Breaking
The world’s best b-boys and b-girls convene in New York City on November 12, 2022 for a chance to be crowned world champion in hip-hop’s hometown.
In November 2022, the world’s preeminent breakers will compete at Red Bull BC One World Final in New York City, the birthplace of breaking and hip-hop. With more than 60 qualifier events hosted across 30 countries, this gravity-defying battle on the largest international stage features a line-up of 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls.
There’s no more hallowed ground for breakers worldwide than New York City. In the early 1970s, breaking became one of the four foundational elements of hip-hop, a then-burgeoning subculture born from the minds of young, creative citizens in the Bronx experimenting with music and exploring new artistic outlets.
Everything crystallised in 1973 at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Inside the rec room of this towering Bronx apartment building, DJ Kool Herc played a back-to-school party and invented the 'merry-go-round' technique. Spinning two identical records simultaneously, Herc extended breakbeats on songs like the Incredible Bongo Band's Apache, giving b-boys and b-girls more time to toprock, windmill and headspin. Hip-hop and breaking would never be the same.
By the next decade, breaking, rap and the rest of hip-hop culture (such as DJing and graffiti art) that began in New York had gone Hollywood. The early ’80s saw the release of hip-hop-centric films such as Wild Style (1983), Beat Street (1984) and Breakin’ (1984). Each of these films featured some of the greatest b-boys from New York. As these movies made their way around the world, so did breaking.
Today, breaking remains a global phenomenon. Breakers in every generation have pushed the art in athletic, acrobatic and inconceivable ways, so much so that breaking will make its debut on the biggest sporting stage of all in Paris in 2024. Ahead of this, Red Bull BC One World Final returns to New York, inviting the international community to celebrate breaking’s roots and future.
To further the development of breaking culture, Red Bull BC One Camp will accompany the competition, gathering breaking legends and rising stars for several days of workshops, panels, and battles for the wider breaking community.
For a preview of what to expect, there’s no better place to start than last year’s Red Bull BC One World Final, which took place in Poland. The 2021 competition ended with B-Boy Amir from Kazakhstan and B-Girl Logistx from USA taking the belts.
Check out the final battles from the 2021 Red Bull BC One World Finals below:
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