Tuesday, February 23, 2010

B-Boy Villn in the new Radiotron Trailer!




Wednesday, June 10, 2009

In Memory of Injustice

I just got news from Tou Saiko Lee out in Minnesota about the injustice of Fong Lee, who was gunned down by a police officer in Minneapolis.
I just get numb to hearing about news like this these days, because unfortunately race motivated/incited police shootings happen way too often.

here's the spoken word track he'd sent and the accompanying email.

"In the Memory of Injustice" by Tou SaiKo Lee ft. Xaiesque and Proto-J

My only favor is to please pass this poem recording around to as many people as possible and go to these links for more info:

The Verdict

The Case

The Mp3 file

The poetry is also below:

In the Memory of Injustice

In the Memory of Injustice
In the Memory of Fong Lee,
In the memory of all victims of police brutality,
In the memory of a tragedy translated to travesty
In the memory of a planted gun, conspiracies and sons lost under the sun,
The Videotape was lost and they thought it was all done. They were wrong:
3 shots running away. 5 shots on the ground. One son down bleeding all around
His generation are the grandsons of a secret army that sacrificed to save backs of soldiers.
and shooting teenagers in the back would never achieve a medal of bravery
unless they thought the person they shot was seen as a Refugee from Southeast.
The Police pull over Civics and Toyotas at the rate of heartbeats
of Hmong kids that get beat down at the side of small streets.
But Fong Lee was on a bike unarmed, before his life was stolen and broken with bullet holes.
As the spokes of his bicycle spun in circles, we have spoken up to break the cycle of this circus.
This case makes me believe that these cops perceive us as less than human beings and worthless.

In the Memory of Injustice
In the Memory of Fong Lee,
In the memory of all victims of police brutality,
In the memory of a tragedy translated to travesty
In the memory of a planted gun, conspiracies and sons lost under the sun,
The Videotape was lost and they thought it was all done. They were wrong:
We will never forget that messed up shoot out in North Minneapolis,
When cops raided the wrong house by mistake, and put little Hmong kids lives a stake,
And still got a medal from the station for being brave, give me a break
It makes me wonder what it takes for men with badges to earn a medal of valor these days.
We dont feel protected and safe from Policemen with Swine-Pen mentalities,
think outside the fence,
instead of doing dirt with blood stains on shirts that leave family casualties.
But you know whats really corrupt? When the police chief cooperates to cover it all up.
We scream for justice with enough evidence to force the whole force to give it up.
The Department is Responsible, for those accountable we demand FIRE.
Those exposed should go to prison haunted by the guilt of blood spilt spirits for the rest of their lives.

In the Memory of Injustice
In the Memory of Fong Lee,
In the memory of all victims of police brutality,
In the memory of a tragedy translated to travesty
In the memory of a planted gun, conspiracies and sons lost under the sun,
The Videotape was lost and they thought it was all done. They were wrong:
For those that judge Fong Lee for possibly being down with gangs like his life was worth less
like a racist radio show host that wants attention or people that misunderstand with ignorance,
I was a former gang member, so that kid could’ve been me.
My last name is Lee too and Im lucky enough to still breathe and if this happened to me,
I would’ve never had the chance for this passion to give back to community.
More than ever, open up arms to outreach and unite movements together
for every community that’s had their hearts ripped open from the core,
by wild boars in blue unifoms, with no conscious this nonsense of violence,
we will not be silent to sirens of cyanide on our side of the city.
Cause its not injustice for just us, there’s a whole history of conspiracy.
Stand with me cause the next tragedy could be in your family so we suffocate from this case,
skeptical to breathe and only Justice will give us the oxygen to be treated as Human Beings.
In the Memory of Injustice

Tou SaiKo Lee

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

What's new?

No I haven't died... hell no, I haven't dropped the project! Lots of projects been going on, in addition to Among B-Boys. Don't worry people, it is going to be done. It's been a long process and I have to tell myself to be patient sometimes myself.

Some extra things that been going on:
Almost done with the Hung Dynasty the Movie: The Return of Animal Chin.
Rob Nasty has taken most of the editing duties, and I'm now more of the tech/glue guy.
My responsibilities are with the intro montage, the motion graphics sequences and mixdown,
and then DVD menu and authoring.

should be out by Mighty4, next weekend!

if you got a chance... check out two things: the second trailer for the movie (Parental Advisory... contains adult themes)



and this next item... Underground FLow vs Bang uh Rang.
An iLL battle all around. funny that I am so out of the loop on this
Hella Hung sponsored Jean Claude Van Jam: Bloodsport battle!

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Out of the Dark Age!!!

Yes! I finally got my internet back. Moved into a new place, and now I can really get down to business, and just in time to start blogging again here.


  • 1.) if you didn't know, there's a new Among B-Boys YouTube channel that is so far compiling battles from the Among B-Boys 3 event. There's also links to that all over this website.

  • 2.) Progress Update: currently waiting on a funding proposal... wish me luck. But I'll still be working on the rough cut of the film!

  • 3.) I'm also recruiting soundtrack artists, check out Tou Saiko of Delicious Venom on the NY Times video blog

  • 4.) And check out Sukie's little brother Jerry and his crew breakin in their house where Sukie used to!!!


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Friday, April 25, 2008

HELLA HIGH ENERGY HUNG JUDGES AMONG B-BOYS 3

Check out our special judge's showcase by Hell (High Energy) Hung.



also check out the article at More Than A Stance web magazine

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Monday, April 21, 2008

Among B-Boys 3 Letters - W.O.W.

Way to represent Fresno, way to represent, Sacramento, Merced/Winton, Bakersfield, Modesto, Stockton, wherever ya'll from!
Among B-Boys 3 was an official success, and not only that, Velocity - Bboys Affex and Geo came out with a vengeance! Congrats to them for getting first place, Randum 9 for getting a close second by tiebreaker, and Undefined Styles - Oscar and Fidel, for placing 3rd.

Coming soon, DVD preorders will be available tomorrow. Order your Among B-Boys 1/2/New Years Jam DVDs available online tomorrow! Coming soon, we'll be posting Youtube clips of the jam and previews!!!

and check out this clip of Villn and Mpact as a teaser for the documentary

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

R.I.P. Frosty Freeze

I'd been seeing a lot of bulletins on Myspace for donations for Frosty Freeze, but hadn't been able to figure out what they were for, until recently I started seeing RIP Frosty Freeze on people's bulletins and was like damn... so check him out, Frosty Freeze, second gen Rocksteady Crew, famously appearing in my favorite Hip Hop documentary of all time, Style Wars (filmed by another legend who passed away this year, Tony Silver). I didn't follow him much, but he was one of the most charismatic Rocksteady members I remember from Style Wars, and he was definitely respected as a pioneer who kept it up all the way to the end, to my understanding.


check out Frosty Freeze on wikipedia there's a lot more articles linked to him there that could do him more justice than I ever could to his memory.

Respect in Peace - Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost

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Among B-Boys Jam DVD available this weekend!!!

A DVD featuring high quality footage of the entire Among B-Boys - special Hmong New Years battle and select battles from the first two events, and bonus videos and battles! It will be on sale this weekend for $15. The proceeds from the DVDs will go towards the completion of the documentary film in progress. Please come support and buy one!!! the link will be up after this weekend on the website, too.
Check out this teaser for the documentary that will be on the DVD in FULL QUALITY!

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Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Today, Check out Planet B-Boy on Youtube!

Benson Lee, director of the film Planet B-Boy has taken over Youtube today. Check out the picks he's chosen on the front page!

Youtube

Planet B-boy

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Sunday, March 23, 2008

PLANET B-BOY IN FULL SWING



Stop sleepin! Benson Lee's documentary Planet B-Boy is a groundbreaking film helping reintroduce the world to Breakin' as we know it today. Planet B-Boy has been getting great press in a bunch of syndicated movie review programs, Ellen, Carson Daly... don't sleep on this. Hopefully supporting this film will also help start creating more viable business outlets for B-Boys themselves!

Currently showing in Los Angeles and New York until 3/27. click here for ticket information!

From 3/28-4/03 in throughout California in San Francisco, Berkeley, Irvine, and San Diego.

Many more screenings across the country, click here for a location near you!

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Monday, March 10, 2008

I just can't get enough... just can't get enough...

While I'm working hard on the film, busy with other projects too, trying to apply for more $$$, just started a new job... in the meantime, more Jabbawockeez

Jabbas on Ellen


The latest Jabba performance, their Thriller tribute performance to PYT

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Monday, February 18, 2008

B-BOY UNIT USA 2008

"32 of the best crews in the USA battle it out for a trip to Beijing, China for the 2008 Bboy Unit World Finals"

so check out the final battle in two parts, Super Crew (left) vs Killafornia (right)


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Friday, February 08, 2008

In the meantime...

Sorry I haven't updated in HELLA long. it's been a month. Just been caught up trying to piece together this film, ya know? The longer and longer I take, I feel like the more pressure there it is make it look good!

So in the meantime, I still want to hear your stories. Contact us if you want to be a guest blogger.

Also, I need help! Any volunteer graphic designers, web coders, or multimedia gurus out there? hit us up!

for now, I guess check out another Underground Flow battle. This time, vs their arch-rivals, Flex Flav!



***

in other dancing news... I know a lot of people hate those TV dance competitions, but anyone check out the JabbaWockeeZ on "America's Best Dance Crew" last night? If you don't know, JabbaWockeeZ are Hip Hop dance performance group who are pretty well respected around the B-Boy circles. I've seen them perform twice, once at one of the Battle of the Year USA comps, and another at the Culture Shock LA Decypher the Silence show.

check them out, and vote for them before the night's over if you like'em

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Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Among B-Boys Features: B-Boy Geo



A reel from B-Boy Geo. Check it out. Velocity Crew, representin! Seems like there's been times where he's been away from Breakin, but it doesn't seem like he's lost a step.

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Got YOUTUBE? I want to hear from you!

I want to post YOUR Hmong B-Boy clips here. Send me links to them or post them on the comments on the Among B-Boys myspace.

I also want YOU to post YOUR stories. So contact me to be a guest blogger for the site. amongbboys AT crs1un DOT com

For now, here's a repost of Soul Rivals from Oklahoma practicing

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Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Inside the Circle and Among B-Boys!

itc_ab.jpg

Flew down to check out the West Coast premiere of the film "Inside the Circle", directed by Marcy Garriott, at the San Diego Film Festival on 9/27 and 9/28 (the screening we went to), where it won the audience award The film features lots of really dope B-Boys, featuring Omar, Milky, Romeo and B-Boy City! It was a great opportunity too because I brought Mpact and his roommate/crew member P-Rock. Mpact got a chance to see what the film festival experience would be like, complete with Q & A. Other noted attendees were Cros-1 of Freestyle Session/Armory Survival Gear fame, and RockSteady Crew's DJ Charlie Rock.

This meeting was especially special because Marcy Garriott is a filmmaker whom I have been corresponding with and receiving extra support and wisdom from, on top of that from our CAAM mentorship program's Vivian Kleiman. She has been not only supportive of my film and efforts, but also of the B-Boy/B-Girl scene overall. It was great to finally see her film, and I definitely wasn't disappointed. Not only was I there to see and enjoy another great Hip Hop/Breaking Documentary, but I was there to learn and see how Marcy put her story together. There's definitely some differences in how here story is put together narratively and how she approaches her character development with Omar (Jive Turkeys/Zulu Kingz), Josh (Milky, Masters of Mayhem/Mind 180) and Romeo (B-Boy City), but there are some great similarities in the multiple storylines (three, to be exact) and she does a great job of getting at the heart of their motivations for B-Boying.

A lot to think about with how mine is going to be, but thank goodness I've set a lot of the groundwork to make the process of editing I've been going through, more manageable. Which brings me to where the film's at now. It's been tough getting through all the material, making tough decisions on what to keep, what must go... how to portray certain segments, how to pace it... trying not to get too distract from the task at hand, fidgeting on the little stuff such as how the music/audio will be mixed down, sound design, etc... those can be taken care of later.

So that's it for now... I'm back dedicated to getting this first rough cut into a digestible form... I had a nice nearly week long excursion to clear my head before continuing, but I'm back refreshed, and this phase is nearly there! I'll get back to ya'll later.


At the Hollywood Film Festival:

INSIDE THE CIRCLE
United States
(PROGRAM TITLE = INSIDE THE CIRCLE)

5:00 p.m. Oct. 19, Friday. 102 min.
ArcLight Cinemas
6360 W. Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028

Capturing the raw power and defiant creativity of a homegrown hip-hop movement, Inside the Circle charts the journey of talented b-boys Josh and Omar, best friends turned rivals, as they struggle to keep dance at the center of their lives.

Director: Marcy Garriott Producer: Marcy Garriott Cast: Josh Ayers, Omar Davila, Romeo Navarro

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