B-Boy Park
Encyclopedia
B-Boy Park is a Japan
ese hip hop
festival that takes place every year in Tokyo
. It is free admission and open to public participation A prominent player on the Japanese hip hop
scene, Crazy-A, organized the annual hip hop festival in Yoyogi Park in 1999. It is a celebration of hip hop music, dance, fashion and culture. At the first event, an American break dancer, Crazy Legs, judged the dance competition. However, he was not completely satisfied with the overall performance of Japanese break dancers. He commented that they needed to focus more on footwork, and less on "power moves". Author Ian Condry notes that the festival is extremely important to a hip hop scene that many doubted could even exist: “Up until the mid-nineties, people who worked in the entertainment world pointed to hip hop’s rootedness in African American communities as a reason to doubt its possible takeoff in Japan, where different understandings of race, language, and social class prevail.” Today, the festival continues to draw rappers, b-boys and girls, and hip hop fans from all corners of Japan, representing a plethora of styles that reflect the richness and diversity of the Japanese hip hop scene.
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
festival that takes place every year in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
. It is free admission and open to public participation A prominent player on the Japanese hip hop
Japanese hip hop
Japanese hip hop is said to have begun when Hiroshi Fujiwara returned to Japan and started playing hip hop records in the early 1980s. Japanese hip hop generally tends to be most directly influenced by old school hip hop, taking from the era's catchy beats, dance culture, and overall fun and...
scene, Crazy-A, organized the annual hip hop festival in Yoyogi Park in 1999. It is a celebration of hip hop music, dance, fashion and culture. At the first event, an American break dancer, Crazy Legs, judged the dance competition. However, he was not completely satisfied with the overall performance of Japanese break dancers. He commented that they needed to focus more on footwork, and less on "power moves". Author Ian Condry notes that the festival is extremely important to a hip hop scene that many doubted could even exist: “Up until the mid-nineties, people who worked in the entertainment world pointed to hip hop’s rootedness in African American communities as a reason to doubt its possible takeoff in Japan, where different understandings of race, language, and social class prevail.” Today, the festival continues to draw rappers, b-boys and girls, and hip hop fans from all corners of Japan, representing a plethora of styles that reflect the richness and diversity of the Japanese hip hop scene.