Meen 187
From TheCypher
Contents |
[edit] Interview
[edit] Background
Meen 187 was raised in Staten Island.
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[edit] About
Meen 187 doesn’t have the typical bboy conversion story. “I didn’t have that typical b-boy or b-girl experience when I went to a jam and saw a power move and thought, ‘Oh, wow, this thing touches my soul. It expresses who I am,” he firmly states. For him, it was less of an epiphany and more of a simple if-then logic statement. “If I say, ‘I am hip hop,’ then I should do the hip hop dance,’” he says when asked to explain what motivated him to begin breaking.
The "hip hop dance,” (aka breaking) is something he’s been doing since 1995. Meen cites Tony Bonz of Step Fenz as an early influence. “Tony Bonz was the first person, who I saw dancing and I wanted his style...He helped lay the foundation for me.”
Since that time, he’s been adding to that foundation and has become known for a style that highlights swift, light footwork that is always rhythmic. “My style is based on a more traditional but not the first style. The first style is a lot looser, kinda like Frosty Freeze, black style. My style is more like the Rock Steady style. I like how they got down. Everyone thinks that’s foundation but it’s not foundation. It’s the style Rock Steady specialized in. And I like that style because of how clean it was. I like the swagger that they had when they were toppin’ and they had a cleanliness to it.” Meen is also known for a very funky crowd pleasing top rock. That fact— that he prides himself on being an entertainer— is another thing he believes sets him apart from other b-boys. “My thing is people determine what’s dope. All you can do is try your best mimic that or create something that they think is dope. Nothing is just dope to you and therefore dope to everyone. People determine so I had to figure out how to entertain people so they say my style is dope.”
His fresh style draws heavily on 80s and 90s party moves. He said that the idea to incorporate these types of elements into his style came from an unnamed man in the Bronx who used to hang around a practice session that Meen frequented. “He said, you’re good but you gotta do you, not what everyone else think is dope. You gotta do you and make it dope. And I was like, ‘What’s me?’ He said, ‘You know, that music. You can dance.’” Up until the anonymous man had suggested it, Meen’s dancing was highly compartmentalized. At b-boy practices and jams, he did breaking, and at parties he did, well, party moves. “When I merged them, it just opened up. I can merge these two and I have my style. From that point on, [I thought]I’m gonna battle, but I am never gonna throw a power move. I’m going to be such a good dancer that I won’t have to. Not to say that I can’t— I just won’t have to.” In addition to explaining the origins of his style, this story also explains the three digits at the end of his bboy name. That particular practice took place at an apartment building on 187th street in the Bronx.
This year, he brought his original flava to the domestic and international bboy community as a member of Dynamic Rockers, which has just come off of a very successful 2009. The crew’s results came as a surprise to Meen. “I didn’t expect us to be as dominant as we are,” he said. “I expected that we would be good amongst other good teams. And it’s like we kinda dominated. Because we want it a little bit more than everybody else does. I swear to you, I think that’s the only reason. Everybody’s got talent. We don’t win every jam in New York. We win the majority of the jams but we don’t win everything. We’re not hands down the best. Any given Sunday we can be taken out ability-wise. We’re the best because we want to be the best. We don’t want to just be the best we can be. It’s a mutual agreement. Everyone understands, we want to take over New York. A lot of people are claiming king status in some cases, but they’re not trying to be kings. It’s all ego. We’re trying to do it. It takes a lot of work. It’s tedious and I’m too old for it but I don’t give a fuck. I’m too old, you just gotta give it up,” laughs the 28 year old b-boy. “I got bills to pay. I just don’t give a fuck. I’m gonna pay those bills off and I’m going to be a grown up. It’s gonna happen but I’m going to be doing this b-boy thing while it’s going on.”
[edit] Crews
- U.F.O. Crew
- Breaking in Style
- Dynamic Rockers
