i never understood why they started using the term urban. "open style choreo" says literally nothing useful. open style hip hop fusion choreo" would be more clear.
@@emhu2594 But a lot of times it's not even Hip Hop Fusion since it uses none of the hip hop fundamentals. Open Style / All Style is clearer. At most Hip Hop Inspired Choreo may be more descriptive
Please make a video on types of hiphop dance. I'm only 12 and have little knowledge about the genres and techniques of dance. But I enjoy hip hop, contemporary etc. I really wanna learn dance.
Let me just say, it's so awesome that you're taking an interest in learning the actual culture of hip hop! I think the best way to learn about the different styles of hip hop is to learn from someone who was alive or trained by someone who was alive during the 70's to 90's. But, that's not an option for everyone of course. 3 big ones are locking, popping, and breaking. It's also worth it to learn a little bit about krump and house because they're pretty "adjacent" to hip hop. I hope this is helpful!
Hi, I would follow the recommendation to look or ask Moncell Durden, also it's important to understand the history cause HipHop dance it's a dance form that is danced on hip-hop music, the first dance form of Hip Hop culture is breaking and they dance on breaks and funk initially, popping and locking were before Hip Hop. Understanding that might help to have a cleaner path of what you want as a dancer and enjoy better the journey. Blessings!!
I know you're older now and may have the answers, but for Hip Hop dance check out Beyond the Moves RU-vid series 'Hip Hop dance foundation'. 13 Great Videos on all things Hip Hop. Buddha stretch is also a good teacher too.
Yes as the replies indicate, do your research if you're passionate about dance. 95% of people & RU-vid vids arent accurate about "Hip-Hop" facts. I was there and did reasearch on it as well. Been in it since 79' and still learning more about it. Best wishes! HIP-HOP YA DON'T STOP!
Just adding a major PART 2 to this: This was a great informational video, and I appreciate you guys having done this. However, you missed out the part of the large scale commercial exploitation of the hip-hop name by the studio dance industry. What I'm more specifically referring to isn't the earlier generation of hip-hop dancing teams who gradually integrated parts from other dance styles into their routines. I'm referring to the wave of professional studio choreographers and instructors with ZERO hip-hop background who decided to bank on the hip-hop name. Once hip-hop (the social dance style, not the breaking style) began to see itself more and more in dance competitions and music videos, jazz and ballet dancers wanted to get in on that hype. So you had white jazz and ballet choreographers and instructors with absolutely no hip-hop knowledge, technique or connection to the hip-hop culture and community who decided to copycat some of the moves and poses of hip-hop dances and funk-styles into their jazz/ballet routines, and then market it as "hip-hop dance" to aspiring dance students who don't know any better. In addition to this, they were also teaching these routines to everything BUT hip-hop music (r&b, pop, contemporary jazz, etc), which only intensified the misinformation. All this happened on a MASSIVE scale, and as many of us know, the dance lesson / fitness-dance studio industry is where the most money is at (this dwarves the money made by back-up dancers and music video choreographers). This is by far one of the biggest forms of cultural appropriation and exploitation that many people are NOT aware of: the milking of the hip-hop name by posers for money, money, money. Hopefully you guys add a new video featuring this information!
Love this breakdown of the evolution of hip hop as a label into urban and why it has always been problematic. It's true-- our dance styles are ever evolving due to the mass amount of personal individual expressions but staying true to the roots in a socially responsible way is KEY! And also-- shout out to the Filipino-American Community for really contributing so much to how the styles of hip hop have grown, expanded, and have been exposed to so many--- Me included!! Those Filipino Culture Showcases circa early 2000's THO 👀 !!! 🔥 🔥
Just out of curiosity, Arnel explained that the Philippino identity was tied to hip hop culture. Lots of other Asian-pacific or Asian decent RU-vidrs/icons (Tim Chantarangsu, Jimmy Yang, etc.) have similar stories of tying hip hop to their upbringing. What specifically about hip hop was relatable or seemed so appealing to the Philippino culture? Thanks for the great content and for educating me through this video 🙏
*Filipino And a lotta Filipinos relate to the feelings of colonial oppression, poverty, and artistic expression/authenticity as either a distraction, or an outlet for their expression/identity. Tie this into a close relationship with the US after the Spanish/US war/WW1&2 (lotta cultural exchange), plus late immigration due to the Marcos dictatorship (Philippines had a thriving disco scene in the 70s/80s), it's really not far off from how hip-hop gained popularity in other marginalized communities, it's just that all these characteristics are present with the filipino diaspora that let to their involvement in the movement.
Imho I'd say it has most to do with the 20th and 21st century american experience, esp pertaining to inner city peeps and pop culture, no matter the ancestry/ethnicity of the communities, as hop hop culture has touched everyone world wide and is born from the US. that's why its the unite-r, "the healer" ;). But its always interesting to see how it specifically speaks to or has touched communities.
Genuine reply bc I want to learn, and agree with much of what you say/ what's behind what you say. Given that hip-hop OGs had actively discouraged use of "hip hop" when referring to their communities, how might the community had paid homage/respect to those roots while distancing themselves from it? Secondly, as far as I understand it, the socal "urban" style is distinct from true hip hop in 1)the medium of exchange 2) music choice 3)presentation and focus on groups' competition 4) focus on choreography rather than freestyle 5)explicit blending of other forms of dance/approaches that hiphop shunned. Given that these differences are necessarily tied to the experiences and choices of non-black POCs (whether culturally isolated as immigrants, or relatively privileged as 1st/2nd gen college students), how can they honor/pay tribute to black culture while acknowledging the reality of its origins. I think dropping "urban" is a step in the right direction, perhaps having more black perspectives all those years ago might have helped but the scene/style has grown incredibly popular and influential to the point that a "hard reset" might be impossible - I can see why they've brought Arnel on as he was likely the "genesis" of the whole movement with kaba and he can't speak for other community's experiences, but I do wonder if there's a perspective we're missing out on. Your thoughts?
Would absolutely love it if ya'll make more videos regarding the history of different dance styles and dance in general. Is something I always felt like I missed out on when a friend from some dance team would talk about all that they've learned about the history and why things developed the way they did.
"Appreciate your own style" , bec ur on ur own, love ur style and love urself so you can express ur self and show it to the world, loud and proud!!!dance has no language,..❤️❤️❤️
Thank u, thank you, thank u for all the effort you put toward expaining "Hip-Hop". I've been Hip-Hop since 79' and it became an "umbrella" term, but Hip-Hop is specific, not just songs w/ bass & rap. In fact there's also a difference between "choreo" & "street dance" as well. I taught my daughter that "street" moves all have names to it, where as "choreo" moves dont. ie: hit the folk, hit the quan, stanky leg, whoah, etc. Yall are the BEST, keep doing what u do educate & perpetuate. HIP-HOP YA DON'T STOP!
Thank you steezy so much ,i am actually a teacher in a studio here in UAE na I've been scared of teaching hiphop classes so thats why my coach a teacher as well in the studio explained me why we dont use the word "urban dance" anymore and we exchanged the name of the classes to open style choreography ,its though that student don't come often since they don't know what is "open style" or this new term for "urban" but I'd rather respect the culture of its history or the community, rather than putting "urban dance" and will disrespect the community ,thank you so much for the explanation
This was such a great way to present it with the visuals, culture, and history! My question is: how do you spread enough awareness to educate dance moms who want to enroll their 7 year old kids in “open style” but only know to look for “hip hop” classes? Of course, most of them may not even know the correct dance terms so they might not go into studios that do not offer “hip hop”. What would be a good approach to this?
I love this question and would love an answer. I teach "studio hip hop", and only call it that because no one in my area would know what open style is.
Thank you for this information! I'm glad to be entering a community that motivates awareness and cultural respect, and I'm glad to support a company that makes all of it known and accessible. Love yall!
I never ever regarded the term „urban“ as a politicaly correct word for the n-word. In my country it doesnt even make sense. The term was by the way only used in bigger cities. Everywhere else most ppl only knew Hip Hop, without knowing the origins and the four most important parts. I personly regarded the term as a sign for knowing what does and what doesnt belong to Hip Hop
Been dancing for half my life here in the 🇵🇭 and I’m pleasantly surprised by the Filipino origins combined with the American influence of many of these styles and events that I’ve been following for all these years. Thanks so much Steezy 🤗
Respect, u give people educated. Many people think in a wrong way coz they dont know about this culture. Respect the OGs, learn the history..that how we done it from the beginning
Hi Steezy! I think "open style choreography" sounds good but I also have a few questions. 1) So, you mentioned about Filipino-Americans having hip hop as a part of their culture and then further created their own community of "open style" dance which (how I am processing the info you stated) took the form and creation of dance crews in southern cali, as well as some being taught in studios. What would you call choreographed pieces of dance that were not created by the Filipino-American community, like the ones we see in movies and music videos, that are more in the Hollywood and entertainment dance industry? edit: in the 90s and early 2000s 2) How many choreographers did you have involved in this discussion to change the usage of the term "urban" to "open style"? was it only people in southern cali or internationally? edit: today era
are you talking about choreographed pieces that were made during the same time as the creation of urban dance (so 90s/2000s)? or are you talking about in general, including today? because urban dance has become so popular internationally that anyone can do it, you dont have to be Filipino-American to create urban choreo. I havent watched the whole video so idk entirely what Arnel is saying about Filipinos and urban dance, but urban dance isnt strictly a Filipino-American thing, urban dance (that is, a blend of styles from diff cultures) may have been created by Filipino dancers but it def isnt something that only they can do
Handy Sandy Hi, I understand what your saying and I agree with the last part of your comment (which how I perceive it) that how are they going to just change a term they’ve been using out of nowhere which at this point has now been used internationally, that was the point in my second question. However, I also respectfully disagree with the first part of your comment because I feel that they have clearly stated and credited the black culture not only in this video many of their other videos and even if they didn’t outright credit us (which would be pretty messed up) hip hop has such a strong connection to black culture that I think other people would at least have the common sense to clearly see that “urban” or “open style” dance is mainly inspired by hip hop and (depending on the person choreographing it and their life experience) other styles of dance intertwined
Loved knowing more about the history behind how the SoCal dance communities started. Kudos to everyone for taking the responsible steps forward for dance ♥️
Thank you for this video! I recently watched a video from Luam, and she was discussing the use of the term Urban in dance. It is great to see this move through the dance community.
Thank you so much for including informational videos! A lot of times I find my self around dancers that just don’t expend their understanding in what they are doing and therefor teaching and sharing it. And here I am in one click can share right and good information to dancers around me :)
thank you steezy for this video! you should make more videos regarding each dance style story, so that we can appreciate what we dance more. i'd really love to learn more about it.
Thank you Steezy for this video. I was really strugling to find a word, a definition to label this dance style, but there was never one. Now that i know that its "open style dance" i can finally undestand it without getting confused with other uses to the same word. Im really happy about it and glad about all of this.
This has to be the best video from y'all. While it's important to learn technique, discover expression and all of that goodness, knowledge and respect for the culture and roots is sometimes neglected and even lost. Growing up, EVERY bboy/bgirl knew their history (if you didn't, you weren't a bboy/bgirl) and it honestly adds SO MUCH to who they are especially as individuals. When it comes to the choreo scene, y'all have history and culture and it continues to thrive! So keep doing things like this that allows for this culture to grow. Remind everyone who comes along that this came from something genuine. Each one teach one. Much love to y'all for real.
thank you so much for introducing that the Philippine culture is unique and wonderful and one and the same because we have a saying that one for all, all for one so I am very grateful that you paid attention to the Filipino culture so thank you very much☺️👌🇵🇭
Thank you so much for this knowledge and letting people know about this finally someone talked about this🙏🙏 No matter what you dance you just have to just enjoy. And respect all. That's what DANCERS do live for respect and fight for respect. Amazing work STEEZY STUDIO and Thank you too.
Thanks a lot for sharing this I didn't know about the Philippine culture I will share it with pleasure and I really want to thank you because with your jobs you are growing the entire community all around the world 🙏🙏 (sorry if I do mistakes I'm French)
Great video! Watched your video about not calling Open Style Hip Hop, but calling it Urban Dance. I talked with my bf afterwards about how unsure I was to use the term Urban due to its negative connotations. Very much appreciate learning about this! It's important to me to honor & appreciate other cultures VS inadvertently appropriating dances that I really love.
Wow! This is very interesting. Urban as a negative term is new to me… I’m very curious about this and need to ask some dance historians in the African American vernacular dance forms.
I HAD NO IDEA FILIPINOS HAD THEIR IDENTITY TIED TO HIP HOP. LIKE I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A COMMON INTEREST, NOT A CULTURE THING OMG IM SHOOKED. This was a very nice video btw :)))
I’m with you. The more I read some of these comments, the more upset I get. Hip hop is from the black community. Urban is a word that has been associated with black music. Our culture is being appropriated not just by white people but by other people of colour as well, smh.
@@Oma918 and anyone else who cares. So for dancers dancers who love hip hop /open styles who are not black how would they not appropriate this art form you think? Should they not dance it at all or is it really about credit? Or do you think there is a way they can they give proper credit lift up and highlight the community that birthed it in a way that does not steal but honor and keep that lineage awareness alive? People don't generally respect history but maybe they could. Do they they need to make a statement/history lesson before each choreography video or performance every time? Or does it mean that they should abandon the dance style altogether because to dance it is to appropriate it? I think it's very important to give proper credit. In martial arts for example, I think depending on the studio you would learn the cultural origins and the lineage to honor the work in development that they people who created the form worked hard to develop and then students later benefit from this work. Maybe it's the fact that ancestoral respect is lacking in our western culture in general. The distinction between inspiration and homage and outright stealing of credit should be taught IMO. I am just trying to think of practical real ways to do it. What do you think and what would you like to see change?
Evolution, social responsibility and growth, yessssss!! Thank you for making this video 🧡 and for contribuing in this way to a kinder, and more thoughtful respectful world 🍀 Hope you're all safe and well 🌻🌻🌻
I truly respect that y’all did this. I believe MTV had a part in this. In the 90s they labeled aliyah the princess of HH and Beyoncé the queen of HH. No disrespect to either artist but they are R&B not Hip Hop. It’s like labeling all Asians Chinese or Latinos Mexican. It’s a way for a certain demographic in America to lump people together so they can be more comfortable with what they find abnormal.
I remember my friend from UC Santa Cruz was part of Kapamilya. They had culture night and modern dance and I was wondering how this all started. It was nice to know this.
Thank you STEEZY this help me so much and now i have way more information for my school assignment this helped me so much. And thank you for bringing my confidence up for dancing my own way.
Most of the styles and culture that inform open style dance is directly derived from innovations of Black and latinx dancers, but a lot of what makes up the modern style has come from global communities. ESPECIALLY other marginalized communities who identified with the experiences associated with marginalization that build up the root of these styles. How much of this has been/is appropriation and how much has been/is sharing and collaborating is hard to track exactly. I think if we really want to be genuine and truly respectful in these kinds of conversations, we need to acknowledge that it absolutely has been both. This isn't a conversation you really can tie up neatly in one 10 minute video, but I think it's great contribution.
This was informative! I grew up in the bay area during the 90s and I saw strong ties between hip hop culture and the fil/fil-am community but did know how any of that history, especially related to dance.
Well done steezy! This guys sun shinny intelligent being :). I always danced a fusion of styles growing up, and heavily influenced by breaking and hip hop dance, but it never felt right to even term it hip hop to me, and I certainly never was around peoples saying urban dance though I heard of it used before, never made sense to me. Fusion makes sense to me. Thanks!
Many OGs from all style compet corrected the term "All style" to "Open Style" because in battles, dancers use a particular dance style that is why it's called as "Open Style" so that dancers compet with different specific dance style. All style is where a dancer utilizes different dance styles in a particular round. Some choreographers claim "Urban" be changed as just "Choreography"
Idk why but I got some weird “give Filipinos credit for the hip hop you see today” vibe in this video. Like I understand they may have catapulted the SoCal dance team movement and the whole “we resonate with hip hop culture” but where do we draw the line between appropriation and appreciation, because it’s really disappointing that black choreographers weren’t given the same opportunities as Asian American choreographers for a style they didn’t create/failed to credit black artists for creating 🤷♂️ and still to this day I see so many Asian American dancers being covertly racist, using derogatory slurs for black people and it’s saddening... just a thought...
Just opening uo dialogue but it sounds like two different things you're talking about, the cultural influence of dispparate scenes/groups on the art form's history, and opportunities in today's entertainment industry, all with regard to cultural appropriation? Please lmk if I am wrong but the only industry I know that disproportionately favours Asian American dancers is the Kpop industry (where aside from a few top choreographers, even Filipinos get passed over in favour of other East Asian dancers). With regard to the socal scene, imo you can't separate the influence of Filipinos, Southeast and East Asians on the collegiate dance community which has somehow managed to penetrate LA industry the same way you can't separate Latinos from their hand in creating Bboying in the 80s? I'm thankful the questions a being put forward though
large number of people in the Philippines came from negritos, just for an instance I have an aeta blood and this so called negritos are black people that (originally) came from Africa.
large number of people in the Philippines came from negritos, just for an instance I have an aeta blood and this so called negritos are black people that (originally) came from Africa.
Your thoughts is leaking with racism. What you see as a video of a celebration of a foreign culture CONTRIBUTING to hiphop as an attack to African-Americans, even calling them thieves for appropriating "hiphop". Dancing is not inherent to one race. Most dancers who know of hiphop knows its roots are from the African-American community. The SoCal dance community was a positive force for Asian-Americans and they built it for decades. Don't go stealing credit from other people's hard work without even lifting your hand. Also, using the phrase "Asian-Americans being covertly racist" is such a fucking sleazy way to get people to agree with your point is downright scummy. As if the other way around isn't real. Keep your racist thoughts to yourself.
please comprehend, that this is not "YOUR" style as many people who participate in this dance THEY did not CREATE, therefore they are STUDENTS of those styles, even if we are mixing (fusion) styles its still come from a linage of popular movement which eventually caused people to give it names to better differentiate one style/step of dance from another, even though one that has studied many styles is aware that different cultures might do a the same step but in a different interpretation. To really "honor" the pioneers would be to go to them learn the style as some of them are still alive, but many students choose to learn from students cause it is "easier." as most "teachers" today are just instructors, and sharers, and don't take the time to learn about they dance styles they do or participate in the culture or know the names of the steps or how it even came to be that way. To honor pioneers would be to send them money just because people are doing the style they help create, but most people do not do that. I write that so hopefully someone can see this comment and comphrend that would actually be to love the culture. Not many people have past the pioneers skill level, therefore it would wrong to say "evolve" as most people struggle doing pioneer classes, doing their variations and then coming up with their own variations (flavor), their should be no reason pioneers should be broke af for dance styles they helped create, I say all dance style cause all dance style have some kind of technique, even though the system lies and trys to separate technical dance vs street dance, as street dance has a technique as well, hilarious. One, Love the Human DNA.
wholeheartedly agree. In the case of what Steezy has done with this video and other videos on their platform/service do you believe they're taking the appropriate steps in the right direction? This is coming from someone who learned street dance and then eventually got into the dance team/choreography scene. So I see the disparity between the two, especially in the income inequality of "professionals" respectively.
@@LuvinxDxAzns This vessel does not hold weight to make such an option, since I'm a student of this dance as well. I will say this, how many pioneers have yall seen on steezy? then again I don't know maybe steezy is using the money they make and giving it back to the communities/pioneers that actually make the dance, since we do not know this information we can only spectate. Remember in the comment above the system like to trick people into categories such as technique dancers and street dancers even though ALL dances had to come from the street before they could be codified. A dancer is just someone who moves to the music on beat in different ways that it, it is not a style, as a style is way of doing something an interpretation to a certain music within a culture. If you wholeheartedly agree that it would make sense to put the money there as most of the instructors today are just students from those pioneers. Even if yall are just making choreography if the movement comes from an influnece from style that already exist why not study those styles people are trying to do. I comphrend also that some pioneers don't support what steezy is doing but regardless steezy instructors/staff should give the names of those people so at least kids have a choice if they want to seek them out or not.
Very good insight into the SoCal scene... The only thing I find confusing is that it‘s only talked about what is not Hip Hop without explaining it first. Of course everybody can do their own research, but I just think it would be easier for people who are new to this discussion.
the term ‘urban’ itself is not problematic nor does it refer to black ppl and their culture/music aside from in the usa and maybe a few western countries..just cos usa messed up and linked the word to black ppl doesnt mean all of us around the world have to view it as problematic and omit the word out of our dictionary..to many ppl outside of the usa we only see the term urban as its only definition which is being ‘related to the city’ just like how we say this is an urbanised population or this is an urbanisation land etc.. and it has nth to do with black ppl..so likewise the term urban dance was often seen as an amalgamation of styles & choreography that came about from travelling and sharing of styles across cities and countries ard the world and has nth to do with black ppl. like even the term ‘urban music’ to categorise black music dont even exist in many countries so this is really an issue for those like the usa who screwed up to fix it and rightfully so by not relating the word to black culture/music and not simply omitting out the word and then ask everyone to do so as tho the world revolves ard usa cos it doesnt. and tbh if we stick the original definition of urban there is really nth wrong calling urban dance urban dance.
I do not understand why "urban" is allegedly a derogatory term. There is no way the definition of that word means anything derogatory. At 7:34, that statement is just that man's opinion. I am "of the brown community" and have never been insulted by the term "Urban dance," used to describe the wonderful combinations of dance styles (which, yes, they are definitely different from hip-hop).
heres my question, why when speaking about a harmful phrase to black and brown communities did you guys not think to have a black person speak on this? yeah there was a quick clip of 1 black guy but we didnt get to hear the indepth prospective.
@@leslieebony617 that's because the roots of what was formerly "urban dance" as it relates to steezy and the socal collegiate/competitive scene are distinctly tied to filipinos, vietnamese, and east asian diaspora finding commonality with hip hop culture, but trying to avoid using the term bc its NOT hiphop or even black culture at that point. body rock, the company, choreo cookies, kaba and pac modern were all founded by filipinos and supported by members of their communities (all with varying ethnicities). although i agree with you that it would have been better to have a black person's perspective like KB, antoine troupe, fabian tucker, etc. who were part of the socal open-style scene, but its also important that the man who essentially kicked off the movement be the one to address it. I also agree that hip-hop is predominantly black culture that has become distinct as hispanics and whites also had a hand in cultivating movesets and the culture - thoughts on this? Im not sure if i myself am giving them a larger role than they should have
hiro progatonist you are like how come this video give no credit to the black community and they were talking about a black issue but had someone who is not black talk about it 💀 like they even said hiphop culture and not black culture
Can anyone explain the specific reasons that "urban" became a slur? Because I just watched a video by Steezy explaining to not call certain things "hip hop", call it "urban" instead. ??? They say very general things in this video but the only thing I retained is that it is upsetting to "black and brown" people. I still don't understand why exactly, and I would like to.
Hey STEEZY, I don’t know if you guys already considered this style of dance but if you haven’t could you add afrodance as an addition to the list of your dance styles. Personally I’m not sure if it is called Afrodance since that would be a bit generic for a continent that has a lot of countries with many dance styles. But anyways I’ve been seeing afrodance in a lot of choreographies that aren’t Afro centered and personally I’ve been wondering if I could learn straight from the choreographers that teach them and learn about its styles and some choreo which also exposes us to music from other countries. I feel also a good exposure to others that are new dancers to also know that it’s an option to learn when they first start out. I don’t know it’s just a thought. I’ve seen this Belgium instructor that teaches it on Instagram @jenybsg (I’m not sure if she speaks English) but she seems like a great teacher. This was just to throw an idea out there anyways thanks for the other amazing videos and lessons you have provided on steezy.
Thank you Steezy for this beautifully done video. It's educational, intentional, and grounded in growth. I am also disappointed in you for not once apologizing for your consistent use and perpetuation of "urban dance." The way you frame this video is like you are an outside entity looking in on these cultures/histories. No, you are A SIGNIFICANT PART of this narrative. Own that fact and take personal responsibility for the part you play in all this. I'm glad to see that you, and the greater Filipino-American dance community are shifting away from "urban dance" to label your culture; however, I'm skeptical of your intentions based on your framing of this video. You, Steezy, are a part of the issue. You, Steezy, need to say sorry for being a part of the issue. I would like to hear that from your institution before I trust you and your intentions with my black/brown culture you have used to grow your own.
You cant rename something that doesnt belong to you. its funny how people want to rename something that belongs to black people period. Now that you think it cool. I guess its not urban anymore. Just accept the fact that hip hop dance was invented by black people for black people. The rest of you guys are just emulating without paying respect to where you learned your stuff and where it came from.
Really not trying to be that guy and I appreciate the effort... but WHY can we never acknowledge the fact that this is Afro American culture. My guy said he was attracted to hip hop culture, not ONCE did he say this is black art, just acknowledge that this Afro American art, give acknowledgement to the people who were dancing it before it hit mainstream popularity! We have no problem saying Chinese martial arts, we have no problem saying Japanese anime, why can't we just say Afro American or Pan African dance. EVERY SINGLE one of the styles that were listed @8:00 were Pan African; hip hop, house, salsa, dancehall, the list went on. ITS BLACK. I think this debate over what's next after Urban gave way too much room to muddy the waters on acknowledging the heritage of these freestyle dances. Now everyone wants to debate on origin when in reality there is a main source, BLACK PEOPLE OF THE AMERICAS. Obviously there's room to debate on what kind of representation we see in media and who has the capacity to carry the torch, but we must remember that there is almost certainly a disparity in opportunity and resources for the black populations to be able fund and sustain a platform like Steezy. Therefore, I think it's the responsibility of platforms like this to help people recognize and acknowledge history. I'm open to criticism so long as it's constructive.
I dont know if you guys made this change because of the people screaming appropriation on your last video, but I respect this. I dont agree with them but I’m happy that you guys do what you can to respect everyone’s beliefs and to educate people rather then ignore the hate. Its takes a lot of integrity, so thanks.
FailedGraphics I once saw a cheerleading competition labeled as a “hip hop” dance competition. It had nothing to with hip hop. That is why this video had to be made. It would be silly to label all HS dance teams cheerleaders just like it is silly to label anything involving a black artist hip hop or urban.
@8:00 all of the dance styles/music genres you’ve nested under urban and black. It’s strange you couldn’t find one black dancer weigh in on this matter…
I really enjoyed watching this video, and I wanted to ask: if studios run by black and brown people use the term “urban dance” is this still considered disrespectful or offensive?
@Dabi Doomer dj qbert and invisibl skratch are pioneers. im not hip to dj babu though. I dont think psalmuel would know them either though, because he is as misguided as you. These djs are known for their turntablism, not bc "filipino represent" or whatever. they become a nationalistic tool rather than have their story and skill be appreciated. it's not "representing" their people, put co-opting them for pride and another agenda - otherwise he's offer a comment with more nuance on their role in the culture. In a video ultiumately about black culture going unrecognized in a community of (largely) filipinos, its a tone-deaf comment, and one that filipinos online tend to make.
Guys, help me here, please. I really want to understand better this, it is still not clear for me. I'm not from the US, and not even an English native speaker, so I would like to understand why is "urban" an offensive word. Why is "urban" a racist term? If someone could explain it for me in an easier way to understand, I would be very grateful
It comes from radio in the 1970s. Black artists were being labelled as 'urban' and 'urban contemporary'. Urban was a way of saying 'black' without saying 'black'. The problem began when being labelled 'urban' meant that artists would have their exposure and marketing limited. The Black artists wouldn't receive the same radio play and chart exposure as their white counterparts. The Tyler the Creator clip highlighted the resistance of the industry to give equal space to black artists. No one will ever say that Igor is a rap record, despite winning best rap album that year.
