Robozee presents: Dance Characters #2 Popin'Pete

I'm gonna do this interview and uh, no, it's gonna work. No, it's working. Bam! There my boy. What up? What up, bro? Hey, how you doing, man? It's so long ago. It's super long ago. It's been a long time. Thank you so much for doing this thing right here and doing it on your page right now. I'm sorry. It is my pleasure, man. You know, I haven't been online. I mean, I've been alive, but not in this capacity. But it's been, yeah, super dope. So, um, I think we start right away, right? Yeah, yeah. I just want to tell everybody, everybody, yeah, uh, interview me. So, yeah, he's gonna file some, you know, some questions and I'm gonna answer them as as they come, you know, we're going to discuss. So, yeah. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So, actually, my first question, my, but the first question is, you're so long time right now in this dancing thing with, um, in show business, in the competition business, in, in battling, cipher battles, and competition battles. So, so how, how is it for you? Because now I'm 22 years inside this game and sometimes I see it, um, how you say, I see it, it repeats. When I see new people asking the same questions. So, how is it for you?

I mean, you know, again, I started in 1978 and then this is like my 42nd year of doing, you know, learning and doing this style that Sam taught me. Um, for me, I mean, really going back, I didn't think this dance was gonna last this long. You know, because we gotta remember, we were, we were children, we were kids. You know, I was 16, Sam was 19, my little brother was 13. Other people around that was learning was, you know, we all were under 20. And, uh, but not, not foreseen the future. You just going on with what you're doing in the moment, momentarily. Just like any other dance that come out. You know, we were like, okay, we're just doing, doing something that is popular, that was, that's trendy. Um, but we never seen a future like, oh man, this is going to last this long. It was more like just doing it. So, for me, the surprise is that it's, it's last this long. Uh, and to see, you know, the, of how many people are trying to do, you know, not only popping, boogaloo, or strutting, uh, animation, waving, studying, you know, everything. So, it is, it's a trip for me to see this and to, to have witnessed this whole thing for four decades. So, like, I mean, almost, almost four decades now. So, yeah, so it's cool.

Do you, do you have a decade that you like personally a lot? Because in hip-hop and rap, they say the golden era of the 90s. Right? Do you have your personal golden era? See, because I came in on the end of 1978, I mean, of the 70s. Yeah. Upset. You know, for me, that couple years before the 80s came in, I say from South, I give a gift to the 80s. I say from, for me, from 78 to 83 was, for me, was like that was the, the learning. You know, pretty much the blueprint of what I was trying to learn. And from those, those years is me trying to captivate or to understand the foundation, the basics, and techniques, and the feel of what Sam was, is teaching us. So, you know, those were the discovery, uh, rules for me. You know, like, uh, discovering, you know, Crazy Legs, discovering, uh, many other things that are that I innovated. I didn't create a style, I innovated, uh, uh, some stuff. So, so for me, that was, those was the, the GOAT years from the, you know, coming into, to like the almost the mid-80s. And then it kind of, for me, tapered off from there.

Okay. So, and because when I start in 98, it was Electric Boogie. So, we, we used to do hip-hop, break dance, and friendship boogie. And then I start to, um, to order tapes from the States. Wiggles tape. And in this Wiggles tape, he, he said that he learned basics from the Electric Boogaloos, right? And then I was like, okay, who are they? And so on. I make a lot of research. And I tell you, from like 2000 till 2008, I was following you guys so much, like all the basics, the sub-styles that you do, and all the structure that you have. It's so amazing. So, but comparison to today, I don't see so many that do Spiderman, or the metric style, or the centipede, or is that, you know, yeah. So, so is this also a part of boogaloo? Or is it the part of popping? Because for me, also, the term popping, for me, is not an umbrella term, it's more a style term, right? And that's what it was in, in the beginning. Yes. Yeah.

Um, because the, I mean, just take it back, because, you know, yes, viewers, two questions. Yeah. So, when I first, when, when Sam first start, I mean, came to me, or when I saw him doing these two particular styles, boogaloo and popping, which is two separate styles, two separate fields, two separate techniques. For me, when I saw what he was doing with the, with the boogaloo and all the, you know, the isolation of the rolls and all this, I, I didn't gravitate towards that. I, I like, it was amazing what he was doing. When I saw him start popping with the contraction of the muscles and all the hard pops, that's what I was like, that's what I'm gonna do. So, okay, this is so individually, I had to, I'm, I'm learning this particular style. And yes, there was my, the original guys from the Electric Boogaloo, the Lockers from Fresno, Divisional Buyers, there was Ticking Wheel, Twister, Flight, Don, Toy Man, Skeet. All these people that had other subs or styles that they also was creating. So, I see, I've seen all these different things, but I said popping is what just gave me, uh, oh my god, I was like, that's the place. Yeah.

So, and, and when we were, when learning all these styles, and then once you got down whatever particular style you carry, that like it was your superhero power. So, when I saw, I mean, that's why for me, like you said, popping, it's not the umbrella term. It is, it is a specific style, one style with technique, feel, uh, groove, that that I started doing. So, um, so when, when, and, you know, just going up, when, once, once I started learning, and then other people started learning different styles, whether it be waving, tutting, strutting, uh, animation. In those days, because you didn't, it was no social media. Yes. When you seen, when you were going out to a, to a jam, or any, whatever, even to a park, even a mall, and you see somebody, and you say, you know, they dance, or you just look at them, go home, you know, and you may walk up on the same, hey, you dance? They say, yeah. And you say, what style do you do? They say, man, I wave. And then he said, or that person may say, what style do you do? I say, I'll pop. Oh, okay. Then the person ain't, so I can pop a little. Or I may say, I can wave a little. But these are how the exchanges and the conversations. You didn't say, hey man, what style do you do? I pop. And then if you know, you kind of like, oh, so you do everything under this umbrella? It was because everybody had that name back there. You had waving somebody, you had boogaloo somebody, you had popping somebody. So, how can, if you, if you're using specific dance names as a part of your dance name for a style-wise, I mean, I stopped then. If you, that's what you do, you can't say no, uh, not saying that because my name is Poppin' Pete, I can't wave. Just because my name is Chicken Dick, I can't boogaloo. It is in fact that these are my, these are my, the powers, you see. So, special. Yeah. Yeah.

So, so, uh, so that's for me, that's why it was, it was, it was plain and clear to me in those times. It was a distinctive, uh, separation of what you did because you, again, no social media then. Thus, even people didn't even know your name or didn't know how you look. You had to, you, you even had to ask. All right, well, who are you? Now, you can be many popular people, but if they don't see you, the name preceded the, the, I mean, the style. I mean, you had to have a style. Your name went out. So, when someone says, I asked you, say, what's your name? Uh, probably. Oh, man, I heard you. That's enough. Or I want to battle you. I want to go against you. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I've been looking for you. This is how it was. It was like, it was like, you know, Showdown at the O.K. Corral. It was like back in the western days. You heard about, you know, uh, Billy the Kid and all these stuff. But at times, before they started making the posters, you just, the name preceded the, the legend, or the, or the rep. So, when they put them down, you, you know. And, and now it's like, of course, it's, it's different. It's super different. Yeah.

Because end of the 90s, I had the time to, there was no, no social media, no, just the telephone. So, no, no, we had the same. So, we heard about the crew, and then we, yeah, it was the same, the same. So, I'm very happy to help this. Yeah. And so, you have the popping style. You have now also popping, the umbrella term that is used a lot. And I remember you used also a term like funk styles, because, because it makes sense, right? So, yeah. So, why do you think it's, it's not possible, or why they didn't took the term funk styles? Because it came from Electric, because it came from us. It came from. And I mean, I'm the one who coined the name, because I was in France, and I was doing an interview for a magazine. And the girl asked me, so, how does it feel to be a hip-hop dancer? I said, I'm not a hip-hop, I'm not a hip-hop dancer. I said, I'm not from the East Coast. I said, I respect hip-hop, but, um, I'm from the West. And, you know, we never, we wasn't calling any hip-hop when I was, when I was coming up. We didn't know anything about hip-hop. So, then she said, well, what do you guys call it? And I just sat there and was thinking, like, oh, well, since the dance is funky, then we dance to funky music. I said, funk styles. And then she wrote it down. And she's like, so this is. I said, funk styles. It's a dance. It's a, not dance, sorry. Funk styles is a title that is under the Electric Boogaloo. It's not, it was when I made it, it wasn't, it was never a thing where it was supposed to be what all West Coast do. It is specifically was for what Electric Boogaloos do under our umbrella, on our banner. So, okay. Um, so that's why when, you know, when I put up, I know many times I have have written what, uh, uh, funk style is. Funk style is only what we do. So, that's why waving, strutting, animation, it's not a funk style. It's not part of funk style. It's, it's not. Okay. Yeah. So, and, and locking got in. And locking was once in, now it's not a part of it. Because when I was talking to Don Campbell, God rest his soul, years ago, and I was telling him about funk style. He said, well, you know, uh, locking is, you know, spunky. Of course. He said, then he said, well, you know, can locking be in with funk style, since it's a West Coast dance? And I said, you want it in? He said, yeah. I'll say more, almost definitely. And then, then I heard he retracted it, you know, a couple years later. And then I taking it back out. So, so funk style is definitely something that I created, that I coined, and it's, you know, ran by by me. That's why it is so funny because everyone started using the word. This is how [ __ ] style became [ __ ] styled because they was going to use funk style. And I had to, I had to being sure how someone has called or got in contact with them saying, you can't use funk style because we already did the event. Our event, first event, 1999, was the funk style event. So, we, we own, we own that name as far as the event. So, it's just not only an entitlement of what we do under the banner, it is also what we, we use as our event. So, that's why they changed it to pumpkin style. Okay. Okay. Okay. Interesting. Wow. This is amazing because it makes so much sense because all these dances started with funk music, right? Yes. There's the music, not only nothing, also the strategies. It's, it's because of all of these things. But the thing I didn't want to do, I didn't want to, I didn't want to be that person who say, yeah, all the West Coast is not the funk style. But things, the cars, you know, you got to remember how, you know, it's whatever it is that people, you know, what the Electric Boogaloos or whatever. So, I'm very careful of not to, oh, I see that you, I'm very careful to try not to, you know, disrespect for just implicating this. Because then people started taking it out of context. And a lot of people did. And I had to tell them, no, it has nothing to do with waving, tutting, strutting, whacking, you know, I mean, robot, animation, none of that. So, everybody live on their own. So, we, we live on the flip side. So, so, so to get clear, is actually that like, every style have this individual creator, right? Because of this individual creator, we call this style as it is, right? Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. And that's the thing. That's the thing. That's the misinformation because a lot of styles come from, definitely come from different creators, different communities, different times. So, how can everything keep landing under popping? And popping came out before one style like strutting came out before, you know, popping. What, what we, what we do as EBs? Yes. But we don't, we don't, we're not saying, oh, that style, uh, should be in popping, or we should be in strutting. It's a different thing. Come from different creators, different communities, different time set. So, everyone has, because I always look at things like, instead of people looking at things that's almost similar to, oh, animation, popping, robot. But I look at everything as if I was saying, whacking, breaking, krumping. You know, all these styles are different. For me, I don't care if it's strutting, boogaloo, popping, animation. They all different to me. And that's not eight more has always been. Wow. Wow. Because, because I, I start to call it somehow California styles, because they come all from Cali, right? Because we need some, I think we need somehow to put them together, but of course, to separate them in the teaching and in the knowledge, right? Yeah.

So, next question is actually not about styles. What is, what is about book style? What is book style and boogaloo style? What is this, this two terms?

Book style is, is, uh, uh, another term, just a short term of EB feel. EB, wait, how we dance, how we mix. Okay. Yeah. Because that's a, yeah, because when, you know, see that this is the crazy part of this thing is, we used to say when we're coming up, Electric Boogaloo style. You know, it's just doing two or more, uh, under the banner of what we do. So, that's how we determine. And you see that look. Then individually, we can do those styles individually. Boogaloo is a, it's a field, which means the rolls, how Sam do all this. Yeah. Yeah. So, but book style is just short for, and Sam, uh, coined that word. It's just short for Electric Boogaloo, the way that's what book. Now, the, the funniest thing that we went through, one of the things like EBs. We never called ourselves the EBs. And I remember, and I remember, like, in the, um, early late 90s, early 2000s, internet downs, popping, and people was writing, damn, man, those EBs. And I'm going, I'm reading, going, who the hell is the EBs? Like, they was like, man, they think they, they needs this, the EBs, that, or people may say, man, like the EBs. And I'm going, who are the EBs? I asked somebody, said, that's you guys. I said, wait, like EB? Yeah, that's your boogaloo. Say, we never called ourselves. Now, you know, it's, it's normal now, but we didn't never, we didn't coin it. People coined that and put that out there. And we, then we just, we just went ahead and went with it and went over the EBs. Because for us, it was like, oh, we were so, like me, I was like, yeah. So, that's a little, just a little information that people don't know. They think we're the one who started calling on somebody. No, it wasn't so.

And because end of the 90s, um, with Skeet and, and Sam, you took Wiggles and Taco inside the EBs, right? And Jazzy J too, right? Right. But I think also for me, when I started and I saw you as a group, not the first ones, but you, then I was like, ah, okay, what Taco is doing is also Electric Boogaloo style. And what Wiggles is doing. And I think this was a big misunderstanding what happens back then. Yeah. Now it's more clarified, that's for sure. That's for sure. Oh my god. Yeah. That's because, yes, it's funny because someone, actually Jayce Moon, just wrote a thing this morning. I've seen about people, you know, will talk stuff about certain people, certain styles. But the same style, somebody else is doing that got from that same person they dislike, they praising those other people. And for me, what happens to us, and particularly, particularly to me, a lot. And people like, oh, someone's so strong like stuff. But I like to eat. I said, he's doing what I taught him. Or he's doing old me. Or some stuff. For me, and people have put their own thing in it. Again, people can do all that. But I'm, I'm looking at stuff like, I, I talk Sugar Pop. Sure. If I don't dance like me, I, you know, in the sense of of this structure, he has his own technique-wise. We're doing the same. I taught him technique. Yes. Same thing with Wiggles. Same thing with Jazzy J. Same thing with Taco. All, all these people pretty much came through me that I, that I taught personally. Not like in the class. We're private lessons. And we're doing sessions. And, yeah, session is more like especially hanging out, right? And dancing, right? But I'm a person who, I'm gonna find your identity. I'm gonna teach you like Sam taught Sam taught me the technique. But I have the same. I can have the same feeling, sound, but not the same look. Same technique. Same one Sam bring it. Do it different. I can do it differently. But it's the same technique. That's the, that's the one thing that people don't understand. And when you say it's like when people say, oh, I got my own style of popping. I go, show me. They start doing. I say, wait, the muscles, you're doing the Fresno. That's not your own style. Now, if you say, I have, I have my own feel within the technique of that, then I say, oh, because then we all have a self-identity that we all have to do. That's why I said, when you see certain people, you go, oh, I, I identify that feel. Oh, that sounds so feel. But people, because for me, when I say style, I mean that style of dance. You said, I created. I have my own style of pop. Yes. Yes. Yes. But how you have your own style of popping when popping came way before you, and you have your own style? Then why is it happening?

Because, because nowadays, it's very difficult. People learning your moves, or your, your basics, and still they don't have identity. How, what, what do you think is missing? What is the, the thing, what they're missing?

Well, I mean, because I think with everybody, so many dancers, they dance like you, right? Yeah, yeah. But, you know, what, and the feeling, I understand, they dance popping, but the feeling is also the same. They, they try to be you, right? Well, yeah, I mean, the thing is, that's the difference. You can have, when you emulate. Now, when I say feel, feeling is the structure of how you move. Moves is different. If you say, if I started popping, I started doing the Wiggle Wall. They said, that's a move, because that's a, that signature move belongs to that particular person. You, you, I dance the Fresno like you do it, right? Yeah, yeah. But the Fresno, but the Fresno has to be done. And, and because it's, it's a feel in a, in a pretty much of the technique of what should be. So, now this will always say, okay, I'm gonna go like this. My, the, the, the technique of the pop is contracting the muscles. And me, me holding my hands like this and doing it, is that's why that's a feel. This is a different feel. This is a different way. So, look, we'll say, we're, for the argument's sake, let's say a different look. So, if I'm going like this, or like this, or like this, the technique is the same. The look changes. Okay. Okay. So, this is, this is what everyone has can, can have. You can do a different look, or you can do standard. You know, if you're doing this technique, but then it becomes a thing where you have to understand how to, to manipulate the movement of, when I say feel, of what, how you move. A lot of people, a lot of people will watch someone and then want to be just like that person. And I've said this many times. I said, those are true. Yeah. Yeah. So, when I go, and they may have a carbon copy of it. And then someone said, man, you dance just like Horn. Or you dance just like Kite. Exactly. Someone say, and they go, oh, thank you. But they're not giving you, I, I ate your self-identity. They just told you you look like someone else. Whether you want it, whether you're doing it prolifically or not, it's just the fact that you have no identity. Now, if you work on the basics, foundation, the fundamentals, and then you find your way. This is what Sam told me. He said, Pete, I'm going to teach you the, the foundation, the technique, the feel, the structure. And he said, put your personality inside of that. And that's what I did.

So, you're very good in imagination. Because when you dance, I see it, Pete. I see it. You're so far. You have your own world. That's why I think every solo, when I see every solo from you, is is different. You see a different structure, different movements, but it's still popping. So, I think what's happened in your mind when you dance? Is it, you see things, or you imagine stuff, or you only listen to music, and the music gives you an idea of a cartoon, or of a, of a structure, how you do this?

Well, that, and good, good question. Um, coming, coming up into this, man, as far as what Sam trying to start teaching, he started telling me stories how he came up with a move, or feel, or some of the other original members of the Electric Boogaloos came up, you know, where they saw a crippled guy, uh, someone who was drunk, or some somebody, you know, waiting in a Baptist church, how they do all the kind of looking things. Yes. So, Sam told me, life is what makes art. So, if you could, you look close enough at things, you know. And that's how, that's how you know, how animation came today, is watching people, watching the Jason and the Argonauts, animation stuff, and then mimicking this. So, these are things that, you know, I was always, always were taught. But I also always had had a crazy imagination. So, and I just, I just look at everything as applicable to dance, to movement. Yeah. It's like when I started coming up, I came up in the early 80s. I started doing this thing where my, I do my hands like this, and literally, it was me thinking, uh, these was like spatulas, which is, you know, the flip hamburgers. So, I was thinking, this is what I was doing. So, I was going, because I said, everything, you know, even when I came up, this, this is called stacking. When I started, that's me stacking cups. Spiderman. Yes. This, this thing, I should call the Anaconda, what I today, because, and some people, you know, and I could, I see it in some people. And it's something that I think of people. I don't mean, don't stop looking at other people, getting inspired. What people need to do is, is cut off the, the mental camera to, to look at something they tried, because someone getting a, a handcraft for, and they, and everybody love it. They want to take, take that picture, or that thing, and be, and reply to themselves, versus saying, oh, I see what he did, but I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna do something else. I'm gonna make, oh, I can't, if he can do it, and I tell people, you, everyone is capable of having their own thing, creating their own feel. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's just, cut off, it's just cut off stuff, man. And start just looking at things within themselves, and stop looking at other people. Yeah.

And when you follow the, the all this competition era, what's happening now, or what happened? Because we don't know if now the competitions, how they're going. Yeah. But now it's going to be online competitions for sure. Different. It's going to be different. Because before you battle, different. Can you, can you tell us the story how was the battle before, and how was the battle, and how is the battle now? Because now you have one round or two rounds in one minute, right? And I battle also like 10 rounds in a cipher, and then you have to give, and if you don't have any bullets, it's, you're done. You go home and practice. Exactly.

Well, I mean, this is one of my better, I mean, I love talking about this because coming into the, in, you know, this whole dance thing, you know, not only getting your reputation of just being the people seeing you and saying, you know, whether, yeah, it's because we're a teenager at a teen club, or a house party, or a park, you know, whatever it is. And so, you got your, you got that kind of rap. But then, you know, the one that we, on the West Coast at the time, from like 77, you know, probably to like 84, 5, you know, for us, we, we said, go against. You want to dance against me? You want to go against me? You want some? We never said battle. Battle. When I heard that word, I was like, why would they? What they fighting or something? So, okay. So, when we said, we said, hey, we want to go against me. So, that was the whole thing. Once that's that, and this, and that has started, even in the locking, the locking days, and before the whole competition thing has, is something that's way even back in the 20s, you know, from, you know, uh, and that era. But when coming, so coming into the modern day day of when I came, came into it, it was just a way to show off. Now, the thing is, the, the way we got down, or we want to get someone, we didn't wait to some kind of thing. You write your name on. We have rivals, whether it be neighborhood rivals, where someone else still in the same vicinity of your neighborhood, maybe five blocks or ten blocks, or another city. Whether it be, because I live in Long Beach, it'll be Compton, to be L.A., and it'd be Watts. So, you start hearing about people, or you go to these neighbors. That's one thing that Electric Boogaloos did back in the day. We left out of Long Beach to go to go to Compton, to go to L.A., to go anywhere that if people wasn't doing the style, or hadn't seen the style, either way, we was coming to you. As people came as people came to Long Beach. So, those days, you can just be, you know, like, like in had us at a park, having a picnic, and then the music was playing. Then all of a sudden, somebody come, and they look you dancing, they dance, and you look at them, and give them that, you want some? And you won't serve us. And we go, and we go at it. Now, there was two ways to battle back in those days. There was Hugo, I go. Then there was Imano, Imam. We go at the same time. And those from, okay. Okay. Those were the, that's how it was in the beginning. Because you like, it was like boxing, you know? Yeah. It's like, who got the bigger jab? Who got the bigger left hook? The right hook? The uppercut? So, then those things, you have those kind of ways. You had a battle. You had to watch out for. I mean, you hadn't, you trying to look at them, they trying to get you. Then you're trying to go and get in your own stuff. Because supernatural complicated. Yeah. And actually was easier, because we, that's the only thing we knew. Yeah. We get you to one-on-one. You go, I go. For us, I was like, okay, that's boring for me. It was the bigger ones is was when we both going at the same time. And then you have to sit there going, wow, he's kidding me. When meaning he's winning. And most people at that time, because they weren't, you know, no judges. Yeah. You may ask the crowd, who will, you know, just for a boasting thing. But majority sometime, and many people back then was more honest. If you lost, you say, man, you got me. Like, particularly my first battle that I did, or get down. I was, uh, I just had learned. I probably, I just, I started 16. I think I was about 17. My friend came to my house, and he said, hey, hey, this guy want to, want to go against you, dance against you. And I said, where do we live? He said, you know, about four or five blocks, you know, away. I said, okay. And I ran. Me and him, red. I don't have a car, I don't have a bike, no skateboard, no nothing. I ran all the way to this guy, to this kid. How always the same age. And I came up, and he said, oh, right there. And it was his mom, his, the guy who was out in his yard with his mother and his little sister. I don't know who the kid, I don't know what the guy is, one of the kids kids. So, I can't say he was a kid. So, we, I ran him. I said, who want to battle me? I mean, who wants to dance against me? Yeah. Who said? And his mother said, he does. I said, okay. I said, you're gonna go for it? I go first. And then he said, I'll go first. I said, well, I'ma beat you in five moves. Go ahead. And he started, you know, again, this was, this was in the beginning. So, it was, you know, just trying. And I had, of course, I'm a more, a little bit more advanced. So, I took off and I counted. I said, pop, one, two, down, three, four, five. I stopped. And I said, did I win? He said, yeah. Then I said, okay, thank you. And I ran back home. Sorry. But that's how, that's how it was. People used to come to our door and, and back, knock on our door. And, and my mom would open the door because we didn't, we converted our car, the car garage, and our family home into practice. My father, my mother said, we can turn into the practice placement for the group. These two particular brothers came and knocked on the door. Now, we heard, we using him, rehearse, practicing. And we heard our mother talking. And then she said, are we gonna say they in there? So, these two kids came in. They, when they wanted to battle us, we battled. We turned them out. They left. And when my mom came out, and I think he said, what happened? She said, oh, well, they knocked on the door and they said, we want to battle your sons. And she, and my mom said, well, they're in the garage. And good luck. And she shut the door. Like, go ahead, y'all.

No, this is, I don't know if it's in Germany. It was like this for me. It was also in a cipher. It was very short rounds. Sometimes it was just a move you create it, and move, and then you go out, and then you see what's happening. It wasn't this long dance round. Sometimes, because sometimes now, if cyphers, they dance like five minutes. Oh, man. We did that. No, no, no. We did five minutes. About one. I think my second battle, me and this guy, Tony Hall, he's still around. We battled three songs complete. Some, this is, this is not the days of the DJ cutting in. This is one turntable. Because we had to, we had a, a recreation center, youth center, and they had a dance. And it's one turntable. So, you put it on, and it played the whole record. Then they take it off, put another record on, play. And we went three records. Three whole, five, the record was probably like at least average three to four minutes long. And we went like, when you dance like five minutes. And, yeah, you went going back and forth. Came and going back and forth. Just going back and forth. Yeah. Okay. So, but that's how, that's how it was because, you know, some people didn't want to give up. Some people just say, I'm going to keep wanting. And then, even if you're winning, you want to show. I want to show you I got stamina. I'm going to show you. And the thing about in those days is different now, you know, because it is, it's more competition based. So, you have to wait a whole year to see the same people. Or if you want, you got to come back. The thing is, when you battled and got down on the streets, and you lost, you, even if you lost, you go first. Sometimes they go like this, well, man, when I see you again, I'm gonna go home. They go home and practice people. And then, yes, and, and come back. And, and you may not even see that person. That's not like you head hunting. Like, I'm gonna go to this guy's house. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But we never know. If you run up against that person, it could be the next week, could be the month from, from then. But if you run into the person, yo, your arsenal either going to be higher, or it's also going to be higher, or it's going. So, but you, it never was a thing like, oh, I won, I lost him. I'm not gonna, I'm, I caught my head without a shame. It's like, yeah, he won this time, but next time, that's my turn. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And also, I mean, nothing. I have to say quickly is the, when we used to battle, get out in the days, touching was a part of the thing. Not, not this is, well, I mean, I don't know their character, right? If you pop your chest hard, you put your, you put your chest on people's shoulders. And they doing this. So, the, the thing, even, even the things where, if you, this is one of the reasons why when you see Electric Boogaloos doing all the stuff like this, because back in them days, you had a hat on. People used to take your hat, take it off your head, throw it on the ground, and smash it with their feet. Well, that was part of the game. That was part of the game. So, we had to develop a thing when we moved, God, you can't get my hat. All year, all these neck rolls that we started doing, because you're not getting our hats. And that's outside, more, more sporty, fair. It becomes more sports fairness, right? Like, only time you got, if anything, is people broke character. If you dance, and somebody just push you, like, what? Then it's broke character. But if you like, when you put your hand on their shoulder, you're going, crack, crack, dude, do all these chests, you do that. Now, you got, you got the counseling culture. Oh my god, he touched him. This is not fair. Yeah. It's true. Yeah. Crazy. Me. Yeah.

So, another question. Another question. Like, now you see this, uh, this urban, I don't know, urban dancing, or street dancing becoming very academic. Because you have the basics, you have a structure, you have the hierarchy, you have the teachers, you have the masters. Then you have, you know, students under you. What do you think, or how is it in the States? Or what do you think is missing in the States to build for a university? Or do you believe in this, that it's going to be more like, you know, that people can go and study and become then dancers on in theater, or on other stages? You know, yeah.

Because, yeah, yeah. I think I need to get together to get a paper and to say, I'm not from this. I'm not a street dancer. You know, you know, I'm, I learned this because of this people. They built this, right? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, it's kind of happening. But for me, I guess, I'm, I'm torn between both. My thing is, I'm, I'm more like keeping it, keeping it raw. Keeping it. I mean, I see people do, you know, theater stuff, which, when street dance and whatever. Yeah. Yeah. You know, my whole thing is, it's not, it's not all, it's not where you do it. It's about where, wherever you are, just keep it real. Keep it to the, you know, keep it to how it was, how, how the structure. Because I'm, if you, I'm pretty sure if someone who's doing jazz or ballet, go down to the hood, they're not gonna change their, their structure and try to be hood ballet dancers. They're gonna come in and have what they do. Just because they're, they're down in South Central L.A., or or in Harlem, they, they're not gonna change what they learn. So, my thing is, people, you can just, you know, I've done theater. Yeah. It's a German, maybe it's a German view, because here, it's really, they, the States, the society here, they needs paper. They need this, this, uh, this, this offices needs paper. That, so, ah, okay, this person went to master it in the university. So, it's educational thing. What does that mean? You know what I mean, right? Yeah. It was like that because of the first, the one that I remembered, you and I, we was rehearsing at Debbie Reynolds Studio, doing the one with the person for breaking, practicing from breaking the movie. So, back in 1984, was that Debbie Reynolds Studio, which, you know, now they closed. But it was, you know, back then, it was, it wasn't a, it wasn't a hip-hop street dance studio. Was it? Was ballet, jazz, tap, all that. Modern day. But we rehearsed there for the movie. So, I went up to the front and asked the, the lady who was working there, said, you know, I would love to teach here. How can I, how can I, you know, teach here? I mean, she said, do you have a bachelor's degree in teaching us dance? I said, huh? Like, did you go to college to, to? I said, no, my brother taught me in our home. So, you know, when I talk in colleges, and she said, well, the only way you can really, the only way you can be hired here is to have a bachelor's, a degree in teaching. And that was not, and that wasn't, that wasn't the only studio. Because then, this is, this is pre the explosion of, of the street dance craze. We were still underground. We were still, yeah, looked at as specialty. Oh, that's the specialty acts. That's the, they doing that stuff that they do on the corner. Yes. Yeah. So, but now, for me, because street dance, hip-hop makes money. But, yeah, a lot of people don't, you know, they still look at it as, oh, that's that, that's that stuff. But we gonna try to clean it up. So, we say, you know, it's the same thing like they try to do in France, you know, they, and, you know, let's get a certificate, let's get this stuff. It's not gonna work. Even though people, because then the people who wants to do it, is the people who want to control. They don't wanna, they don't want to, uh, let it be, uh, controlled or, or managed, I should say, by the people who were there before them. They want to learn enough just to say, look, okay, you got to go through us to get this paper, and we're the one who, who gives the certificate inside. I mean, when you are the, when you are the, the guy from the university, like, uh, Street Dance University, and you're, you're the, the guy who say, yes, Robo Z, this is your paper. You know, now, what's that Electric Boogaloo style is boom. And now you can go to see, you know, what I mean, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But then again, you gotta, because, and they have people who teach in universities. You know, I got friends who teach, UCLA, USC, you know, uh, street dancing, you know, all this. But it's still not like these people who get the certificate, or can really go out and get a, a job. Yeah. So, this is, this is what I'll say. It's almost like, you know, because I've been, and I've been asked, not actually not by university, but people say, they should, you should go teach. And then you're, you know, in their university curriculum, and all this stuff. And I'm going, oh, that's cool. Yeah. I'm a professor. And it has a cool sense. But then it's not how these people really live. It's, of course, it's a, it's a thing that they, they do for a semester. Or, yeah, yeah. It's more intellectual. Yes. It's an intellectual thing. Yeah. Yeah. Heart living it. In your head. It's about, it's about, um, taking, taking on every aspect of it. I'm not saying people in the university don't do that, because yes, they do. But if you taking a course, and then they graduate, and go on to the next. Yeah. Yeah. You, as a teacher, may be making money, but you're just manufacturing something that's just like, they go to English class, and math, and history. And this where I live. This time, every day, I, you know, it was part of my fabric. It was part of every, I woke up, went to sleep, doing what I do, thinking about what I do, uh, feeling what I do, [ __ ] what I do. So, you know, I think, you know, anything is teachable. But I think it takes the right teacher to go to these places. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know, we're going to get out of this. We're going to get out of this classroom. I'm going to take you guys exactly where the hell I used to get down. We're going to go to that area. We're going to take you to the hood. Because in that classroom, they're safe. We can get in the books, we can read the literature, we can see, and you can put on, we can put on everybody. No, my thing is, get your ass off the class. Let's take it down to, let's take it to the hole. Let's take it to the damn thing. Yeah. It's crazy. Crazy. So, good. So, good. I, I wrote, um, yeah, we had this, um, we had this too. So, so, a goal as a teacher, when you teach people, what is a goal for from you? It's only like, because I see also when I teach people, they just want to learn movement. And, and they don't want to. It's a very individual thing, right? Right. Right. You, and, and you can, I think, yeah, you can see if somebody have the fire inside, or somebody don't have it, right? Because of all this time, right?

Um, yeah, yeah. Um, I mean, for me, every, the thing I, as, as, you know, I started teaching, not even in a classroom, again, people come to my home. Everyone has a different time, you know, way they learn, how much they're going to learn, how fast they're going to learn it, the purpose of them learning. Yeah. And there's involvement. I don't care. Yes. This is my individual. My whole thing is, I'm gonna teach you everything that I was taught from my brother, and structures that I even came up with after. So, my whole thing.

Is what you what you take away from it is on you. I can't. Yeah, because I can't. Me looking at the class and trying to figure out, "But that person is only here for this reason." This person is... it's a waste of my energy. It's wasting my time because all I have to follow to do is teach you what I know, to give you the best chance to be the best you can be. I can't. Whatever you're hitting, if you come in and say, "I just want to learn a couple moves so I can battle somebody," so be it. That's that's what you do.

So my thing is, as teachers out here, we have to, we have to, we have to stop taking things so personal and and just look at, "I'm here." Because if you walk into a class and there's only two people in there, you still got to teach them like there's 200 people. If there's 200 people, you got to teach them like there's 2,000 people. Yeah.

This is so my thing is, good one. I'm here to try to make you better than what you were. I'm here to even want you to be better than me because I'm my whole band. Yeah, yeah. My whole thing is to to elevate because someone taught me from scratch. So if I get to, and I'm at a position, if I only think about, "Well, I don't want no one to be better than me." No, I want the students to rise to the occasion because as a teacher, if someone says, if someone says to me, "Man, your student is better than you," I'm going to clap. I did myself. It's all about, I think this is all about when you take it philosophically, right? Like it's all about this: a good teacher makes a better student, a better teacher. And that's that's that's and that's my drive. That's always been like that. I've always, since day one when I started showing people, you know, first, I, I didn't want to teach because I didn't know everything. And my, as I felt. And then when I started teaching people, it was all about this is. And if everything was, "This is what Sam told me. This is what Sam told me. This is what Sam gave me." So I'm only giving you the reason why I'm the way I am is because not only the move, I'm going to give you the mentality of the reason why I am who I am. Okay?

So, um, those things that a lot of lie. And I'm not, again, you know, that's why I don't, I'm not, I'm not that person who get on line and talk about who's teaching, who shouldn't be teaching. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's something. What I'm saying is the reason why I don't do that is because, for one, it's a waste of my time and my energy. Too, I only, I only need to work what I within my power and what I know. Because if you go overseas, I go to Germany, I go to, you know, France, China, Japan. Many teachers have gone who go teach these same students before me or after me. Yeah. I don't go in and say, "Let me see what you learned." "Oh, that dude taught you that." I'm going, "I'm here to teach you EB field style structure." I don't say, "Whatever you learn from someone else, throw it out the window." My thing is, you know, yeah, it doesn't make sense. I tell people, "Look, you have the right to do or not to do something someone else learn." Even if you learn something from me and someone did it better or better and you felt more comfortable, you wanted to showing you, do your damn thing. This is politics. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm saying. Art. And then, yeah. And art is no politics in my mind. Yeah. And art is an art form. Now, it's maybe it's from the hood. And maybe the hood mentality is inside and it's raw, right? But still, it's an art form. And I think we have to push all together this art from so far that it's never be forgotten. Yeah.

That's it. That's it, man. It's like, you know, I mean, me growing up where I grew up, I'm not, I'm not a thug. I'm not. Yeah. But I know where I know where I came from. And I'm also a person who knows that this is, I don't care. I don't care what color you are, who whoever created, whatever, whatever. It doesn't, to me, it's not a thing where it belongs to that. Now belong and where it comes from is two different things. For me, everything that that I believe in this world is shareable. You can share the art. Like you said, the key is art. You share the art. Saying, "This is what we do." Doesn't matter what color, creed, race, religion. I don't give a damn. That is not my, my thing. So I don't, I, I'm solely based in looking at individuals doing a the dances, dance style. I don't care if you're a female, kid, grown man, black, white, Asian, uh, whatever. Out here, do the damn ones. Respect the damn dance. Respect the structure of what the dances are created on and how they are structured. And look, don't just, it's not about people saying, "Man, they disrespected me." I'm all, my thing is, like, you mess up the dance, you disrespect them to dance. My thing is, respect whatever dance style of the foundation, the technique, the history, everything that's there that that has the dance has no color. Yes.

I, when I talk to people, I say to them, "It's about the culture and the traditions." You have tradition and culture. And then after this, the dance form and the technique is free. It's for everybody. But like, you know, yeah, it's for everybody. But I think, I think one tradition. I remember when the Hush Puppies, the shoes was was the hype, the height. It was the hype. So it is also a tradition to wear good shoes. The Hush Puppy craze came. For me, I'm the one who started it. Uh, the thing that the crazy thing about it, because when I was young, Hush Puppy was, you know, I was poor. Hustler. Piece was a shoe that was we couldn't afford. We liked those shoes because they have the loafer style and this and that. So, and my face asked my mom, "Oh, some Hush Puppies, guys?" See, because I went, I got bust from mine by neighborhood of school. I went to to all white school. So that's when it's integrating, um, you know, students and black community, white community, and Fresno. So I see, you know, these kids wearing Hush Puppies. I'm going, "Ooh, I'm talking." This is me. So we couldn't afford them. And I remember. So I came to Vegas and, uh, uh, 1997 to do the show. Manhattan, went Wiggles, Skeee, Jazzy J, Sugar Pop, all of us. And one of the ushers who was just the person seat people, this white, this white guy who had this, you know, he was kind of like half punk rocker, half nerd. And I slipped after he, and, you know, I was talking. I looked down, said, "Those are not Hush Puppies." He said, "Yeah." I said, "Man, I ain't seen Hush Puppies in so long. Where did you get him?" He said, "There's a Hush Puppy outlet at one of the at this at the mall at the shopping mall." I went, and I, I think I got paid, and I ran. I went to the, I drove to the thing. The shoes was like eighty dollars. So I bought a blue, dark blue pair. And I came actually back to the show with Luis Skeeter, with everybody. I said, "Oh, I got some Hush Puppies." Right? Oh, it was cool. So I would just, I would just wear them to wear them. Whatever, whatever. Then I started dancing. I said, "These kind of they light. They got real got nice little grip." But when I started buying others, no one else in the group, once we informed, we reformulated the group, no one else wanted to wear them. Like Sam didn't like him. Ski didn't do none of them. Nobody was, didn't want to wear Hush Puppies because there's there is, um, my second video is two edits. I had, by this time, I had accumulated a bunch of Hush Puppies. I started, I put wrote a thing in front. It says, "So what do, uh, probably wear to dance in?" And I had, then it jumped in. I had a, the next scene was, you've seen all the displays of my husband. It's only, it's only one hour allowed. And then they cut it. Yeah, yeah. Oh, too. Then, oh, shoot. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, no, it's back. We are back. It's crazy, man. It's crazy.

So, so actually, you, you make it a whole tradition. Yeah. I mean, amazing. I made the whole tradition, man. And it's so funny because it's crazy. And then crazy that I wanted to to Japan. And then I started making it, making it over there. Making people like, they started like, "Oh, I want to buy them." But over there, the same Hush Puppy shoes, they would find in stores were equivalent to 200, like 200. So, uh, then Ski got into it, got into, you know, everybody started slowly getting into it. Then it became a full-fledged, all EB's, we all started wearing Hush Puppies. Then we started going, we went to these like little discount stores. And we found a store. It was named, it's still here, called Ross. Ross, uh, store had, they sell shoes. Everything in this store is like discount. So we went in and we saw Hush Puppies. And we was going. And we, now, what, what I was buying, we was spending 60, 70 at the outlet. Now we find them in this store for nine dollars. And we were like, and it was just that they had the, the blue, black, and then we started getting like this rust color ones, stuff, slip-ons, tie-ups. So we started going around, we started buying up all the shoes. And then Ski's go to Japan and sell and sell. We, we buy for nine dollars and we go selling for fifty dollars. Make a forty dollar property and make a business out of it. Yeah. We made a business where we used to, after our classes, we him and I should come. And we have a big suitcase that full of husband with the boxes. Why? Like he, he, we probably brought pride like 30 pair between both. And, uh, after the class, we would, we would put the shoes out, tape one out as like a, like a shopping place and put it up. And the students just like, "Look, we get smaller sizes." And we, they look, we're selling them like for 50, 60 dollars. And we put the nine, nine, nine for him. So sort of the craze, uh, especially in Japan, it jumped because that's the first place went. So it, and, and America had not yet called on to it because a lot of people looked at it as an EB thing. Husband, because, you know, it became, yes, with certain, you know, entities and people who was against us. Yeah, they would always talk about, "No, nobody want no husband shoes." You know, Hush Puppies became. And he, even we even tried to call Hush Puppies company. I, I called them. And they were like, they said that we were in this group. And they were like, you know, they, we wasn't famous enough. So, and we, we never could get an endorsement. We're trying to get you guys on the on the map. You know, what, what the dance community? They were like, "You ain't selling me."

And what do you think about the, the whole, uh, you know, this big sponsor ships right now in the best plans? Because look, look, you gotta understand something. This is my thing. Yeah. All this social media, all big sponsor. I wish we had that. If we had what equivalent to say social media of how it is now, because the internet came to the public, but and for us about '97, '98 publicly. But if we would have had all this technology that they have now, the dance that, you know, I think the total of the dancing will be in perspective, history-wise, everything. Because at this time, you know, the names and things would have been put out there. This and that. Groups like, we, we in '97, we had our own. We had a website, let you boogles.com. We had. But they got, remember this one. Yeah. On that website, on the website, it stated by it said, "Let's blue styles." And it says, "Styles from from Northern California. Styles that LA started." So we put, "Yes." But it went down in like say, uh, '83. So '93. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm jump shipping. I'm thinking. I mean, in 2003, 2002. So, so all that time, all the people who started getting into it, started not, they didn't see the site. They didn't see that we gave, we gave props to different styles, different areas, different cities, different people. And, um, so the whole thing got so mismatched and crazy that, you know, I said, "This site was still up, they will see, oh, they gave props to the Bay Area." Or they gave props to LA. They gave props to, oh, to that group or to these individuals. Because this is because when I started, when I, the guy came to me, I started saying, "Well, I want to put on here not about EB history, Electric Boogaloos. I want to put here's things that had nothing to do with us, but it's still, we all part of the same fabric." So that's, that's where I'm from. I usually tell people that. I should say, yeah. Um, because before I got to LA, I said, "From Fresno to the Bay or the Bay to France." I don't care which way it came. For me, it's the fact that those, the creation of a lot of the things that people are doing around the world came from those two areas. The Southern California came in later because we migrated to Southern California. So Southern, Southern Canada for Southern California is more of the adoptive thing of of area. But if you're saying the, the creative places, yeah, struggling, animation, waving, all that stuff came from from from the Bay, Oakland, Burkina, Richmond, San Jose, Fresno. Yeah. Vegas, Bakersfield. Fresno was this, uh, students meeting for, I don't know what it was. That all the students from all California go to Fresno because Fresno's in the middle of Cali, right? So they, and there was a big exchange also, right? Yeah. It was a, this is called the West Coast Relays. West Coast Relays was, uh, for, you know, runners, spenders, all that. Well, so the sports is a sports event. So at the last day, the last day of the of that sporting event, they would have a big dance, big party. And, and it'll be like 800, 000 people in there, you know? So you got all these people from, you got all these people from different, different areas. Bay. This is the first time that I seen the Bay style. I mean, I don't, this, I'm 16. I'm, I'm barely knowing how to do the. So I'm just, I'm, I'm freaking raw green. I don't. There is the, the Fresno Electronic Boogaloo Lockers. That's Sam, taking Will, Twisted Black, Don, Ant-Man, Slim, and Slide. Uh, so they were the people. I was just Sam's little brother who can just. But I'm watching people who are, who are in his original group, same age as me, getting busy, popping, doing all this stuff. Like, "Oh, I'm, I'm just sitting like my mouth open." They in a circle. They're they're dancing against other people. And, um, and I remember this, this guy got in a circle. Somebody was, it was one of the members from the Electronic Boogaloo. It was Twisted. Like Don was battling somebody from from Bakersfield. So the other city, they're going at it. Then they people jump in. And this guy asks Sam, "Hey, man, can I, can I let me get some? Let me get someone." The other guy. So this dude, Sam don't know who this guy is. This dude walked out there and started doing all this stuff. I'm going, right? Which I found out, I'm studying later. So I'm like looking. And I asked Sam, I mean, Sam told me, I said, "Sam, what's what style is that?" Because I'm this 16-year-old skinny kid looking at us now. That, that I'm saying, "Fresno, look, all this stuff that he come out going doing all this stuff." I said, "That's dope. What is that style?" Sam said, "Oh, that's called strutting. That's from Bay." So I'm going. So Sam gave props to them. To me, a lot, you know. And Sam could have said, "Oh, I don't know what that is." Sam said, "Oh, yeah, that's that. Yeah. It's groups there called like Derek and Company." He's telling me these names while I'm sitting there. And I would never forget this because I don't know. I didn't know none of these groups. Of course, I never heard of that style. I said, "Strutting." You know, that's it's funky. Yes, I like that. Then he said, "Yeah, the group's like, uh, Brandon Robitoy's, uh, uh, Derek Company, um, the Mechanical Device." All these people, uh, that he just started naming. I was gone. He said, "Yeah, that's that style that they do." So Sam knew them. So, yeah, yeah. I'm new. Yeah, because the Fresno, all those people from Fresno, the dancers used to go because they had family either in San Jose. Even though Fresno's in the middle, but Fresno connected more with the Bay, meaning they had family there. So they would go like Sam. And he's telling me, "Yeah, man, you know, we just go out to the San Francisco to the to the to the wharf, you know, to the thing and watch people." You know, not watch people, take the move. People doing something different than they would do. Yeah, yeah.

Now, the reason why this is very important. And again, this is not about any controversial stuff. This is just facts that I that I know. Skeeter Rabbit's brother lived in San Francisco. And when, uh, Skeet lived in San Francisco when he was like, probably like 16, 17, 18 or whatever. His brother was up there. And Skeet didn't wasn't popping at the time. He was robot in the locking. So he used to go, he used to go to the to the wharf. And then he said, "Yeah, they were doing, you know, this robotic style, animated style." And he's even called clinking. He said he saw the posing. But he said he wasn't popping and boogaloo. He said, "Even if you heard that word." But he said, "Again, we should share the same name. The boogaloo name is not a name owned by them or us." They came before us. But he said, "It's a, he said, when he saw stuff, he, he was a, Skeet was always this guy who was a cop, you know, was about competition. Always want to battle or get out." He said, "When I went everywhere, he said, 'What I see?' He said, 'Man, when I see y'all, y'all doing something different from what I've seen back in when I went and lived in San Francisco, lived in the Bay Area with my brother.'" He said, "I was about, he said, 'I was about to want to battle anybody.'" So, so, and then that just, that, that whole thing coincides with the fact that when I seen it, I said, "That is different." See, for me, I can, I can sit here and go again, not, it's not about controversial. I'm just saying. Yeah, yeah. But I've seen when I'm looking at something at a young 16. I am not Electric Boogaloo member. I am this just Sam's brother. I'm watching members of the group he's in with. "Oh, whoa. Oh, I want this. Oh, I wish I could give that." Good. Of course. So what I'm saying, me, the first time I've seen air posing. The first time I've seen strutting. The first time I've seen animated stuff. Okay. What are these styles? And Sam sat there and told me. The only style he didn't know was when we first, when we seen the same day air posing. He was like, "I said, 'What?'" He said, "I don't know." He asked the dude. He asked the guy, "Hey, what style are you doing?" He said, "Where are you from?" "Dusan from Sacramento." He said, "What style?" They said, "I called it air pose." And I said, "And this dude had on a hat on a tuxedo, pure white tuxedo with a white type type hat and a white cane." And he just air posed. And we was like, I'm sitting there with my mouth like, "This is incredible." So, yeah, so I witnessed a lot of stuff that people believe that people. And they try to tell me stuff. Go ahead. Believe people. People. Yeah.

Um, I believe that that people, you know, you tell the stories right now, and it makes so much sense. And people, people take it wrong because when you go and teach somebody, I believe this, you talk about your movements, your, your individual experience, right? And you don't talk about other movements. And that's why I think you travel a lot and you give the world the Electric Boogaloo style, the popping style. And, and if I was an OG right now who danced another style, I would not, yeah, I wouldn't blame you to not talking about my style, right? You know what I mean? But I do. This is where where it starts to be very, very hard. Of course, when I teach people, I say, "I get inspired by, but then I go for my thing." It's, it's normal, right? Yeah, it's definitely normal because people, it's a two-way street to this whole situation. As people, and I get this all the time, you know, and then, you know, and we can, we can step into the controversial stuff. You know, I have a problem with all that kind of stuff. We can talk about. I don't know. I know. But what way I do it is, I don't, I never [ __ ] on people. So it doesn't really, I just, I deal in facts. I never deal in my opinion. My whole thing is this, when I first came up, like I said, story, I just said, "I didn't create any, I didn't create a dance style. I created some moves, but I created dance style." So me looking at anyone who's doing something different, I'm going to give them props. They don't have to be, I'll have to be on it online or speak it every day. But if someone says to me, "So was strutting comfy like?" "Yeah, like strut me come." You know, "So-and-so." I mean, it came from the base. This and that. You know, I'ma give everybody props because that's that was my, my whole thing back in the day is to find out. If I don't know you individually or know the person created, let me find out the community where it comes from to give that city or that area or that timeline the props that, um, I'm not here to to, you know, put a stop to people's creativity or take away people's, uh, rep, you know, like, uh, uh, you know, they're just, yeah, they're, they're thinking. Yes, yes, yeah. Because it doesn't do me any good to, you know, and again, I can talk. I can, it's not about, yeah, I'm gonna talk about the Electric Boogaloos all the time. No, it's about someone asked me a question. I don't know it. I say, "I don't, I don't know that answer." But you should go. I think those people know that place. A lot of people, there's a lot of people who who speak about us and don't know us. They know. And they, and they, they come along off a different. And another thing I want to say, I mean, this kind of part of everything. Even if I have a, even if I have a beef with you or disagreement, but your dance is dope. I'm gonna give you props on your dance. I don't care if you got into a fight. If someone said, "Hey, man, you think so-and-so is good?" If that person is dope, I'm gonna say, "Yeah, that person is dope." Do you like that person? Now, we don't, we don't get along. But I'm not gonna take away his or her skills. I cannot take away people's skill sets. But people don't understand. People don't understand it because they get caught in the person. It becomes personal. And I think, you know, and then it's also a second or a third person who changed the whole story. Yeah. Because this is human nature. It's crazy. Human nature is is crazy. So, yeah, that's why that's why. Yeah, that's what I said. That's why I don't, I don't advocate, you know, things where I, I tell a student to dislike someone because they dislike me or because I'm going, I'm going like this. I tell people, "Learn from anybody. Learn. Learn." You know, it's not about, you know, someone telling you, "This is the only." You know, meaning if it's the truth. If there's, if there's disrespect behind someone trying to teach you something, and I tell students all the time. But if people can't stand on their own feet and their own, uh, accord, they have to put down other people's to build them up, then they never, they never was nothing anyway. My whole thing is, I don't need to put you down to bring me up. I just need to do what I do. And if you, if you gravitate towards it, you do because you know. It's like, you know, I, I, I laugh. Not laugh, but it's kind of funny to me when people say, "Who, you know, who's your favorite dance teacher?" And sometimes I mention a lot with a lot of people new people out here. It doesn't matter to me. Yeah. I don't go, "Oh my God, I feel hurt." I'm not hurt. I'm not. It doesn't. I don't do this. Learn. If your teacher is whomever, and they teach you well, just teach you without the negativity. That's all I'm saying. You don't have to teach people with negativity. Negative, negative thoughts. And, yeah, "Our style is the best." I've never. No one can tell if anybody out there can find a, a recording and writing or anything where I say that Electric Boogaloo style is the best style. I will give you a thousand dollars if you can find it. And where I set it, like I'm, I'm coming in a braggadocious way. Yeah. "You start better than all these styles." That is something. You, you don't, you don't see me. Even if someone, I mean, if I'm in the midst of a heated debate with someone, I will never come with, "My style is better or this and that." All I say is, "You, your skills against my skills. Who come out the best is what it is." Other than that, me talking about how, yeah, we are, y'all styling better. No. I know. But I thought about this. But, but a lot of people do do us like that or do me like that. I just sit back and laugh. I'll be like, "This, this is funny. Like, really? This is how much energy you put into saying that you're better in your style." But fine. That's what you love. Do you think sometimes it's, is it, is it survival? You know, it's because of of us, of of a need of some survival in this? Because I think, man, we are 7 billion humans. Right? In the dance is maybe, I don't know, 1 million. Yeah. You know, like, like it's not even a big country. Our dancing. So that's maybe it's a survival thing, you know? Yeah. It is. I mean, you know, for me, again, just, I, I say, "If you love what you do, love it." You know? Yeah. I mean, I'm getting, it's a trip because I'm, I'm seeing questions. I'm sorry, Bill Robo, just, you know, because people say, "What's your opinion about MT Pop and Pose?" And, "Yeah, dope. I mean, you guys." I have nothing. Uh, I was, how I was this young kid coming up in this thing, you know? People say the same thing about, "What do you think about compete back in the day?" So my whole thing is, whether, you know, all I'm saying is just a continuous building or or thing of dance. I don't care. You know, I think it's not like, "Oh, what I think about these people." I've seen so many people that people admire right now that couldn't dance at first. That was in my class or that I saw on tape. They practice and practice and practice and practice. And they became who they are. Just like I did. So the same, the same, uh, blueprint that I did. And a lot of people doing the same. I'm not the originator of the way you practice, the way you get better. So, so the green text, the MT Pops, the RoboZies, Pete, Pete, Pete. One question. What are you working on yourself as a dancer? As a dancer, because you're still dancing right now. And what, uh, you're still working on yourself? You still, you know, you practice and you have ideas to make new things and stuff. What can you tell me or the next teachers when I become 15? The, the thing about it is this. This is nothing. Look, this is simple for me because I see, like I talk a lot with Storm. And Storm is like, he's like changing his food. He's practicing. He's dancing. He's writing books and so on. What are you doing? You know, my thing is about, you know, I mean, the book writing thing, I'm probably gonna do. But my thing is individually about the reason why that I look at myself and I still try to grow is because I have the same mentality that I did when I was 16. So think that what, what when I first saw this dance, I saw Sam move and other people move. I fell in love with the feeling of the movement. I saw this thing from it's almost from misconception. So, and I started seeing quotes. So my what was in my head was, "Why did I, why did I gravitate towards this dance?" Because I fell in love with the feeling, the movement of this dance. Thus, it made me work harder to to achieve, to try to get to that level of that same feeling that I got when I saw these people doing it. That feeling has to always be. So, always tell people, I'm 58 now. But there is, there is still a 16-year-old popping Pete inside of me. Who, or Timothy, I wouldn't even compete then. I was Timothy Earl Solomon. There's that little Tim who was inside who wanted to be that, who wanted to respect that dance and learn that dance. So I take that little Tim and I carry him every time I dance. It is because I, that Tim is the person who wanted to practice and be better and grow and grow. Once. So the thing is, a lot of people get to a point where they got a name. They, I see enough. And again, not everyone. I see people practice hard. But I'm giving people this, this mentality that I have. This is why I read books on Kobe. That's why I read books on many different people, Jordan, and scan through stuff with these people hiding how they work ethics. And the other thing, that reason why I do what I do is when I say this so many times, when Michael Jackson told me in 1985, "I start at 100 and I give my all." So, one, so my whole thing is that only that only added to what I, I had already been thinking about myself. So, so this goes to this date. There's a little Tim who is hungry to be the best he can be in the dance. Not the best dancer in the world. Yeah. The best he can be in the dance that he wants to respect. And I never forgot him. I take that hunger everywhere I think. Yes. And this is how you achieve. Also, I think this is this is how you achieve. It's the moment when you get with the contact. For me, the same. It's the same. And people don't understand. I see some in my age, old friends, they get a belly, they have family, they lost themselves. They're not the same persons like before. And sometimes they say, "Hey, Robo, you're like, you're like when we we're young." I'm like, "I'm still the same." Yeah. And it's this. I think this is what makes you, what makes us push and go forward. Yeah. And you're right. And the thing about it also, because I have friends like that too. But one thing I don't do, because everybody passed. And, you know, people who started with me, started after me, started before me. Some people stop. Some people, some people stop doing, you know, 40 years ago. They, they did it for a year and they went off because they were young. They went to the military, they got jobs, got married. What I do, there is a passion. Uh, for everyone, there's a stoppage. There is this. So when I look at people who stop doing it, I, my whole thing is, "Oh, man, you, you know, thank you for even doing it back as long as you did it." You know? And they may not, they may not still continue to do it. But my whole thing is, because I'm gonna stop at one time. And my whole thing is to to to respect those who are coming up behind me, those who learn, those who still carrying the torch, you know? And those who, those who still who are sitting on the side with the, you know, whether they have a big belly or or or whatever it is. My respect is still. Yeah. But even if they didn't lose themselves, my thing is this. Yeah. Some people are just not gonna. It's not about for me if they lost themselves or this and that. My thing is, they, they found another path of life that they went to. And there's nothing wrong with that. Because dance is not for everyone. And dance is not a loss for everyone. Again, I've turned this into a career. Some people did it as a trend. Some people did it as a hobby. I did it as a career that I live. I live. Not I did it because of the money because it wasn't really a lot of money I was making in the beginning. The first 10 years. I do because I, I love the feel of it. So have I have regular jobs? Yes. Have I not have I stopped dancing? Yes. Have I went back to dancing? Yes. My thing is, wow. So just, just, you know, anybody's out there, if you used to do the dance, man, respect. If you, if you still do the dance, respect. Do, do what you do. All right. And if you, the greatest thing about this dance is it, it has lifelong memories that could never be taken away. I don't care. You're 100, who lived 100, and you will still think about the first time you, you dance, the first time you learned this. That's the thing is important. I think. Wow. Thank you, Pete. Oh, my pleasure. I think, I think this was a good end and word that you praised. Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much, man. Oh, that's my pleasure, dude. This [ __ ] very big pleasure. And it was, I think, I have when we are done with this corona thing, we have to connect more. And I think, yes, yes, yes, yes. I think, you know, what, what's going on? I mean, unfortunately, this thing is upset the world, you know? I, I know. But the silver lining of this, and, and if we can find one, and this is my, my thinking, yeah. I've seen more people online, celebrities, non-celebrities, uh, dancers sharing freaking storming. I've seen more people now when the, when, uh, corona free around here, then people did, you know, I've seen people doing interviews. But I've seen more interviews and not. And what I'm saying, what, when I'm not looking at that like, "Well, why are y'all doing it now?" No, I'm looking at it. It's like, for some reason, it's people have a different fellowship. I feel the same. Yes. Now we need this. Yes. Because now we, we're tuning into people, you know, artists singing live for free, DJs partnering, making people feel good. And under these situations, as you know, when I think it's going to continue even after we come out of, even if it slows down, but the fellowship and the respect is gonna, this is becoming something more bigger, man. It's harder. It's becoming stronger. Exactly. Because you're not like, no, no one is online. Like, I don't see no. So it's not as like it was before. It's like people, you know, "Let's do it online." You know, people are doing free online workshops, which is so freaking dope. And those who are getting money is so freaking dope. I don't care. It is just the soul of. And people even caring about the health of everyone. People are now, because first it was just like, "Oh, it's only China." Now it's a world thing. But now we all had to come together. Even though we all felt bad for China, regardless, it's still this whole thing now that's like, "We all in this thing together." We all wearing the same [ __ ] thing right now. Exactly. We are on this small planet. People. Yes. We are on this small planet. And this planet is more okay with this. This planet became so small. It's like [Music]. So this is why I love the social media thing. This is why social media is important. This is why we, we, we need this. And I thank you, Romo C, for this. Hey, thank you so much. Thank you. Oh my god, my brother, man. It's good to talk to you. Yes. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm proud. Yeah. I'm gonna say, keep doing. I'm proud of you. Keep, man, you use your soul. Jump in this, man. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you so much. Okay. Take care. Bye-bye. I'll be producing your beats. All right. [Music] Mama.