FIF Podcast: No Bone Tyrone w. PopN Marco

Got it. What is up, everybody? I'm Poppy Marco, and I'm here with another episode of the Funkin' Focus Dance and Dialogue: Balo Traditions podcast, brought to you by Funkin' Focus and Urban Artistry. And today, uh, we have a person that I was very excited to interview. A person that I've been hearing about him ever since I started dancing. It's an honor to have you here, man. Ladies and gentlemen, No Bone Tyrone. What's up, man? How you doing?

Hey Marco, I'm doing straight. I'm doing great, man. I'm I'm I'm definitely, uh, you know, feelin' the holiday spirit right now. You know, I'm feelin' great, dude. It's, you know, that time of the year. But, but I'm definitely, you know, blessed and and thankful, man, and just glad I could, you know, come here and be a part of this project you guys have going today, man.

Thank you, man. Thank you. So, let, let's just get started. I have a lot of questions here for you. And since I, I already heard some histories from you in skills class, so I have something ready for you here. Let's start from the beginning. I want to know a little bit about your childhood and and how was your education and upbringing, and how it led you to being an artist.

Wow, great question. Now, you said my childhood. Um, when you look at my childhood, going back to the early days, I remember, uh, being a kid that, uh, grew up having a a problem with my knees. They were really, um, like, uh, basically knock-kneed. I had to get like an operation, and and I was one of those kids that had the braces on, like Forrest Gump. Imagine that. But we're talking about, you know, uh, 1964, you know, 1965, you know, when I was a young kid, you know, uh, somewhere around there. And then on top of that, once I got that problem corrected, or, you know, uh, I had a speech impediment as well. And so when I had that speech impediment, I, uh, you know, grew up, you know, uh, having to go through, uh, you know, different classes so, so that way I could correct my speech impediment. And in that process of me doing that, I began to talk proper. And growing up in the hood, that's not a great thing, bro. It's like, you know, like, like, you know, they, "Hey man, how come you talk like that?" But they didn't understand that I had to kind of like learn how to talk over again, man. And so that's kind of, you know, uh, what led me to kind of, uh, get to the point to where I said, "Man, you know, uh, I, I took a whole lot of heat." You know, people laughing at me, like, you know, making jokes about me, right? And instead of me, like, you know, wanting to like try to like fight them or do something violent, I said, "Man, you know, I, I gotta just, you know, accept it. I gotta, I gotta like find a way to like use this thing that they're laughing at me about. I gotta, I gotta find an energy so then that way, you know, I could, you know, focus on that energy as a means of, of, you know, in my own way, getting back at them, but not in a violent way, but in more of a spiritual way, bro. You, you know what I'm saying? More of a spiritual way, more of a, uh, you know, like, like a, a, a, a way where I could teach them something that they could take with them for the rest of their lives, right? It's almost like teaching them a lesson. Okay, so you guys on the L. Okay, here we go.

And so when I, so when I seen popping for the first time, right? I, I said, "Wow, that's how I could do it. That's how I could." Oh my god, I was so excited. But at the same time, I was so mad. Now, at this time, we're talking about 19, it was right around 1977, 1978. I was going to the Dominguez High School in Compton, California. And I seen, uh, these guys called the P.H. Hustlers, you know, pop. And when I seen them throw down, you, it was, it was an amazing situation because I, I felt all these different emotions, right? And I was just tripping. You know, and I didn't understand why. And I was kind of like mad, and I couldn't really describe why I was mad. But, but at the same time, what it, what it came down to, Marco, it was like I had this, this chip on my shoulder. Like, how are these guys so advanced? And I don't know nothing. I know about locking, I know about the robot, I know about all the things I see my friends doing, you know, in the hood. But it's not like what I'm seeing these guys doing. So where did I go wrong? So I didn't realize that, you know, at the time that I seen these guys dance, I didn't realize that it was unique to just that moment, that city, that state. I thought that it was still going on in, like, maybe, you know, Colorado, New York. You know, like, I didn't, you know, we didn't have the internet. So I just was like, you know, I didn't realize that, you know, I was very lucky in seeing that. And so all of, when it, when it dust settled, I found out that, "Oh man, you know, I have, it's like I had this sense of entitlement." And it was so, yeah, and it was like, "Dude, you're not in, they don't give a damn that you just now learned about this." But, you know, but when I, uh, you know, finally realized all of that, and I, I said, "Okay, now it's time to get to work and start really, you know, developing, you know, my, my style." You know, so that's kind of, uh, how I evolved, you know, from a childhood into, you know, kind of where I am now. And there's different layers to that, you know, from when I was a kid up until now. So depending on what, you know, uh, if there's anything within, you know, that time frame that I might not have discussed, you could, if there's anything more specific, specific you'd like to know, you know, please ask, and I'll, I'll do my best to answer.

Nice, nice. And I was going to to ask about this experience because you actually told me about that when I did that class with you. But that, that leads me to the next question. Is when you were learning popping, who was your biggest inspiration or inspirations? And who taught you? Like, how was the process? Did you have, did you have a mentor, a teacher, or did you learn with your friends? You all learn together? How was this process of learning this dance?

Oh, yeah. So that's a great question as well. Um, it never was really just one specific person because there's so much to this art form, in my opinion, my humble opinion. And for what I was trying to get out of it, I knew that I needed to get multiple sources. But in terms of my, you know, the, the person that first mentored me, that was a master at waving, his name was Anthony Starchild. He lived in Lynwood, California, and he was the first person who I seen just do this, this airplane wave, and just really make it look isolated and contorted and just really fast. And then the same thing with this body wave. He had just this crazy, sick body wave. But, uh, with that being said, no matter how much I would have probably, uh, tried to duplicate what he did, it was not enough for me to like, you know, just use that as my own power move to enter a contest because they knew that was him. See? So there you go. So it's like, just duplicating someone's move back in the day is not good enough, really. Because it's, it's, it's good to be able to know that you could do it, but now, how are you going to do your part? How were you going to innovate that move? And that's kind of, you know, what I did. But, uh, but yeah, it would, it would be definitely, uh, Anthony Starchild for sure. And then, and, you know, um, there was, uh, like so many guys, man. But you got, you know, what, what comes to mind for sure is Anthony AK King and the Electronic Puppets. Props out to AK. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and, you know, and also, uh, you had, uh, guys like, uh, Boogaloo. You know, Boogaloo Dan Martin. Uh, you had, uh, uh, my, my man Robot Prince. You know, you had, yeah, yeah. These guys really influenced me, man. And Bopp and Andre and Lady Tangerine, uh, back in the day. Uh, the Unique Dominoes, the Mysterious Poppers. Um, uh, I don't, I should have led. I probably could have led with this, but the, the Electric Boogaloos. You know what I'm saying? With, with Boogaloo Sam, like, like seeing them on TV for the first time, bro, when you're a kid. And with, uh, with, uh, with the, uh, exception of watching The Gong Show and looking at Demons of the Mind, it was like we knew that there was something that, there was something unique about watching Demons of the Mind that kind of crossed over when we seen the Electric Boogaloo. So we, we didn't see no type of beef on our end. We just seen beauty. We seen, you know, what we were looking for all along, you know, when it came to being able to entertain each other. And so, you know, uh, I, I got to give it up to, you know, uh, Boogaloo Sam and Poppin' Pete, uh, SK Rabbit, rest in peace. And, you know, and, and, and all of the Electric Boogaloos, man. They were a big inspiration, bro. Uh, you know, we could identify with them because when we saw them, we said, "Wow, they look like us. They look, they're, they're like us, and they're on TV." Do you know the type of confidence, you know, that that builds? So, so I got to give it to those cats, man. Props to the Electric Boogaloos. And, uh, like I said, there's so many other, uh, poppers to to speak on, you know, OG One Arm Bandit, rest in peace, my dog, you know what I'm saying? Uh, you know, uh, uh, Animation, rest in peace. I mean, it's just, wow. Wave Magic, rest in peace. I mean, it's so many, you know, poppers. Bruno, you know, from the Mysterious Poppers, rest in peace. You know, to the other, yeah, yeah. So, there's, there was a lot of, lot. I could keep going. We could probably spend the next half an hour with me digging aside and giving you these names, you know? But those guys, man, you know, and getting back real quick, man, I can't, I got to mention, you know, Master of the Boogaloo, Gregory Brown. And also, uh, uh, another guy by the name of Boogaloo T. Both from the, uh, Electronic Puppets. Those cats were so dope, bro. And then on the, and then just to make sure I clear it up, there was another Boogaloo T that went, that was from Long Beach, Mark Benson. So peace out to Mark Benson. He was, bro, he was the beast as well. But, but yeah, but those, those guys, man, I know him firsthand because I went to Dominguez High School with them. And so I knew how, how sick these guys was. And like I said, I could keep going. There's so many guys. I kind of feel like a lot of times I miss people. But then, you know, um, you know, and that's back in the day. And then, you know, as we go forward, then this guy, you know, we got all the Pomona, bro. So it's like, you know, um, it, it, it's, but, but from the time I started the art form, and the guys that really, uh, help me to develop into my own style, those names are probably the, the ones that come to mind first.

Nice, nice. And I'll ask you about Pomona later. But I just came up with with one question here because you're talking back then, you guys didn't have YouTube. And you only got to see poppers and new moves when it was on TV, on TV, like, like Black Messengers and the Electric Boogaloos, like The Gong Show or Soul Train. But right in the in the meanwhile, when there was no poppers on TV, how you guys got to see new moves? Because as far as I know, some people told me, some OGs told me that you couldn't just go and say, "Yo, show me some moves," because people were afraid to others to bite the moves. So how did you guys would get to see new moves? Like, I want, I want to squeeze some moves out of that guy. How, how it worked?

Um, the, the only way you were able to like, uh, get a chance to be exposed to the other different styles was whenever there was like a popping event where it was, you know, going to, uh, Alpine Village or, uh, Bitman Hall or the English Square or the Eve After Dark, you know, or, you know, or, or Skate Junction, you know, back in the day. I mean, there's just, you know, all these different places we had to go to, uh, to kind of like, down. Like even at the gym, like at the school dances, like they used to have talent shows, bro, you know? Yeah. So, so basically, that's how we kind of like exposed ourselves to each other. And I think, uh, the only other sources that we really had was what we seen on like The Gong Show and Soul Train, you know? Like just watching, like, uh, the, the, uh, lockers, you know what I'm saying? And, and, uh, just, you know, being able to, uh, also like keep in mind that beyond, like, and this is what I, I noticed too, like, I, I had to come to the realization that, like, like you said, "Well, how is it that, where did these guys get these different styles?" Right? And in my mind, and just from my, like, uh, research, there's just no doubt in my mind that a lot of styles that was being, that had already been created in Northern California, trickled down. And some cats wasn't giving enough that information, just keeping it to themselves. And so when we would see each other, somebody would be so good at doing something, and they would want to, you know, but for the most part, you know, uh, redeem themselves, you know, by like, you know, going and, and, you know, working out. It's almost like we, we really, uh, we, for the, when you, when you look at it, you can say that we really tested each other. You know, we really tested each other. We really, uh, we really made each other better because, you know, we wanted to be the best. And so when you, when you're like, yeah, when you're reaching, you know, for for that, you know, title, when you're striving to be the best, it's almost like the, the, the level of competition rises. And so I think, based on the level of the competition that brought out the most in of us, you know, that brought out the best of us, you know, from each other, you know, because because everyone wanted to be so good, man. Everyone. Number one. Yeah, the competition brought the best. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The competition. Yeah, the competition. And I think that's what it was. Guys kind of took a little bit of what they seen from who was the best. And seeing as you had base styles already, guys kind of just, you know, started to like form their own styles, you know, within the art form, you know? Oh, that, I think that's how we did it. That's how we, yeah, I think that, that's how we were able to, you know, to, to really, uh, create like a whole lot of stuff, you know, like in the future was was based on that reason, man. We, we, uh, we really, really pushed each other and and, you know, made our ourselves through superhuman things that nobody's seeing yet. Especially when you lost. Oh my goodness, man. You ever see like a martial arts movie where a guy, his whole family would get took out, and he's the lone survivor? And before he even goes into training, he goes, before he starts fighting again, he goes into like reconditioning his body, doing all these state-of-the-art exercises because he knows this is it. He's got to like put in work. And that's how it was with us, you know? That's how it was, you know? There's no difference.

Nice, nice. Now I have a question. Now we start to talk about Pomona. And I want to know how, when did you move to Pomona? Because I don't remember which city you are from originally. But then you moved to Pomona. And right when and how it affected your dance? Like, how did it make your dance better? How it impacted with you were popping before Pomona, or you learned in Pomona?

Yeah, I was, I was popping before Pomona. Um, um, actually, uh, I moved to Pomona in, uh, about '79, '80. And so, um, basically, um, when I got to Pomona, there was already poppers still there. But, uh, that's the year that I moved to Pomona. Uh, and, uh, even though, uh, I was already a popper in Pomona, I was still working on my style. You know, I was basically, when I moved to Pomona, this, now this is something that I don't know if I really revealed yet, uh, on the interview, but when I moved to Pomona, or if I did reveal it, I'll mention it again. When I moved to Pomona, dude, all I literally was was just a waver, snaker, creeper, floater, and a couple of twisters. So that being said, I wasn't satisfied because, remember, I'm looking at guys that really know how to hit, that know how to, you know, really like, you know, mechanical pose and, and, and bang, and just, you know, like, like manipulate the beat. And I wanted to manipulate the beat. Waving is a fluid dance, remember? Waving is, you know, is fluid. So now, how, how do you, are you able to match the beat if, if your whole purpose is to be liquid, as to be smooth? See? And that was the one, you know, uh, jigsaw puzzle that, you know, I, I wanted to dedicate my life to trying to be able to solve. You know, have, have I been able to, uh, solve it yet? No. But, you know, at the same time, I'm, I'm getting pretty close. It's an ongoing, lifelong, you know, mission. And you just enjoy the journey as you're going through it, you know?

Nice, nice. Now, since we're talking about Pomona, tell us a little bit about the Pomona Heartbreakers.

Oh, wow. Oh, my goodness, man. If I'm want to Heartbreakers, yeah, man. That's a crew that I had the honor to be a member of, uh, back in the day, uh, approximately, uh, 1982 to about 1983, just before 1984 or so. But, uh, but yeah, we had a rapper, and his name was Killer Rob. And we also had break dancers. We had a guy by the name of Kim Bass, another guy by the name of Dion, another guy by the name of Chocolate Chip, another guy by the name of Alex, uh, another guy by the name of R. Rock. And another guy, oh, man, I can't remember his name. Excuse me. I can't remember my guy's name, but it'll, it'll, it'll, it'll, it'll, uh, it'll come in when it comes to mind, I'll mention it. But there was another, there was another guy. And when I remember his name, when his name does come to mind, I'll let you know. But we also had later on, a guy by the name of Atomic Dog that was in in the Heartbreakers as well, as a break dancer. And, uh, and then we also had poppers. And the poppers, yeah, yeah. Now, hold on. See what I'm going with this? So then we had, we had me. We had Slick Dog. Now, Slick Dog was the guy that introduced me to the Heartbreakers when I got back to, uh, to California, when I was living in in Arizona, you know? But Slick Dog is the homie, dude. You know what I mean? No doubt about it. Then we had a guy named Dollar Bill. I don't know if you heard about the legendary Dollar Bill. Yeah. Then, then we had another guy, uh, named Tick Rick. And then we, we had my man William Lifeford. And so those were the poppers. So the way that we did it, man, we'd get, we'd get in the contest. Of course, you know, one of the biggest, uh, things that led me to wanting to be a member of the Heartbreakers was Killer Rob. Because when you heard that Killer Rob, when he's busting his rhyme, and he's doing the Heartbreaker song, and he has the rhyme, "Just for you," come on, man, come on. So you can only imagine how it was. So that's the way we roll. So we had the, the break dancers doing their thing. When they would get done, the, the poppers would come in, do their routine, then break off doing the solo. So, you know, it was just one of those things, man, where we would, you know, get into contest battles and just, uh, you know, uh, uh, just for the most part, just, you know, just win contests and, and just have fun. And at the same time, man, we, we, uh, created a friendship that, that'll last for a lifetime, you know? But it was, it was cool, man. Yeah. From Pomona City Heartbreakers, you know, my, my dogs, you know.

Nice, nice. I did my research, you see. So since we're talking about Pomona history and City Heartbreakers and all of this, I want to know from you, what do you think that makes Pomona so special? We know every time we talk about waving, Pomona is a city that people's talk, people talk about. So it's not only about the waves, but about popping in general, and dance and culture in general. What's so special about Pomona city? What makes it different than the other cities?

Uh, honestly, I think because when I, it's the, it's, it's the love for the art form. And in my opinion, it starts, it starts with OG Stretch from the group Tron. The first popper I ever met in Pomona. So, so Stretch, you know, uh, he basically, uh, he basically, in my opinion, gave me the key to to Pomona, bro. Like the very first time I met him, and I'm like, and I, it's no doubt in my mind, it was because we love this dance so much. And when he seen that I was a popper, and I seen he was a popper, and I told him I was from LA, just coming out there, and he was saying that he was, you know, just coming getting there too from from LA. I'm like, "Wow, this is a trip, right?" And so we, we, you know, created a bond. And now, this was before, uh, Stretch became Tron. This was before Stretch was even in Fantasy. So the reason why I said he gave me the key was simply because he told me about every popper that was in Pomona, what side of Pomona they were from, what their strengths was, you know, the styles that they had. And so, and so really, uh, once I got done talking to him, I was on a mission to go to every corner of Pomona and battle everybody that I could because I said, "I wanted to show who I was. I wanted to like, you know, show them what it was like." They seen somebody from, you know, LA in the midst of doing that. I, I met some really, you know, talented guys, man, you know, like C. Pimo, for instance. He was pretty much the Michael Jordan of Pomona at the time. And so I knew that I needed to, you know, link up with him and, and, and team up with them, you know? So that way we could exchange different styles. And so with me teaming up with Captain Pimo, and then later on having the battle Pimo, later on having the battle Stretch, from the group of Trons, it, it really, you know, it really gave me, uh, the motivation so that way we could challenge each other more. And I think the fact that everybody like challenged each other so much, with, with, like I said, with the culture starting from, you know, uh, Stretch trickling down, you know, to to everyone else from what I saw. And then, you know, uh, like me, like what I brought to Pomona was something I hadn't seen in Pomona yet. And that was, you know, the, uh, man, someone hit me up. Hey, is this going live right now? Not, not live right now. Oh, somebody keeps hitting me up. It's amazing. But no, but no. Um, so yeah, so what I brought to Pomona was something that I, I seen that needed to be added. And that, and that was the ability to bring in that snake Cobra style. And so I think that that, you know, when I did that, it, it just, you know, gave a whole lot of poppers there, if they didn't have it already, it, it gave them, you know, like, uh, like them ideas to to be more creative and be and be free without having to worry necessarily about hitting all the time. Now, remember, I already said when I got to Pomona, all I could do was wave and snake creep and float. I wanted to hit more. They wanted to, they, they really loved the waving so much, man, until, you know, you had a lot of guys who really just became better at waving. And in some instances, I influenced them. In some instances, it was, you know, Captain Pimo. In some instances, it was Slick Dog. In some instances, it was Dollar Bill. In some instances, it was Stretch. You see? So, uh, you know, I, I could say that I, I definitely brought, like, uh, you know, that that style of waving that, you know, basically, uh, that that basically was unique until that time to like only LA and Southern California. Like, like, like even waves in, say, Southern California. But I would just say, you know, uh, mostly like, uh, even though Pomona is LA County, I'm talking about more like, you know, uh, Los Angeles, you know, East LA, Gardena, Compton, Long Beach, Cypress, you know, uh, Harbor City, you know, like, just, just all the, you know, all the the cities there, you know, because, because to me, they were the hub of all the the the the newest moves at the time. So I knew when I got to Pomona, I was going to be unique. There's no doubt in my mind. But at the same time, I said, "How could I teach the style to different people?" And instead of them, once again, just taking my power moves and just, you know, for for the most of the part, trying to make it their own power moves, I wanted to give them the ability to unlock their own power moves. And it happened, bro. You know, it happened. So I think, I think I succeeded. You know, you look at, you look at some of the guys that I help mentor and teach, you know, uh, Slick, you know, uh, Dollar Bill, you know what I'm saying? Uh, even, even my man, you know, uh, William Lightfoot. You know, I, I had, I had guys that I, I mentored, man, you know, uh, I, I, I, I'd like to say I mentored, you know, uh, Confusion, you know, Stretch. I mean, uh, Funk Master. Funk Master now, you know, Confusion, you know? But, but yeah, um, so yeah, so, so for the most part, that's kind of what I, you know, what I, uh, did when I got to Pomona, man. Um, I, I really developed when I got to Pomona. That was a time for me to develop my own style into kind of what it is now, you know? Before that, you know, I think that's what's special about Pomona. People had a chance to see me grow and, and just kind of like, you know, add to what they probably seen already. And then the contests that we were in, like, like I said, like challenging each other and getting the making the most get, you know, like, like just carving out, you know, every inch of, you know, energy that you had to win the contest, was was, uh, really what, what made Pomona so special, man. And like, you know, one of the capitals of waving, for sure, in California, you know? Cuz all my guys wave. Like, if you ain't, dude, you can be, yeah, you can hit, but it's like, man, you're going to get into a contest where guys start waving, and you're going to see something, you know, that, uh, that you just probably hadn't seen yet, or you've seen before, but just not in that light. Up here she goes. Hold on. No problem. So talking, sorry. Oh, no, no, I'm sorry, man. My wife is just calling me. What were you saying again? Can I go on? No problem. Uh, yeah, see, I see. No problem. I'm trying to let her know I'm still at the interview, but, uh, but if keep, but we get finished, she'll try calling me back. No, no problem. We can cut this part later. So no problem. Okay. So let's go. Continuing. You talked about how you wanted to learn to hit and new styles and new movements because you wanted to develop your own style, correct? We all know that you are a master of waves. And I know for an instance, thank you, a master of twizzle flex as well, because I've seen you getting down. But what other styles do you, or art forms in general, do you practice?

Uh, I would say puppet. Like, it basically, my base style, the style that I was like striving to like put the pieces to the jigsaw puzzle together with, is called the electromechanical puppet. That's basically what my base style is when I'm hitting before I go into waves. And, and that's the way that I feel, feel, uh, my way around the beat. And so from the beat, you know, it, it kind of just gives me the ability to open up, you know, all my other styles. So I would say that that's the style, the electromechanical puppet. And then when we get into the waves themselves, you know, uh, I started to, you know, basically, uh, lab, you know, and archive, you know, the names for for each of my wave styles. Because when you start to like develop so many, and you go and you can perform, you want to make sure that you're able to, you know, each one. So then that way you can know, okay, you know, it's almost like you have a, a closet of, of, of, of suits, and you might have a red one, you might have a green one, you might have a blue one, a gold one. And it's like, "Okay, now let me see which one I want to pick." And, and, and the luxury of of that is is beauty in itself. Because back in the day, you probably only had one or two of those suits in the closet because there was not all these different styles at all. It was just, you know, it was like everyone in the crew had their own specialty. So no way would you be able to do all these different styles. It's just the evolution of this dance is what brought us there. I mean, the first time I heard about, uh, someone being able to do multiple different styles was crazy to me. It was really crazy. I'm like, "How? How?" But that goes to show you how powerful the human mind is. Because I'm thinking, you know, that's, you know, when I heard about face popper, like, "Someone is a face popper." What does that mean? And then they told me what it was, like being able to transition, like from one style to the next. You know, and now it's just a common thing now. But when I first started, there was no really no such thing.

You know, that is cool. And we're talking about like how the dance is now. Now it's common to have have many styles.

Oh, yes, yes.

And I want to know, what do you miss in dancers in the dance scene back then? And what could you make new dancers, newer dancers, could make to make it even better?

Um, I would say on the first, on the, the last question, I'll answer that first. I would say being able to like, uh, stay on top of your history stream. Being able to not like, just even if you love Boogaloo, like try to like do everything in your power to like learn from multiple sources. Because, you know, only then will you be able to like sit back and watch the multiple sources and be able to develop your own style from watching that, you know? And, you know, so, um, so I would say that. And, uh, if you, you know, just pay, pay homage to to the, uh, to the old school, you know, generation, like you guys are doing here, is like, you know, like just being able to like sit back and watch a lot of these documentaries, a lot of these interviews, so you could stay on top of of the art form, so you could know how it started and what it has evolved into now. And then on the, very first question, can you ask that one again, please?

Uh, I was asking you, what do you miss about the scene back then?

Oh, what do you miss? We could, what we could bring back? Oh, man. Bring back, wow. Um, let's see. Uh, the one thing that I want to see maybe a little bit more of, but I understand that everybody is different and terms of, uh, their, their, uh, you know, like their, their economic structure, but I want to see more elegance in the dance. I just want to see more elegance. That's all. I mean, everyone seems to get caught up into this thing where, you know, you, you have to like, uh, dress like an accountant or like maybe somebody that went to go, you know, do their recycling and their, you know, throwing down. Whereas back in the day, we, we took more honor and pride in how we would dress. That's, that's all it is. And, and, and with that being said, with, you know, uh, don't let me make sure that I don't get things twisted. It's not necessarily all about, you know, how someone's dressed. It's just about, you know, the, the, the moves and the style. But in, in, in terms of the elegance, you see what I'm saying? Like your hat, you, my hat, you say, just, it's, there's a, there's a, there's an elegance to this art form that I, I only see every once in a while. And I like to see it a little bit more. That's all. That's all. Like, like this. It's just about the swag. There's a certain swag to this art form that I used to see back then that I might see missing a little bit. But, but I still love what I see, though. I still love what I see because you have to appreciate the newer culture because without the newer generation, you know, this art form wouldn't be to where it is now. And where it is now was nuts. You know, I just, you know, I'm just so appreciative, man.

Nice, nice. So for the next one, I have two in one. I was talking earlier today with Poppin' Chuck from Robot Mafia, and I told him I would be talking to you. He first, he says hi to. Oh, Chuck, what's up, Chuck? And he asked about the Wave Masters Volume One project. And I'll use this one to ask, tell us about your upcoming projects. What you plan to do next?

Oh, wow. Yeah. So, um, basically, um, what, what, uh, I want to try to get, uh, out to everybody next is the original OG One Arm Bandit Round Table documentary. And, you know, it's about 25, less than a half an hour. And it's an interview with, uh, some of the old school LA legends in it. And we're just kind of like, just discussing, uh, you know, our, our names, you know, the, of LA that we're from. And, uh, and we're just kind of just, you know, passing, you know, the camera around to each guy. And, and they just kind of give a description about them, their style, a little bit, and who they are. And it's real simple to the point, but it's so dope. So that's going to be coming out soon. Um, and, uh, other than that, we have a project that we just finished up called the 50th Year Pop Anniversary. Props out. Yeah, I know. Props out to Ruckus Williams and, uh, VI Media Group and Mobile Star Entertainment in the house, baby. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, so, so the 50th Year Pop Black Anniversary, bro, was like, uh, like a project that, uh, we did last year, uh, in, in, in LA. And it incorporates so many different elements. I mean, you have, uh, rapping, you have comedy, you have Krump dancers, you have, uh, popper ciphers, you have, uh, Twan routines, you have, you know, four-four routines. It just, it, you know, not, it's just so cool, man, to see all those elements come together, uh, like in one, uh, in one project. And it, uh, it ended up being cool, man. Also, there's a segment that was in the 50th Year Pop Block Anniversary, you know, that I did, uh, with with Aer One and Zulu Gemini, you know? So it's, it's, it was the, uh, West Coast Funk and Soul. And so, uh, I was a, uh, I would, we, we did like a showcase and a panel. And I was one of the panelists on, uh, on that, uh, particular, uh, piece. And so we had, me, uh, Bopp, and Chris from the LA Poppers crew, OG Tic Tac, OG, uh, One Arm Bandit, rest in peace, Slim from the Time Bandits, you know, and, and so those were the panelists. And, and also we had the homie from the Mysterious Poppers, uh, I'm sorry, not sure. Yeah, I'm gonna say he's from the Mysterious Poppers or or the Time Bandit, but his name is Fernando. He, he's, he was a little bit, bit on the panel as well. But, but yeah, so, so yeah, we, we put it down. So that, you know, was going to be coming out soon. Uh, the whole thing. Um, we're going to probably be doing a screening for that again soon. So, other than that, man, it's just been me just doing other little individual projects. I, you know, haven't had the time, uh, I should say, uh, I don't know if you heard about, uh, Master Wave, I can see the history of Pop Block begins, chapter one, part one, Compton. I, I, I don't know if you seen that available on YouTube. So, uh, I'm gonna be able to get back into that, uh, coming up again in, in, in 2024. And then all my other little, you know, uh, clips that I might have done that I have been like in the process of loading up to YouTube or either, you know, Instagram. It's just so many, man, because I've got so much media. I just, uh, I need to just hire somebody out to do it for me, but I can't afford you yet. But yeah, but that's, that's what I got going, man. So yeah, so we're going to probably be getting into, you know, uh, the, the Master of Waves Legacy, uh, documentary again, coming up in 2024. So, you know, look for some of that to be coming out soon, too.

Cool, cool. Other than that, that's it. Oh, of course. Oh, for, for, for the Master. Oh, for the Master Wave Legacy, the history of Pop Block begins. Oh, definitely. I'll send you the link. Yeah, definitely. It's on YouTube. It's on YouTube. Yeah. My YouTube is is No Bone Tyrone. No Bone. Yeah. No Bone Tyrone. Yeah, yeah.

You're talking a little bit about the word Pop Lock. And time, every time I interview someone from different cities in in California, I like to ask something about this word. And I would like to know some misconceptions about the word Pop Lock. And how do you feel about this word and this tradition?

Yeah, so, um, so Pop Lock. When you hear that word, Pop Locking, uh, the first thought is like, what? From what I've heard, and people have corrected me, but the amazing thing about that is, you never really heard that word being discussed before the social, the social media trend started. Prior to the social media trend, based on the fact that you were probably living in a different state, a different country, uh, you, you figured that there is no such thing as Pop Lock, right? You know? But there's a lot of words that there is a such thing as. People have already said that there's no such thing. And there's so many different examples of it. So when I hear the word Pop Lock, and I think about the first time I heard the word Pop Lock, straight up, from me to you, I'm in woodshop class. And the one of my, one of my classmates asked me, "Have you ever heard of Poppin'?" So immediately, I started doing locking moves. Think about that. Immediately, I started doing locking moves. He said, "No, man, not locking. Pop locking." Now, why did he tell me that? Because of this reason. Because in 1978, Webster's Dictionary, if you did it, open it up, and you look at the word popping, it's going to describe that word as a loud, sharp sound. So making, or so, so that's what a pop is. So popping is making the loud, sharp sound. It says nothing about popping. That's why he had to clarify by saying Pop Locking to me. Now, as the years went by, and I just, you know, already knew this information in my mind, growing up in Compton, I knew that, okay, well, you know, that that word itself, Pop Locking, when you look at the English language, there's two types of words. There's the, there's the denotative definition of a word, and there's the connotative definition of a word. So in order for us to to look at Pop Locking as a dance, an urban art form dance, we're looking at it in the connotative form of the word, not the denotative state of the word. Because if we're looking at it from a denotative, from a denotative point, we're talking about the loud, sharp pierce sound. And so when you look at how in the hood, we make up all these different slangs, I mean, we, what, come on, what are we doing here? We, we're calling like a, a five-o, we, we, a five could be, you know, uh, it could be a police officer. A dub, it could be a 20. I mean, I mean, I can keep going. A hoop could be a wiped out car, you know? I mean, I mean, we can keep going with this. And those are all connotative. We're con, that's when we're looking at words connotatively. That's what gives us the ability to come up with slang, the ability to, you know, to get the, you know, the word out of just its normal state, so that way we could add, you know, a little bit of flavor as we're conversating and we're in discussing things with each other. And so, as far as I'm concerned, Pop Locking, that word is basically a Southern California word, bro. Simply because of this. When you look at when the Electric Boogaloos came, they, they, when they came to LA, specifically Long Beach, they were, everyone wanted to learn from the Electric Boogaloos. They were it. They were the, if you didn't learn from the Electric Boogaloo or a member of their crew, or somebody that was associated with them, or ran in that circle, you weren't considered really like, you know, a popper or a Boogaloo, really, right? So we said, you know what, man, we, we, we all can't learn from them. So what did we do? We started looking at other natural sources, man. Like you look at, like, you know, the, the mechanical man, you look at a puppet, you look at a scarecrow. These art forms have been here. You look at waving, for heaven's sakes. Do you think it just came with popping? No, they've been waving in, in, North Egypt for decades, man. What the, I mean, come on. That's my point. So, so now, how can you, you, you use this information and, and carve out your own style out of it? You see? So that, that's where Pop Lock comes in. Because now I could, I could transition, you know, from one style to the next. And, and, and not really have to get caught up into just one thing, you know? So that, that's, that's how I see that. That might be the deepest I ever got with that subject. So hopefully, you know, hopefully you got a lot out of it. So anything else? You, hey, I'm gonna tell you another thing. Anybody that wants like talk to me about it, come on, man. I, I've got nothing to hide. I'm, this is, this is, this is straight the truth, bro. This is, this is basically, you know, uh, something that I had to like work on. Because when I heard that there was no such thing, I immediately, I'm like, "Oh, well, they're not from Compton." Or, or if they are from Compton, they didn't run in the circles that I ran in. They did, I didn't see. They probably didn't come to, you know, the some of the places I used to go to to throw down. And which is kind of impossible, you know? But we know what we call it. And I, I've yet to run into anyone, you know, any, any, uh, group of, of, of, of crews or guys that, that, you know, was from LA, Southern California, and, and didn't agree with, with what I just told you. Probably not from that technical of a standpoint. But, you know, for the ones who want to get technical, that really feel like they know what they're talking about, yeah, this is for you. Nice. It's all love. It's all love. This is all about being able to just stay knowledgeable, bro, you know?

Cool. Thank you, man. That, that was very informative. I love to talk about these traditions that usually are raised or people try to forget about them or try to, I don't know, people, I, yeah, I never heard about it because it was local. So right. Every time I have the chance to ask someone that was from there, I like to ask about these traditions. Right, man. So now, can, sorry.

Oh, no, no. I was just, it was just so funny because I was just thinking about Mickey D's. Just like, dude, Mickey D's. I come. Do I need to keep going? I can just keep going with these examples, man. When they say there's no such thing. I mean, it's so great. I love it, though. I love it.

So now, can we, so can we wrap it up? You were talking about your projects and there you have the links. How can we find you online and contact you for classes, for events, or to get to know more of these projects we're talking about? How can we find you online?

Okay, yeah. You can find me on YouTube, uh, No Bone Tyrone. You can find me at Instagram, Noble and Tyrone. And, uh, you can find me on Facebook as well, Noble and Tyrone. I need to get back on you, or, or Facebook more. But, but yeah, those are, those are, you know, my, my, my three different, uh, social media, uh, platforms that I'm, you know, able to be accessed from.

Nice, nice. And we, we will have all these links on the YouTube video and, okay, on every platform possible. We'll have all these links so people can enter in contact with you. And, okay, I'll send them to you as well, so then that way you could have them so you don't have to search around. I could, you know, after the interview, I could, you know, try to send them to you.

Nice, nice. So ladies and gentlemen, this was OG Master No Bone Tyrone, man. Thank you for being here with us.

You're welcome. You're welcome. Learned a lot. I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun. Thank you for being here.

And for everybody else. Problem. See you all. All right. Peace.