In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, something amazing was happening to New York City’s urban youth; they Duro, Martha Cooper, Flintop, Bev 167, Ink 76, Dondi | Brooklyn, 1978”)began to deviate from the cultural norms and embrace new, ‘strange’ practices like graffiti, breakdance, and hip-hop. Martha Cooper, a photo-journalist from New York City, captured on film the entire movement in its infancy. All of this was happening at a time when society viewed the movement as asinine, idiotic, ridiculous, and even threatening. Most people thought that ‘real’ art was in galleries, not alleys; ‘real’ dance belonged in ballrooms, not street corners; ‘real’ music emerged from guitars, not beat machines. Take a look at this fascinating video that documents everything Martha Cooper accomplished from 1979-1984 in Hip Hop Files.

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Right now, summer is kickin’ in full gear. It seems like the fall is so far away. However, this isn’t thecase; fall is creeping closer and closer with every passing minute. With fall comes the exciting, fresh, new school year. You’re going to need something durable and fashionable to carry around your laptop, iPod, textbooks, pens, pencils, and everything else. What better excuse to cop the Incase Nylon Backpack?
Incase has a reputation of pairing minimalism and elegance with mad functionality. They make a wide range of electronic accessories, but nothing as sweet as the Nylon Backpack. It has a ton of features including:

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Despite having an out of sync performance last week when Joey lost his hearing aid, ASIID still remained on topin the audience’s hearts. The crew really stepped up to the speed up challenge. They killed both the slow and fast sections, and told a story through their dancing. ASIID set themselves apart from the other crews when they incorporated ballet in their hip hop routine. It was definitely refreshing to see a fusion of classical with modern dancing. I also have to commend them for how hard they always dance and how well they work together especially in light of Joey’s disability. During the background segment of the show, Joey mentioned he was having difficulty with the fast section because he couldn’t hear the music as well, but I didn’t notice any problems in his dancing. Even though I can’t stand Lil Mama, I have to admit that she was right in saying that Joey goes harder than anyone else in the crew.

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The hardest part of this week’s America’s Best Dance Crew speed-up challenge was figuring out a creativetransition to blend together the two sections. By far the most creative transition was Fanny Pak’s. They performed to Mariah Carey’s Touch My Body where they went back to a 1980s prom. It starts off with everyone dancing in pairs except for the blonde girl who acted like a rocker anti-prom chick. In order to get the party started, she poisons the punch and suddenly the prom gets a little crazy. Who would have ever thought that an idea as ridiculous as drinking spiked punch would actually make a great transition? My favorite part was when the white boys started shaking their booty. It was unexpected and entertaining.

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Back in June a new hit single was released in which three hot artists converged in part because of the centennial of Converse. Under the Converse adcampaign Three Artists, One Song, Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes, Santi White aka Santogold, and The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas came together to create the song My Drive Thru. The track features elements specific to all three of these artists and is one of the best songs so far this summer. It’s even available for free download from Converse’s site.

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