it or was it a

group collective or like how did that

actually fall into your lap yeah so

there's an interesting history of juice

juice has been around in Los Angeles

since 2001 okay our founder she was a

mentor for incarcerated youth okay so I

wasn't the founder I kind of came in

probably earlier on in the existence of

juice but still in this early stages but

the history of juice is that you know

when our founder was asking incarcerated

youth what could have made a difference

in your life oh that was the big

question that she'd asked some of the

young people that had made a mistake in

their life mm-hmm and just reflecting

back on you know what could have made a

difference they said you know you know I

really wish I had a place that I can go

to just a place that I could feel like I

could belong to yeah place that was safe

a place that I could feel that I was

accepted for who I was

a place that did really interesting

things run by and for young people yeah

specifically hip hop arts not the

traditional YMCA or Boys and Girls Club

it's something that was more something

that I could relate to yeah and so when

asked that question you know those were

the items that our founder Don she said

you know what if we had an organization

that is in these underserved

neighborhoods

that could promote the free opportunity

for young people of any background to

come through to express themselves

through the hip-hop arts would not be

amazing I mean well you know that could

make you know life-changing things if

you know these young people could have

had this opportunity in their life yeah

so the history is over the years

dawn formed a group of dancers to come

out and do festivals and get-togethers

and this became a weekly event

eventually we ended up having a practice

session on Thursdays over on Vermont and

8th Street in the Pico Union district

you know specifically a neighborhood

that had a lot of a lot of crime a lot

of young people that you know probably

didn't have a path in their life but was

either in high school dropped out of

high school or was in transition between

being a kid and being an adult and not

having that path yet you know it's best

specifically you know speaking with a

lot of the young people at juice they

said you know I was a place in my life

where the streets were calling my name

you know I just needed the house I need

to make money you know I didn't have an

outlet but you know juice was a place

that I at least I can go to so we were

over on 8th in Vermont for a handful of

years over time we moved to a couple

different locations and finally we ended

up over at McArthur Park

still in the same neighborhood at Pico

Union in the West Lake District and you

know we've been there since 2011 mmm

2011 we became a 501c3 10:11 we did and

we decided to take that leap of faith

and we had a fiscal partner before and

say hey let's let's go big and let's

figure this thing out you know not

having you know the specific road map we

knew what we want to do we knew we were

doing something right we knew that there

was a need in the community and there

was just this huge following of artists

in the community that that came through

the organization at one time in their

lives and hey you know what I met

you know my partner or I developed a

craft in my in my art form because you

know there was a facilitator there that

just kind of took me in under his wing

or you know it just friendships develop

from here or you know it was the one

thing I could focus on in my life that

made me feel like I could live again so

we knew were doing amazing work in the

community just you know in our capacity

and you know our big thing was you know

let's build a program that has you know

all the elements of hip-hop you know the

the four elements of em scene DJing

graffiti art and breaking and had that

all under one roof and and be able to

have a hip-hop collective where you know

hey I'm a graph writer but I also want

to learn how to be boy yes or you know

I'm a beat maker but I also you know I

love I love graffiti art you know across

you know or I just I wanna learn how to

DJ you know I've always seen these DJ's

out there so you know we were able to

create an organization where we had

different facilitators that had a

specialty in their craft where the

programming was it was unlike a

traditional class or workshop program

but the idea was you know we wanted to

create an organization that really kept

true to the hip-hop arts where it was

just really pure to peer teaching mm-hmm

I think that was the key thing is is

when you're able to work with young

people that feel the world is against

you or just really not sure of places or

people you know the best way to learn

and the best way to develop friendships

is really through that natural organic

peer-to-peer mentoring and where you

know doesn't matter where you come from

or where I came from you know we all

come from different backgrounds but we

see each other as friends as artists mmm

and we're able to mentor each other on

different capacities you know it's it's

you know I always talk about you know

Juice is a place where you find people

from all different backgrounds know some

have been educated and you know amazing

Ivy League schools or have amazing

professions and some are just haven't

even finished high school but when we

come together it's

we share in this mentor of each other

and no one has seen as better than one

another but we're all seeing each other

as friends and peers and I don't think I

would have ever met the unique people

that I would have met unless it was for

juice because I just I would have never

you know I think when we we get older we

kind of have our own community and

groups that we connect with and so you

know for me you know my profession my

day job you know I work in the city of

Calabasas you know a nicer neighborhood

yeah I work in commercial real estate

and I deal with a lot of individuals

that are you know very savvy have been

very well-off financially and then I

travel to downtown LA or the mid area of

Los Angeles and I and I and I connect

with people my age and older but still

you know may be of a different

background but we connect on this

amazing level where I just I'm able to

connect and just feel a human again and

and and live through these arts so

that's kind of the synopsis of juice is

just this community space where artists

come to it's free so anybody can kind of

come through and find their own thing

there I've seen individuals that just

come just you know they see the b-boys

and b-girls breaking in they just they

just want to sit down and write and

watch and get inspired and you know I

get to know them and they'll go I didn't

know you're amazing you know musician in

the Vocal Arts or something like that

ya know I think it's important to

develop like a sense of community among

creatives I mean I would say that a lot

of times you know artists would maybe

they I think it comes down to you know

public schools now don't really stress

the importance of creative arts and so

someone who innately has this creative

tendency in their life is somewhat like

shunned a little bit I think like

sometimes they don't fit into school so

much and so that might you know go into

how wide

they're you know feeling left out

and so they don't have a community in

their typical day-to-day life and so

it's important to find that community

but you know I think once there see once

they're seeing this they're like oh

there's so many people that are like

this and there they come from all

different walks of life and so I think

that it's it's such a great thing that

you guys are doing this because it's a

yeah it's a it's a great thing that is

needed in the community because I think

it it's not it's not inherently in our

public school system and just in our

society in general yeah you know it's I

over the years I've gotten to know a lot

of young people that have been through

the program and we always talk about

sports in schools you know schools focus

on traditional sports baseball

basketball

maybe soccer football but when it comes

to the creative arts you know it's one

of those things that just it's not

academic in terms of scoring it doesn't

help bring funding to our school so

those are things that are typically

dropped right away yeah and even the

traditional sports you know not everyone

is is laid out to to be excited or even

have that natural ability within within

certain specific sports and so you know

what breaking does specifically I think

it creates an avenue in an opening door

for individuals that may not relate to

basketball football soccer and says hey

you know what but but breaking is

something that I can actively do and I

can learn how to do and I don't have to

have this natural ability to be you know

strong or I don't have to be super tall

to become Baska player you know and I

think it it's the one one type of

activity that I think anybody can be

involved in and it doesn't cost you

anything yeah and I think that's the

greatest thing it's you don't have to

buy uniforms you don't have to be part

of a program that costs funds it's just

you know if you have space you have a

desire you could do it wherever you want

ya know that's what drove me to it

before I was big into like martial arts

and stuff and I just felt this like

disconnect between me and like a lot of

the things the activities I was doing

because it was always like oh you need

to do it this way and this and I was

like I just want to do whatever the heck

I want and so in a way I was like a

b-boy before I even knew it breaking was

and once I stumbled upon breaking I was

like oh it's okay to do whatever the

hell you want like it's encouraged in

fact if you're not doing that

it's discouraged you're you're a biter

right so I was like man this is what I

want to do this is like so fun it's you

know I love it because it's like an

active thing to do it's it keeps you in

shape but you know it's encouraged to

just explore like different movements

and you can kind of make whatever you

want into something cool it's it's like

it's like taking you know a canvas and

painting and you just kind of turn it

into whatever you want that's how I look

at it and I had been a you know painter

basically my whole life before coming

into Breaking and so um it was like a

natural thing for me to get into I mean

obviously I needed to learn moves and

stuff I needed to understand the color

palette is what I could call it the

color palette the techniques of how to

how to perform the dance but once I

understood that is like okay let me just

put these pieces together in whatever

way I can conceive of in my mind and I

don't know in its encouraged to do that

so I found that this is like what I want

to do this is I was like I say that I

was like destined to be a b-boy you know

my whole life really even though I

didn't know what breaking was until I

was probably like 13 or something you

know so I think a lot of people probably

feel the same way and a lot of people

that probably don't know what breaking

is right now and so I I want to get the

message out to them that there is this

community and I think that that's like

the mission statement of like juice

right and that you want to get this

thing out there so that people can come

to the community explore their different

talents their different things build

talents and you know ultimately become

part of the hip-hop community

and do art together with us yeah I have

an interesting story because I wasn't I

guess I wasn't I guess I wasn't

introduced to hip-hop till much later on

yeah I knew of hip-hop and you know I

listened to hip-hop music mm-hmm but I

think you know it didn't come till much

later in my life where I really

understood the true culture of hip-hop

going back where I came from I I was a

gymnast growing up oh nice

and so started when I was really young

did it through college and my last

competition I was done oh I mean since I

was probably five years old yeah I

worked out you know maybe five to six

days a week three to four hours a day

competed you know every other weekend

and then one day it just it was I was

done there was nothing left for me I

didn't have a desire to compete you know

any further I wasn't I wasn't at that

level either where I could go hey you

know is I could be in the top ten the

United States I was you know I was I was

okay for where I was and and I had a

good time doing it and I took a hiatus

you know I didn't even just stopped and

I still kept in shape after I finished

school I I moved to Japan

mmm and I lived in Japan for about a

year and a half I always knew about

breaking but you know and I and I

because I was able to do some of the

moves in gymnastics I saw you know break

dancers that time going oh hey that's a

that's a that's a Thomas flare or that's

a team player and I was like yeah I was

doing that when I was like six years old

you know that's and so you know that was

that came really natural to me I was

like get on my hands and I can do you

know an aerial flip you know that was

something that I go yeah it's kind of in

my my bag of tricks you know so when I

was in Japan I went to a university

there had a relative that allowed me to

kind of enter into a university just

kind of as a spectator and okay

it was really cool I stay there for

about almost half year

and I met this young man who was doing a

style of dance called tutting yeah in

front of a glass mirror at the

University and I just went up to say hey

you know that's really cool yeah my name

is Eric and sure enough we just kind of

hit it off and he's like yeah I also

b-boy I am and so hey won't you come

practice with us yeah so he introduced

me to his crew in Japan called chitin

ninja oh yeah yeah and then all of a

sudden you know this thing that I was

practicing since I was a fire his old

gymnastics all a sudden started

transforming to a street dance and then

that street dance became breaking yeah

and then I started to go wow this is

really cool you know and and I just I

think more so was just the need in the

feeling of being able to have a group to

be around and in just being able to

express you know something that's very

natural in me in movement you know

gymnastics without perfection straight

legs and plenty of toes and eventually

you know it allowed me to just to go hey

what if I just bend my right knee and

flex my front foot and just do something

funky you know and creating your own

personality through it but you know I

already had that skill set at that age

and I was like you know this is really

cool but what I really learned is about

community and I think it was about the

crew aspect because I'd never had that

it reminded me about how I had a team

when I was in gymnastics and about some

of the close relationships that I have

and it just allowed me to go how this

would it feels like to be a crew and

just to share in and just your

experiences with each other

practice hard with each other eat with

each other

share stories with each other and just

be there for each other I felt that was

that was kind of the opening up of what

hip-hop culture was really all about

yeah it's about that community and that

need for belonging and just about

sharing in your life so eventually you

know I started

accessing learning about breaking and

just some of the basic fundamentals but

you know I was like I was always doing

just doing power moves I mean I didn't

learn about the basic fundamental steps

oh thank god

you know what I was gonna do this now

and then see where it takes me but I was

really into and eventually I came back

to the United States and I was just kind

of more aware about what you know I

learned in Japan and they go gosh this

must exist here somewhere yeah yeah so

one day you didn't even know you know so

I was just you know cuz I didn't I

wasn't exposed to breaking I was exposed

to a lot of hip-hop growing up and then

one day I was over at work and I heard

this girl talk about this place that is

just an open session yeah a lot of

really dope b-boys and b-girls go do

they have an awesome MC program live DJ

they have graffiti art walls I'm like

whoa so I just went up to her and say

hey I overheard you talking about this

place can you tell me about it I'm

really interested it's just like yeah

just come follow me it's in LA yeah I

was like okay and remind you so I grew

up in the valley I was super suburbia Oh

and I and I was living I think on that

time on the west side of Los Angeles so

I was like oh la it's kind of dangerous

out there isn't it yeah like I don't

know you know um so I remember going out

there I was like where are we in LA cuz

I never went to a Laker I've always

thought it was like a dangerous place

yeah I mean that's how sheltered I was

I'm growing up but you know sure enough

it was it was in it was in the heart of

LA and the minute I walked into juice

that one day I mean I felt this amazing

feeling over going wow there's so much

energy here there's so many amazing

talented artists here and it's free and

I just I was kind of in awe and I just I

was just watching everybody collaborate

together just people talking going wow

this is a place I really need to be at

yeah that was my first experience and I

think I sat down for the first 30

minutes just watching cuz I was just

like wow there's just so much amazing

things going on here that's tight ya

know I I guess I probably have a similar

experience walking into one of the first

jams I've ever been to when I was

probably 13

right 14 13 14 I walked in and it's just

like all these people are just dancing

battling and I was like whoa okay at

that time I was like a skateboarder and

you know I was aware of like what

braking was I could do a few moves or

whatever but I'd never been to an event

before and so I go in and I just see

these like top level guys but I didn't

know who they were at that time but and

I see them actually Rob Zilla was their

stuntman was their Cujo was there and I

was like oh my god who's this guy just

like literally flying on his hands and

and you know come to know it later it's

like oh that was Cujo yeah it just like

blew my mind to see that and that

there's this huge community of you know

of b-boys because before that it was

like oh it's just some high schoolers

that get together in the lunchroom you

know at my high school cuz the janitor

said we could be there until he comes in

there basically and so that's that that

was breaking to me before that moment

and so yeah it like hit me it hit me

like a brick going oh there's this is

more than like what I'm what I thought

it was you know it's more than just

freaking rolling around on the floor

this is like this is a real movement so

yeah that's that's that's tight

yeah was interesting you mentioned some

of those names uh-huh stop man Rob Silla

good Joe because they've been around

juice since the very inception oh yeah

and they they were actually very much

instrumental and bringing together the

organization and the b-boy community

mm-hmm and so you know it's just amazing

how many b-boys and b-girls have been

through juice at one time in their life

and have come through the doors you know

I always hear so many international

visitors come we go hey we heard about

this place in LA yeah and you have such

a long history of alleys you know b-boys

we used to watch on VHS tapes and now

are on YouTube but this has been like an

iconic spot where people have come

through at least one time in their life

mm-hmm and so it's really cool to hear

you know how individuals from like Japan

Germany

just you know they'd say hey we're here

we want to take a picture of this

you know Amazings yeah or a lot of

history has come from yeah yes is it

really it's always really encouraging to

hear something like that yeah no I knew

about juice before I moved to LA I mean

I had I probably known about it for a

long time I didn't know exactly what it

was but um it was like there was always

like a buzz around like what you know

what this is there's this thing out in

LA and I had I only moved out here like

maybe less than six months ago and so I

had no idea you know what I guess how

deep it was and so once I got here I was

like oh it's this is uh this is like a

real like thing I thought it was just

like a dance studio or something you

know what I mean that had been around

for awhile but no this is like this is

this you guys have a whole freakin

mission that you're trying to accomplish

I mean you are accomplishing and so yeah

it was just amazing to see that so that

and that's why I wanted to talk to you

today so yeah um so you said you were in

Japan about what age were you when you

were in Japan I was about 23 okay

23 years old and so that's when you

first got into breaking I think

seriously okay taking it more seriously

just really training because before that

I mean you know I go to a party and I

was like oh there's a circle here let me

show them how to do flares oh yeah yeah

you know so I kind of knew of did you do

the gymnast start where you're like yes

I tried no I cuz I saw like I go that

looks really corny if I'd you know do it

like like that I know you should have

done it you should have put on a whole

yeah and then just do it yeah

but but I would you know I would I would

remember you know going to these like

events where like you know a circle

always forms right and then you get home

you know people going in there and doing

a lot of like footwork and then all of a

sudden I go in there and you know at

that time of my life I was I was pretty

good at gymnastics I was really in good

shape and so

I was just doing like t flares yeah like

and then I was like super easy then I go

dried into like these flares where you

know it looked like gymnastics well I

got a funny story so the first time I

came to juice and I started to I started

get down and you know I started doing

these flares yeah there's a b-boy comes

up to me and says gymnastics gymnastics

he knew right away because he goes you

know the way I did was like it was just

you know I was almost a splits - engine

like yeah like his flares were like

pointed toes yeah you know and I was

able to do it in Reverse ways where else

like doing flares and spinning the other

way and yeah he pointed out right away

he goes

gymnastics so I always remember that and

so yeah kind of go I go oh gosh it is

that obvious that's when you do a

backflip and just do this yes yeah yeah

that's what I would have done but I

can't do that so but no yeah if I was if

I was a gymnast I would have totally

just embraced it and been like most form

perfect flares and then go yes and boom

and you don't rip off your hoodie you

guys it's hard underneath I don't know I

like to mess around with stuff like that

but that's tight so um so I guess what

age do you think you started breaking

then I like I think it was always part

of me like gymnastics and they're like

showcasing I always like to perform I

think that was the aspect of something

yeah and part of my lives were destined

to be a B so I would say seriously

probably around 23 24 I mean I didn't

even know what his sick stuff was I was

like yeah I just thought people ran

around like with I go oh there's an

actual fundamental way to do this yeah

yeah yeah and so I was like cuz I used

to pretend like you know just go oh I

got this you know and then you're

running around yeah and so it's funny

now because I a lot of young kids yeah

and you know they always see what people

are doing but they just run around with

her

and feet and thinking that's exactly

what everyone else to do which is true

to a certain extent but I think you know

you start to break it down you okay

there's an actual there's a formula to

this and there's usual hand-feet

movement that you know everyone learns

from mm-hmm yeah and I mean the bits and

it's so deep - I mean there's like every

little position you're putting your hand

and your foot is like a different move

almost I mean I have a whole thing about

my perspective of Fork but we don't have

to talk about that but so breaking so

you you always felt like you were kind

of destined to be a b-boy you're a b-boy

and a gymnast body I'd suppose and so

you came into it and you already had the

arsenal as if you had been breaking your

entire life and just forgot to do

footwork or something yeah I gotta be

honest I I didn't learn footwork till

much later on and then you know as you

get older you know I think the power

moves become a little more difficult

because it hurts your elbows or your

shoulders your wrists and so I mean for

me like I even stopped doing players

like five six years ago just because it

was just every time I did it I just it

hurt my body a lot and so what I started

to do a little bit more was focus on

style and just almost fundamentals and

go in the reverse way where I'm going

backwards where I'm going all right I

can do these things that that you know I

can condition my body to not do so much

I guess power moves but I can go more to

style and try to do what I can do within

my age and and still feel healthy

afterwards yeah yeah I mean I think

that's what's so great about breaking is

like there's just it's such a branching

thing I mean there's so much I mean look

as someone outside looking in they're

probably like I don't understand this

but like when you go into it it's like

man there's so many things to learn that

there's no way you're gonna learn it all

in the your lifetime as a b-boy and so -

taking pieces of everything and you can

just mix it in whatever way you want I

that that is like so cool you know your

your style kind of develops as you age

because of it like develops around what

you're capable of in a way you know I

mean like for me I started out doing a

lot of footwork then I started doing

power moves then I started injuring

myself and I stopped doing powerful

moves and just started doing other

things I started freestyling a lot more

doing more top rocks and you know other

like flowy type of moves

lots of transitions and stuff and then I

don't know now I'm where I'm at kind of

like dude like I can do moves but it's

like oh there's a risk to it I might

hurt myself so yeah one thing I love

about breaking is is you know it's just

the the free flow of creativity I think

creativity comes from different

inspirations in your life mm-hmm and

maybe what you do outside of practice or

things that you see and I get a lot of

inspiration by watching other styles of

dance yeah and I love just you know

house dance or just different movements

and go wow that's really cool what if I

you know you know create that movement

in my top rocks and just be a little bit

more funky you know and yeah and I love

that aspect of just being unique and

just developing your own style through

whatever inspires you in life

yeah I always got inspired by those old

like corny kung fu movies that for some

reason they were just so cool to see

like someone whooping the other dudes

ass and then he just like sits in some

crazy fries and he just you know his

mouth moves and then it says something

else buddy oh dude my style is better

than yours I always thought that that

was the dopest thing ever and they would

you know I used to watch this one movie

called the Buddhist fist a long time ago

and this dude would just jump into the

craziest freezes and I was like dude

this guy's a b-boy like for reals he's

just hitting I remember he hit this

crazy like chair freeze on his elbow and

he's just pointing at the guy and he's

just like talking shit like oh dude

that's love

and then you know he obviously gets up

and whupped his ass or whatever but I

always like that because it was just so

corny but so dope yeah totally

but yeah the movement is so is so cool

but yeah just getting the inspiration

anywhere I mean is is encouraged in

breaking in I think that that's the

overall I don't know message to be said

and and and why it resonates with me so

much and resonates with a lot of people

yeah yeah so outside of hip-hop do you

have any other creative endeavors or

hobbies in your life yeah so it sounds

funny but there's a couple things I like

to do one of them is scene karaoke my

brother are hell in the car I mean like

we're I'm not we're not good singers but

do you don't doubt yeah so that's one of

my how would you say was one of my

passions I have a a singing group that I

go to every Wednesday oh dang so you're

legit and so we do karaoke every

Wednesday and so I've been doing this

for the last you know five or six years

straight

that's tight so I really enjoy that

aspect of being creative but you know

singing renditions of songs and in my

own way what's your favorite song this

thing oh man you know that's a great

question I don't have one

yeah I would say you know all depends on

the crowd of like what type of music

they like it okay and maybe that would

be like the song genre I would choose

just you know if if there was like a

whole crowd of b-boys of what would you

pick oh man it wouldn't be it wouldn't

be a pop love song that's for sure

maybe like a Bruno Mars song okay yeah

just something that has a little bit

more funk to it that what people can get

into and like

or whatever yeah 24-karat you know yeah

yeah yeah just something that's like

groovy funky you know that people can

all go yeah let's get down to the Hat

okay so what about if it was like a like

a senior citizen home yeah a senior

citizen home well a funny thing you

mentioned senior citizen home so one of

my good friends right now what he's

doing is he's going to different senior

citizen homes and he's sitting up

karaoke at dude before that so and

because it does a lot of things it helps

stimulate the mind

yeah and whether they sing well or not

it's it's the matter of reading

something on television keeping you up

and it just

they reflect on the past and I think you

know memory is a big thing with with you

know older folks and so there's

something there's something there's a

really deep connection between singing

that stimulates the mind but also being

with a read and do a little thing so the

interesting thing was I went to a senior

citizen home and to join them in karaoke

night yeah

so they most of them probably won't

recognize you know anything that's

probably from the 90s and on yeah unless

and they're like oh do you know like

Dean Martin or something really old so

one of the songs I sang just because I

don't really know a whole lot of really

old songs I mean I seen a lot of Beatles

songs too but okay you know maybe some

like the Rascal Flatts like life is a

highway that just kind of is they may

not recognize it but the melody is kind

of cool so they go they start to like

you know maybe even dance to it a little

bit yeah yeah yeah that's tight so are

you like a pretty good singer in my mind

I'm a pretty good singer but to other

people I'm probably just mediocre okay

I've always wanted to learn to sing like

I've I've recently got pretty into like

music production and I've like in my

mind I've always been like oh I want to

sing over these but I don't know I don't

know how to sing I mean I kick I can

fake it I do I mean me and my brother

would always do karaoke and we we don't

do it too often anymore but we used to

do it literally like every week we would

go to this this Japanese restaurant in

Sacramento and we were just we would be

the only people doing it too and we were

just freaking take over the restaurant

just singing

I don't know we would always sing like

welcome to the jungle

those are tough songs yeah and those are

really hard hard songs to sing so I mean

we sucked at it so but um what was the

other song I'd sing

I believe in a thing called love by the

dark the darkness okay yeah that song

was all we were all about that one um

yeah I don't know we tons of Backstreet

Boys songs a shit those are classics you

know everyone knows some too so I was in

Japan going back to that time period and

I remember you know I would be new to

the location the area I didn't have any

friends at that point I just knew you

know we have our days off you know from

work because I taught English in Japan

so you're doing like a jet program it

was it was a private school program okay

and so on my days off you know like okay

you know what should I do there's all

these karaoke places all over the place

but I was like all right how does this

work

yeah I'm just gonna enter it so one day

I decided to go let me just check it out

you know and so I get there and it's

like yeah I like to sing karaoke this is

like my broken English I make the broken

Japanese yeah and like one yeah just me

she's like I think they asked me like

three or four times like one just one

are you crazy

and so I said yeah just me is that okay

so and they did it by time so I remember

I would like jam you know like because

he charged by hour so I invited her you

know and you have to order a drink -

that's like their minimum oh okay so I

would like pack and you know as many

songs like in and then do that and so I

remember going back to the class because

I used to teach adults English hmm and

we were talking about karaoke and in

this one Japanese student of mine she's

like you know seeing karaoke by yourself

is like going to Disneyland by yourself

and running all the rides by yourself

that's how weird it might be but I was

so into it I mean I loved it and I loved

being part of like a group sing karaoke

that's a burn

she burned you pretty hook you know and

that's I guess it just kind of it was

part of something that I'd love to do is

Z and I don't even know how to sing well

like I think in my mind I can sing okay

but in terms of seeing lessons and how

to really resonate your voice and how to

do it properly you know it's all been

self taught just like kind of somewhat

like breaking is but you know it's all

been self talk you never took any voice

lessons or anything never took anything

I've always thought about taking it I

just don't have the time right now but I

think eventually I'll probably do it

just cuz it's always been something I

wanted to learn right when I was younger

we would go to my mom had us in like

what is it called Sunday school and so

we would always we'd have to be a part

of like a choir there so at a young age

we were learning how to sing you know

probably through elementary school or

whatever and then you know and then I

stopped doing that and but it always was

you know I guess the little bit of

singing lessons I had when I was younger

through that is it's really the only

thing I've had but sometimes I'll watch

like youtube videos about how to like

use your lungs better your diaphragm

better I'm not a good singer though but

it's something I definitely want to get

good at hey well you know what we got a

set date and just bang it out you know

whenever my brother has like a party at

his house he has a little what's it

called Magic Mike uh-huh and we just

like go off on it yeah so so I set up at

my place

uh-huh kind of this I have two Mike's of

a mixer and I have a karaoke program

that has tons of songs I just kind of go

through that's things so I remember

going to it was a juice offend we just

all got together a lot of the staff and

the friends came by and my friend who's

a DJ yes

you're like because I brought the whole

system over I brought my PA system the

mics the stands he's all like you're

like a DJ for care yeah because I was

kind of like

all right next Sangha you know who is on

deck you know that's tight yeah dude I

always was curious all right I always

had this weird idea that to do karaoke

at a jam like while people are battling

just have a deed I don't know how I

would quite work but like you're playing

music and then someone's up there just

singing like this song I don't know how

it work quite like I always thought that

that'd be so dope to make that happen it

would like totally lighten up the mood I

think of a jam and that's I'm all about

that kind of thing yeah I I think

breaking away from the traditional

structures that'll be interesting you

know one aspect about jams I love is you

know live music I mean gosh just having

live music is so different it's so cool

I remember going to one of Jeff's kills

events and it was awesome this had a

full-on live band just going off you

know for a handful of songs and you know

it was just really cool just have that

aspect of it like it was a concert yeah

it feels like it and it you know and

they're just like a lot of times I saw

it would be like the DJ is playing their

music and then this live band would just

jump on and just put a bass line or

whatever you know and I always thought

that was tight they'd hit the drums and

stuff they yeah kind of play along with

it yeah we did a couple of jams over at

the park where we brought in drumset

saxophone and we had two DJ's just

spinning at the same time and using

other instruments along yeah it just

really created a different vibe and I

thought was really cool yeah yeah it

creates a concert vibe and it's it's not

it's not even like you had an entire

band or like you know they they had like

a whole set that they were doing it was

just some guys just playing you know

playing to a song that's already existed

this is probably how they practice to be

honest and so they were just like hey

I'm down with this doo doo doo doo doo

you know playing that junk and then

everybody loves it so I I actually met a

few drummers recently and I was like eh

is this the kind of is this like how you

practice because this is like something

that b-boy

love you know b-boys and b-girls love

and so if you ever wanted to just go to

a jam or something or a practice even

and just jam out like it would be

definitely yeah I I would invite that

too to just like you know let's just

spring out some congas and just have

some beats and just just freestyle it

and just you know bringing other friends

just want to have really cool rhythms

and just jam out to it

because I love the diversity of

different types of music as long as it

has like consistent beat that people are

into what's your favorite style of music

actually so what I listen to I listen to

the top 40 music oh you do okay I do

alright and I think some of that comes

because you know when I start to sing

karaoke oh yeah that those are the songs

I go okay those are kind of popular now

but there's certain songs I go I really

like that type of song yeah it's it

doesn't have to be all male singers to

like there there there there are Taylor

Swift songs there's Halsey songs that

I'm into that I go okay that really has

a really cool melody and a beat I'm

gonna sing the guy version of it okay

you know and a different key yeah but I

listen top 40 but then you know when I

when I break and so forth I mean and I

can't listen to just the remixes and yes

I'm a you know great funk and R&B that

just is out there when when when anybody

asks me that question I always have a

hard time answering it because I I can

literally find a song in any genre that

I like you know and so I mean maybe the

answer to the question is like which

John are do I find the most songs but

there's some John Rose I just haven't

you know dug so deep into but I just I

just love music like you know all here

I'll hear something weird that I've

never heard before and I'll go like okay

I don't quite understand this yet but

let me give it a try and I you know

sometimes I'll get into it I'll go like

oh okay I see what they're trying to do

because it's not it's not always just

about a lot I mean a lot of time there's

they're trying to

do something different musically and

it's maybe just not understood at that

time because it's so different and I

mean it's just it's fun to like break

down what they were creatively doing in

their music yeah so and that that's what

I think is so fun about music and why so

many different styles of music like

resonate with me and so yeah I like to

listen to some of the weird like

experimental stuff that like doesn't

even have like a you know a steady beat

or anything because even that stuff you

good like you you want to break down

like what the heck is going on and it's

like it's so cool like once you start

figuring it out yeah and I think getting

more into music production has helped me

kind of break down music a lot better

into so but yeah I don't know I you know

when I was younger I was really into

like rock music alternative you know

like Nirvana the Third Eye Blind guys

mmm

things like that Rage Against the

Machine I was really into and then later

on I started getting more into hip-hop

that got more into like soul music funk

music and stuff namely from breaking

jazz music got a little bit into like

country music recently I've been into

like mumble rap actually okay yeah a lot

of people have like a kind of weird

disdain for it which at first when I

when I first heard I was like oh what is

this stuff and I kind of gave it a try

for a while and then I started realizing

you know mumble rap is like this

generation the this generations way of

being like counterculture you know I've

talked to a lot of people about this

actually on this podcast but hip-hop has

always been like a somewhat

counterculture thing they want to do

then something new that no one else has

done and like I really feel like that's

what the mumble rap scene was all about

was like let's make music but we're not

trying to copy what these guys did

before us let's do something new you

know much like punk how punk music they

would scream and you know kind of have a

inaudible like noise almost I feel like

that's what mom

is doing and I've always liked punk

music and so when I when I realized that

connection to counterculture and like

them doing something different I really

gained like a huge respect I guess for

it and I don't know yeah I think hip-hop

is is very much you know that outlet

it's that it's that counterculture it's

it's creating something you always say

from nothing but you know it's really

you know having having that creativeness

with what you have yeah you know and and

I think it's just it's a really unique

way of expression you know I look back

as to the evolution of hip-hop because

you know hip-hop culture has been

changing over the years and I think it

changes I think as we come to the new

age is what's what people you know go

through in their lives kind of reflect

the outcome of how they express himself

you know I think a lot of times people

have hip-hop and the culture kind of

confused in some sense especially if

you're not really involved in the

community to see what it's all about you

know that was one of the topics of

discussion is you know what is hip-hop

right and I think people always go well

you know hip-hop is is rap music yeah

it's a style of dance yeah and I think

there's some type of you know disconnect

between what is what is authentic

hip-hop you know so people go what is

hip-hop and what every time I and I

explain hip hop to others that may not

have been involved in the culture right

tell them it's about it's about

community it's about respect and love

it's about bringing you know positivity

to to the world

it's about belonging family and and

these are all the the items that kind of

form what we call hip-hop today and so

you know what we try to do over at juice

is to kind of keep those core values

about having respect for everyone you

know it doesn't matter your background

and your race your color your talent

anything you know everybody is welcome

in hip-hop yeah and you know that's one

of the things that you know we pride

ourselves just to make sure

that you know we want to make sure the

doors open for everybody

yeah hip-hop to me is like a lifestyle

it's a it's a culture it's a lifestyle

and it's um it's not it transcends I

think all of the the you know the four

elements the four typical elements we

talked I think it I think it's um it's

it's much more than that it's it's a

lifestyle it's a it's a whole culture

and it's ever-growing I wouldn't be

surprised if later on we start saying

that there's five elements of hip-hop or

six elements of hip-hop you know what I

mean and I think it's just because the

bubble is growing more and we're like

you know as more people getting involved

with it where we're actually figuring

out more about like what this all what

this all is and and so you know I think

in the next couple years we're gonna

probably see more and more people

getting involved with it namely

you know breaking is now gonna be in the

Olympics so I think it's gonna open a

lot of people's eyes to what we do and

so I wouldn't be surprised if there's an

influx of new b-boys you know coming in

and trying to learn what hip-hop is and

so I think having a good defined

community for them to and welcoming

community ready for them is like really

the best way to handle that because it's

not you know this is a welcoming

community and so we wanna we want to

make that apparent you know when when

that happens I don't know I don't know

if you have anything to say about that

it's yeah I'm you know breaking breaking

is always meant to evolve over time with

whatever's going on in the world or

whatever's happening in our community a

lot of people ask me you know what do

you think about breaking in the Olympics

yeah and you know I think it's part of

its course you know I think breaking is

always meant to evolve hmm I see a lot

of great things with having breaking as

part of a larger community yeah and

people being exposed to something that's

really important

I think what's important is to make sure

that the information about what hip-hop

is and what the true culture is is also

explained yeah and that there's right

people that are able to be part of you

know getting that information out to

people that may not know a lot about

hip-hop a breaking I think that's a

really important figure to make sure

that you know whatever the Olympic

Committee decides to do is to make sure

that there's they keep that authenticity

of the culture yeah yeah I was talking

to my friend Serge yesterday actually

about all this and he's like he's very

adamant about portraying hip-hop

correctly like he really wants people to

understand there's like a lot of I guess

a struggle that was you know kind of

baked into hip-hop and that he does he

wants when people come in he doesn't

want to shoo them away or anything he

wants to welcome them but then also like

educate them about what this is and that

they're not just coming into it as you

know just for the good I guess but but

understanding everything about it you

know the history of it and that maybe

there was some bad parts of that you

know namely that there's maybe some kind

of oh you know it's kind of built out of

you know the ghetto it's built out of

poverty it was built out of you know a

basic struggle in life and to get to

where it is now and so coming into it

you got to respect that as well and so

that was that was one of the main things

he was he he wants to portray as you

know the scene evolves so which I which

I respect I think that's a that's a good

thing to do you know to always respect

like your history but also welcome in

the evolution of it so well anyways

we're hitting about an hour right now so

I think we could probably wrap this show

up do you have any less

best words anything else I know we

didn't really talk about like a crew

affiliation or anything do you have a

crew affiliation so I don't I don't have

a crew affiliation I guess I get nice

you know there is a juice crew out there

here but oh is that yeah you gonna

battle fit yeah I mean they're pretty

good but uh okay yeah I you know I I

look at you know the evolution of also

juice and where it has been where it's

come to and you know part of what we

want to continue to do is is build this

model that we have is free spaces for

anybody to come through to be able to

express themselves in all areas I mean I

think if you ask me you know what is

what do I see in the future of juice and

I go gosh I could see juice in in every

city

cross country across the seas having a

location all over just a place where

people can come to to express themselves

utilizing the hip-hop arts as a tool for

social change empowerment mm-hmm you

know arts education and just changing

people's lives yeah

so we're our future and our hope is to

continue to do what we're doing continue

to grow continue to build new team

members but also establish new locations

across you know different areas and yeah

that's what we're trying to do is is is

organically grow you know we've been

working with the city in the county of

Los Angeles we have different locations

that we could possibly open up but I

think what's holding us back right now

is just the ability to staff and also

finance some of those locations because

it is a free program so a lot of things

that we do you know it's all either by

donations or individuals that really

believe in what we do and so you know if

we have one of those you know wonderful

funders one day that says hey you know

how do we really help you guys really

take this thing off

yeah thing that could really change what

we do and I think you know as we get

towards you know more popularity with

the Olympics and just the media and so

forth you know our hope is to be able to

also maybe even ride that

a little bit and you know grow what we

do yeah I would imagine there's probably

a lot of opportunity for grants out

there I mean there already is but I

think maybe as there's more popularity

there's there's probably more willing of

the you know of these organizations and

the government to you know give you guys

grants to do what you do especially if

you have a well-defined message and plan

you know to execute it so I think you

know my mother she's a in art she's an

artist in it and a teacher and so she

was doing a lot of similar kind of work

in Sacramento where she was getting

grants to do these well it was like it's

like a it's like a program it's a

healing program through art is I guess

the best way to describe it it's where

she was she had um women who were you

know subject to abuse or whatever and

they came in did artwork to kind of like

as a therapy and so she was the teacher

and organizer the director I don't know

all that stuff so she was doing all the

grant writing and everything to put this

program on and so she did that for a

very very long time now now she's

retired but okay she still kind of

teaches a little bit but um but yeah I

imagine I mean cuz there's a need for it

and so it's it's I imagine that there's

tons of grasses right now what we're

doing is collaborating with larger

organizations yeah so we're gonna be

working with LAUSD and after-school

enrichment programs we're finishing up

our contract with them and we have a

school that we're specifically gonna do

free braking programs yeah and then

we're gonna work with another

organization in the location that we're

with that's already you know a pretty

well-known youth organization and

incorporating something hip and cool

into their program for some of their

youth mm-hmm and then you know one of

the other ideas that we're doing right

now that we're working towards is

opening up another location for juice on

Saturday at the same time that we have

our program and being able to teach kids

and families specifically new to

breaking oh cool and so we have a

location already determined for that

and once again it's about staffing and

I'm probably gonna end up doing that

portion of just kind of going with it

and just seeing where it leads us yeah

like everything you know we try things

and sometimes we learn from them and we

get better at it yeah yeah well I think

that you're doing some amazing work and

you know I'm glad to hear that it's

growing and that you have big plans for

the future so stay tuned and I'd love to

have you back if you ever have time to

come and talk to more stuff do some

karaoke yeah dope dude so do you have

any like social media to shout out or

whatever I don't know yeah so you can

follow us on a juice hip-hop I would say

like orange juice so juice and hip hop

that's our that's our or handle so come

follow us yeah we're over at MacArthur

Park every Saturday from 12:00 to 4:00

and then cell is our Park in East LA on

Fridays from 6 to 8 p.m. free for

everybody free for everybody even me

yeah dope cool thank you for for coming

on dude this has been a great time I

think this was a great episode I'm

really happy that you were able to come

and thank you guys for listening

all you zero listeners though sorry the

show sucks

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