Transcription
Got it. Hey, what's up everybody? Poppy Marco here again with yet another Balu Traditions podcast, and brought to you by Funking Focus and Urban Artistry. And today is a very special one for me because I got the honor to bring one fellow Robot Mafia member, ladies and gentlemen, man, popping Chuck. What's up, man? How you doing?
Hey, what's happening? How you doing?
Just fine, just fine, man. Before anything, I would like to say thank you for joining us. Thank you for giving us a little bit of your time. And I'm anxious to know more about your story. Okay? Shall we begin?
Sure, let's go. Let's go.
And let's start from from the beginning, okay? We know you are a graffiti artist and as well as a dancer. And I would like you to tell us a little bit about your relationship with art and culture in general. Like, how was your relationship with art as a kid growing up?
Okay, well, art was very, uh, helpful to me. Um, I started when I was a little kid, you know, five, six years old, drawing, you know, anything I saw. Cartoons, cars, people, whatever. I was really, whatever I was tracking to, I would draw it. I sketch it. Um, I did cartoons, I did low riders, I did sports cars. Uh, when I got, when I got in junior high school, I was doing like, um, I was into new wave. This before hip hop. I was into new wave and funk. So I would draw stuff like, uh, I would draw like Atomic Dog, you know, George Clinton, Atomic Dog. So I'd draw that. Uh, and then, uh, when my teen years came in, I got more into graffiti, you know? But I was actually, I draw Prince too because I was into Prince. So I would draw that too, you know? Anything I saw, I draw.
Nice, nice. And what age were you when you started like drawing and and doing art?
Uh, about five, six years old. Yeah, about five or six. And then, um, I, I continued till I got like, uh, Prince, 12 years old. And then, um, this is very, uh, beneficial because back in the day, you know, everybody had, they, you had a nickname. You know, everybody had a nickname. So my popping name, original popping name was Sir Leo. So that was in the late '70s, early '80s. That was my name. So, so I used to draw, I used to draw my L, my name in like Old English letters. That's before, you know, before I got, you know, before I got to create. That's what I was doing, drawing my name in Old English style Ls.
Nice, nice. And popping Chuck, the name popping Chuck came up when, like, when this name came up? You say what year?
Uh, when the name popping Chuck came up? Oh, that came later. That was later. Like, my, my original name was Sir Leo. That was like in '79, '80. And then by '80, by, I mean, I just start using popping Chuck to like the late '90s.
Hey, what's up? Yeah, to late, to late '90s. Because my name, people call me Chuck, you know, my name was Charles. But before that, I was Prince. So I was known as Prince Charles. That's why I was known in high school and junior high was Prince Charles. So that was my name then. And that's my popping name was Prince Charles. And then, uh, in late '90s, I started using Chuck. So that's put popping Chuck.
Cool, cool. That's so cool. I didn't know that. And so how is your relationship with graffiti and drawing? And how does it relate with your dance life? Like, how your drawing and your visual art do a conversation with your dancing? And also, how it happens backwards? Like, how your dance influences your other artistic expressions?
I think it's, I think it's one and the same. Because when I came to my graffiti, I like the style called, um, computer rock. And that has to do a lot with shifting and sliding. So in the late 1990s, when I got together with my partner, that was the old school popper, uh, popping lady AK. We made a group called Geomatrix. And geo means angles and curves, and matrix means the birthplace, coming from the birthplace of the matrix is the birthplace of. So coming from the birthplace of angles and curves. And that's what graffiti was. It's about angles and curves. So I, I put that together, you know, put my style together, you know? And then, and then with tutting, it has a lot to do with 45, 90 degree angles. And so I incorporate that in my artwork too. And then, of course, the waving has to do what we call wild style. So wild style has a lot of loops and arrows and stuff like that. So when you dance, you do, you make the, you make the forms with your body.
Nice, nice. And also, if I'm not mistaken, the Robot Mafia logo, it came from you, right? You're the designer or or no?
That's no, that was, that's Cobra. Cobra made that one.
Oh, Cobra. Cool, cool. Sorry. But I made the, I made the letters up. The first letters we had, I made up the RM. That was our first logo. And then he made, he made the, then he made the, um, the character.
Yeah, that's the one. Like the T one. Yeah.
Can't. So, and and talking about Robot Mafia, tell us who were the first members. Like, we know there's T-Bug and Cobra and you. Were you three the first members? There were some someone else?
Yeah, we first members. Yeah. Space Capital, part of it too. He's part of Robot Mafia too. Yeah. Yeah.
Nice, nice. Yeah, we're the original members. Yeah.
And when did you started dancing? Like, which year? How, how old were you when you started dancing?
I started dancing when I was a little kid, um, at five or five or six years old. 1973.
Oh, cool. Like, I first saw lockers. That's that's what inspired me. Dancing was the Campbell Lockers. Yeah, that's my first inspiration. Campbell Lockers. Nice, nice. And it was like, I said, almost at the same time we started drawing and all the artistic expression came together.
And were you in Chicago or Los Angeles when you started dancing?
Los Angeles, born and raised.
Oh, you were born and raised in Los Angeles? That's new to me. I thought you were from Chicago.
Yeah.
And how did you get to know T-Bug and and Cobra? Like, how, how you guys got together and how the crew came up?
Okay, so I knew I was coming to Chicago, right? So Space Capital was the only person I knew in Chicago. So what I did was, I was on MySpace. And I was like, poppers in Chicago. I try to punch up something. Said, poppers in Chicago. And Cobra's picture showed up. And I was like, oh, this dude from Chicago. Let me see. Back in contact with him. And I hit him up on MySpace. And that's how we got connected.
Yeah. Nice, nice. And it was in the year, like, 2006?
Yeah. Cool. 2006. Nice. 2006.
And that's where, when the, because T-Bug told me that the roots of Robot Mafia come from the '80s, but the actual Robot Mafia with the name came in after the 2000s. And how did the name came up? How you guys came up with?
We were brainstorming and we like, yeah, it's gotta be something to have to do with the, with the, um, foundation what we do. Everybody started roboting. So it's gotta be robot something. And then, uh, T-Bug was like, Robot Mafia. And I was like, yeah, that sounds cool. And, and we got to make a mafia acronym so it won't, because there's another thing called Robot Mafia, you know, like cartoons and other stuff. So we gotta make the acronym. And, um, the, the mafia stands for Masters Aligning Forces Influencing All. That's the original meaning. And then there's another meaning that, that T-Bug had too, you know? But that's the original meaning.
Yeah, yeah. The T-Bug is Mechanical Animated Poppin' Fused Artistry.
And please tell us again your acronym.
Masters Aligning Forces Influencing All.
Yeah, that's cool. That's cool. So how, how does it work for you guys? Like, there's any, any problem having two acronyms?
No, no. It's just that he, he made it simp, made it simpler because everybody's not a master. We the masters. So everybody can't be a master. But they can be, you know, they can be an artist, the mechanics, you know what I'm saying? And that's, that's everybody can accept that and embrace that, you know?
Cool, cool. And how did the Robot Mafia worldwide group came up? Because we have the originals in Chicago and we have members all around the world. So how the idea of expanding came up?
I think that's has more to do with T-Bug and Cobra. When we're on the internet, he's like, yeah, we need to get some more. We need some more members. So, so we talked some dudes in Thailand. And they like, there's a Robot Mafia in Thailand. We like, what? Like, yeah, they like our stuff. Like, yeah, they can be down with us. And then from there, we like, well, we're opening up to the world because we want, you know, we want everybody to embrace what we're doing, you know? Uh, so we just open it up to to everybody, you know?
Nice, nice. And we have some other members in Chicago, right? Other than the OGs, the new T-Bugs, Chuck, and Cobra? Like, uh, we have Gold Girl and who else is on on the Chicago?
Amir is a part of Robot Mafia too. Oh, Amir. Yeah, yeah. She's really good, man. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, she was a, there's some clips of her. Me, her, and, uh, Emmanuel was a part of us too.
Nice, nice. Cool, cool. Now talking about your personal style, what styles within the popping family do you do? And between these styles, which one do you consider to be your specialty?
I kind, you know, the thing that I kind of mix it up. Yeah. I do a lot of, I do like waving, I can robot, I do some animation, I do some bopping aspects. Uh, you know, so it's, so it's a mixture. It's not one thing. When I feel the music, I just do what my body tells me to do. And then it comes off. It looks like a certain thing. Like, oh, he's songs. Yeah, because, you know, I guess my influences, you know, throughout the years. Yeah. So that's a mixture. It's a mixture. But people would call it like, like an animation type thing. I pop, well, I pop real fast or move real fast, so it looks animated, you know? Yeah, yeah. That's cool.
So you consider yourself like a multi-style popper? A what?
A multi-style popper. Yeah, like a mixture, you know? It's like, it's like a mixture, you know? It's not one thing I do. You see a lot of elements in what I do, you know?
Nice, nice. So now, having a question about being, being an OG, do you usually take students? Do you teach at some place? And usually, what do you look for when you're adopting or taking a student under yourself?
Okay, so when I first got to Chicago, I was working in schools. So I had, I was in a program in schools. So I was teaching high school students. And then from there, I started teaching like smaller kids. I worked at another dance studio where there actually kids, you know, um, and I taught like five to like 12 years old, you know? And then, uh, in between that, I would take students, you know, that wanted to learn, uh, privately, that I thought was good, you know, had some kind of, had some kind of talent, or they had, they had the spirit, they wanted to do it. But I don't take everybody because I don't take everybody because everybody, I don't think has a spirit for the dance. So when I see you have something, I said, I think you got something there. If you're disciplined, you can learn. So then I'll take those people on. And then I was teaching general classes, like I'll be teaching at a dance studio, you know? So that's, that's, that's what I do. I go teach at dance studios, stuff like that. But I don't have any private classes right now. Most of them are just like in programs. They're like classes in programs. So you saw my video, see my Instagram, it's me teaching in a, in a, uh, program, a program, like a 8 to 12 year old program teaching popping. And I go from program to program, you know?
Cool, cool. So since we're talking about teaching and bringing this culture to the new generations, do you have any messages for the new generations? And like, if you have to say something to the new poppers, to the people that are starting now in this culture, what would you say to them?
I say, uh, stay disciplined. Um, stay loving the funk, you know? You get funk in focus, you gotta be focused. You gonna get the funk, you know? You gotta stay, stay disciplined, stay focused, and stay having fun, you know? Don't, don't take it too seriously, you know? But take it seriously enough, or you'll be a master of what you do, you know? And respect the elders. Always, always respect others. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Always, always.
So I have another question for you. And what do you want to see in the dance community? Like, in the events and the mass dance community, what, what do you want to see? What do you think we could do to make it better and a safer and better place for people to dance and get down and have fun?
I think, uh, I think you're doing a good job already. But I think more, um, group routines, you know, more group routine people doing routines together, you know? And, um, you said safe. I don't know what's going on, but I thought it's a new generation. So you guys are, you guys are way safer than we ever been when we were popping, you know? You don't have the, uh, threat of gangs and neighborhoods on your back. You can go anywhere and pop because it's not, it's universal now. It's not even about neighborhood, neighborhood. It's, it's like country, country, you know what I'm saying? It's international now. So people from all countries will come and pop and, you know, it'd be okay, you know?
Yeah, yeah. I got you. I got you. So talking about this, how it was when you were starting to dance and learning? Like, when you wanted to learn new movements or find new dancers, especially in Los Angeles, how, how would you do like to find new people or to be able to be in the jams and in the ciphers?
Okay, so back when we were younger, uh, there are several, um, DJ production companies. Like, you know, DJs would put on jams. So, but they were called The Traveling DJs. And this is before hip hop. They would, you know, travel around and play party music. So they started a, a production called Uncle Jam's Army. And that was like in '77, '78. And they would go around from place to place, park to park, and they would just play jams. The people come and dance. And the poppers would come out to that. And then, by the time the '80s came out, people were going to the beach. So then you, they would pop at the beach. So you meet people at the beach, you know, because people from all over, coming from every, every, uh, city would come to the beach. And then you would go to Hollywood because it was getting real popular. And people were, uh, started performing on the corners, you know? They would get down on the corner, Hollywood and Highland. And that was like in the early '80s. And then people would come out there to see people pop. And they would meet different people from different cities and say, I like what you're doing, or they battle you, or whatever, you know? So, uh, and then also skate rinks. So they rep the skating rink. So this is all neighborhood stuff, you know? It's all stuff you do in the neighborhood. You got certain neighborhood skating rinks, you go to certain parks, you go to, of course, you go to the big thing with Uncle Jam's Army. That was, that was a, that was a real big event, the biggest one in Los Angeles at the time. And we were there with like 10,000 kids dancing. Like 10,000, just poppers. And there wasn't breaking in, but there was poppers. And then there was, uh, these dancers called mods, which came from sky scene, which is, you know, comes from R&B. So we had a, we had a thing called modders or mods. And they had a dance they would do. So it'd be modding, it'd be popping, popping. And then people would just be boogieing and having fun. And then after that came hip hop. That when rap came in, you know, rap started coming in the early '80s. So it kind of just moved into the whole rap thing. And we still kept on popping till like, till like '86. After '86, it kind of died down, you know?
Yeah, yeah. And you said you, you started because you saw the Cell Lockers. So you started locking before you were popping? So, yeah.
I was locking and robot. Yeah.
Nice. Who were your first references as a popper or or as a dancer in general? How was going on?
Okay, uh, my first references were, of course, the Campbell Lockers. When I was a kid, saw them on TV and I wanted to do what they did. So of course, I saw the locking and the robot. So to my best of my ability, I mimic it, you know? I danced a lock and I did my thing. And what happened was my mother saw me dancing and she like, oh, that's cool. So she would take me to, um, she was working in the hospital, right? So on a day for the old people, they would have a day where they, entertainment for the older people, right? So I would go and entertain the old people. Like I'd be roboting and locking, a little kid, you know, five, six, seven, eight years old, dancing in front of the old, just entertaining them. And then it went from that to, like, a, like a contest. We do contests, you know, like, like talent contests. And I would enter those with my sister and stuff, you know.
Memory dancing to, um, Rick James, 1980, doing, doing a robot, doing some popping in 1980 to Rick James. Yeah, yeah. Back in the day. Yeah, yeah. Nice.
And did you had a teacher? A regular teacher? Someone who taught this?
Okay, this is how I started. I saw Electric Boogaloo. Originally, I saw the Black Messengers, Mechanical Device. That clip you showed, I saw that when I was like 12 years old, like '77. So, well, like 10 years old in '77. So I saw that. And then, uh, I saw the Boogaloos. And then when I start going to parties and stuff, I started seeing people doing it, you know? Like, oh, they doing it. Look at they, they jerking their body, they doing something, you know? And I was robot. And said, oh, man, that looks funky. I want to get into that. So I would see different people at different parties and stuff. And I'm just go home and practice by myself. I had a couple of friends I started with. And this is back in the late '70s, going into the early '80s. Dude named was Sato. Uh, he called me up. I hadn't talked to him in like 30 years. And he said, hey, bro, do you remember we used to have pop locking contests? I'm like, what? He said, yeah. Said, me and you would pop against each other. And I've been knowing him since '75. We went to elementary school together. So I was doing this in elementary school. So he told me, I was like, oh, yeah. And then when I got in junior high school, another dude around the corner from me, his name was Major King Cal. And he's a pop too. So me, Masado, and Major were pop, but we weren't a group. We just go around popping when we felt like it. But I was the only one they would come and get to battle people because they knew I liked to pop a lot, you know? They had a couple moves, but I'd like to get out there and just go for it. So they would get me and push me in the battles and stuff. And I'm like, all of a sudden, I'm battling some dude that's at a skating rink or, you know, in the neighborhood or something. So, so can get you, go get him. They would go get people and bring them to my house or, or, or bring them down the street. Like, hey, go get him. We'll be at the mall. He could pop lock. Get off, get off on him, you know? You'd be like, you sitting there like, man, you put me in a spot. Okay, let's go, you know? So they just put you in battles. And then, uh, I didn't really learn from anybody. Kind of learned by myself, because people didn't really want to teach you unless you really close to them. Yeah, they wouldn't teach you. People was like, I don't want you biting my stuff or taking my moves. And I don't know you that well, you know? So it, it was good if you had somebody from your neighborhood that could pop, that was good, that had a group. But nobody in my area had a group. I think they had, they had like a group in jungles that down the street to my house. There's some groups on Crenshaw that was like, that's out of my neighborhood. So I had to go down the street to see them, you know? Because I lived in a, in a, in a different area. It was on Overhill in SLO. That's where, uh, Nipsey Hussle used to live at. Overhill in SLO. Nice, nice. Lived over there too. Ice-T, the rapper, used to live over there too.
Ice-T? Yeah. Nice.
And you talking a lot about the battles. How was the battle scene like, especially between the neighborhoods? How you guys would do if you want to battle someone? How that work?
Well, you would, people would see you and they ask you if you're from a group or not. Or you'd be walking with your friends and stuff and they would just like, you pop a lot? Go, yeah. What's up? Like, what's up? And they like, let's get down. And then you like, what group you from? We with the SE. And, or you meet up at the skating rink. And they would come on with all the, um, with their outfits on, you know? They come all geared up. And they would, well, I see you at World on Wheels. You gonna be there Saturday night? Yeah, we gonna be there. Okay, okay. All right. We'll see you. And then all of a sudden, it gets around. You bow. Then you win or whatever. It's like a rumor. Like, oh, I heard so and so beat you. So and so group. You know? And they would show up to the events, you know, with their, with their letters on their jackets and their outfits. And they was just show up, you know? Me, I was an independent. So I was never part of a group back then. But I seen all the groups, you know, back, back in the day. They come skating rink, battle. And they would go to Magic Mountain. They would battle Magic Mountain and Knott's Berry Farm. You know, usually the, uh, amusement parks. And of course, uh, parades. They would come out to parades and stuff like that, you know? You heard, you heard Midnight talking about parades. They would come to the King parade. And they would come to the, uh, uh, the, the downtown, uh, event. So they had a lot of stuff going on back then for the community, you know? And they'd be about to pray and get out, you know?
Yeah, yeah. Nice, nice. And since you were from Los Angeles, and I did the same question to OG Midnight, I'm gonna do the question for you. How were you guys calling this dance back in the day in Los Angeles? Because we know this dance have different names depending on which city you you came from, right?
Oh, we call it pop locking. Pop locking. Cool. I mean, but you know, I mean, they call it popping too. But in the neighborhood, it was always known as pop locking. Like that was just the hood, the hood term was pop locking. That was it, you know? Usually people from the hood did it. That was their thing, you know? You pop lock? Oh, yeah, I pop lock. Let's see you get down. And it wasn't locking. It wasn't roboting. It was pop locking. Uh, after locking came roboting. And then from robot came popping. And he had dudes that would kind of mix the moves up. And they were transitioning from locking to popping. And that's, that's why I heard called pop locking. And then when I seen Shabba Doo when he came here to Chicago and he was teaching locking class, he did a real hard lock. A real hard lock. And it looked like he was popping. And he kept going, I'm not popping, I'm locking. And it's like, dude, that look like you popping. Like you hit. And he would, he would clinch his, his forearms really tight. He go like this. He lock real hard. It looked like he was popping. It literally looked like he was popping. So I can see where that, you know, that came from. Yeah, I like, okay, yeah. It's like a term that got around the neighborhood, you know what I'm saying? And a term. And also, uh, when you were pop locking, it wasn't just tensing your muscles. People would do Pan Am. That's where the boxes come from. That's where the window pane comes from. Uh, they would drink, you know, make illusions like they're drinking something or playing something, you know? So they're adding like a whole theatrical aspect to their dance. It wasn't just jerking your muscles around and waving and stuff. It wasn't always that, you know? So they had a, a combination of things they would do. And it was a certain technique they would do, you know? That was different than, that was a little different than, uh, what the Boogaloo did. The Electric Boogaloo did. It was more like Oakland Boogaloo. If you want technical, more like it was like a combination depending on who who taught you, where you came from. It's kind of a combination, you know? Yeah, yeah. Because you have to, you have to look at the technique and look at the, what they do. And then you can figure out like, okay, I know what city you came from. I know who you learned from. I can tell by your technique, you're descending this person or this person. Saw the other person do it, they copy that person. And you copy them. Yeah, yeah. I got you. I got you. Thank you for asking that. That's a very important information for us to have.
And now talking about Chicago, I know you organize an event. I don't know if it's every every year or twice a year. Tell us about this event. How, how's it called? And how does it work? You do it every, every year? Right?
It's every year. It's an annual event called the Poppers Park Jam. And I started in 2015. And I was like, man, we need some out here in the summertime for the poppers in the Midwest and people to come and pop. And Chicago is a great town. So I was like, let's do something. And, uh, I told T-Bug, like, yeah, do it. That'd be cool, man. Yeah, yeah. So I said, I'mma do it. So I just brought my speaker out. I brought my speaker out. And I had my, my phone and I plugged it up. And I said, hey, y'all, we meet at the park. I'mma have a thing called Poppers Park Jam. We should come together and pop and stuff and have fun. It's like, okay. And then I did it. And then I got a couple DJs, you know, um, uh, who's, oh, Manuel was our DJ back in the day. Manuel, he was our DJ. DJ Sato, that was his name. And he was our DJ first. And then we got Sid to be our DJ too. So Sid's our DJ too. And now we got Space Capital, Space Capital DJ too. So this is like the, this is, this was our sixth one. Next year'll be our seventh one, you know? And I just did it to bring people together that, you know, wanted to pop. Of course, that I added all styles just to have all the dancers because I love everybody dancing. So I want everybody to, uh, just have fun and have a great time in the summer. And I just decided to do that because, you know, of course, Midnight had his thing. I was like, well, we need something out here. There's nothing out here in the summertime for the poppers. I like, let's do it. Let's bring people to Chicago. It's a great town, you know?
Nice, nice. And if we want to get in contact with you, if we want to find you, where can we find on the internet, social media? How, how do we get in touch with you?
Yeah, just give me a popping Chuck one on Instagram.
Okay. Do you have another profile or another social media we can find you?
YouTube. I do have another Instagram that's for my art. That's not for my popping. That's for my art.
Nice, nice. And there's no problem. You can. And tell us about your art and graffiti profile because if we want some cool graffiti in our event or something, how can we find you?
Okay, um, you can hit me up, popping Chuck one, or Artisan Notions on Instagram. That's two ends. Artisan and Notions. That's two ends. So, yeah, hit, hit me, Artisan Notions on Instagram, or popping Chuck one on Instagram.
Cool. Thank you, man. And I'm going to ending this up by saying thank you for giving us a little. I get some shout outs. Can I get some shout outs?
Shout out time. Go on.
Okay, I want to give a shout out to T-Bug doing his thing out there. Robot Mafia, Cobra. Um, I want to give a shout out to Space Capital. Uh, I want to give a shout out to, uh, uh, Sid and Shadow Puppets. Uh, I want to give a shout out to popping lady AK from Los Angeles. Shout out to my homeboy, my other homeboy. I forgot to tell you about my buddy Kamani, that used to pop lock with in high school. He's part of Geomatrix too. Kamani. Uh, if, if we can find Fantasm from Long Beach, I want to give him a shout out. He was down with us too in the Geomatrix. Also Midnight was down with Geomatrix too. Give a shout out to Midnight doing his thing. And, uh, just all the poppers out there. Libra Bob, that's my student. I want to give a shout out to Cam in China. That's my student. And just give a shout out to you, Marco. Give a shout out to the other Marco. Give a shout out to OG Wand. Uh, give a shout out to, um, every, all Robot Mafia members and all the pop lockers in the Midwest and other countries. And just Los Angeles and Chicago and everywhere. And then, uh, also, um, prayers for, um, prayers for, um, HP Master F.
Yeah, yeah. Thank you, man. Ladies and gentlemen, that was popping Chuck, original Robot Mafia member. Thank you for coming, man. And see you. I'm out of here.