BBOY UNIT 2008

Canada's Biggest B-Boy Battle

Photos by: Che Kothari, Angie Choi, Gillian Mapp, William Nguyen

The line up ran around the block as the crowd bustled to get in to this years biggest Bboy event: Bboy Unit Canada. As the public entered the venue, all the competitors were already deep into a heated fight to make it into the top 8 competing that evening. With the top 8 chosen, the battle could begin with the best of the best struggling to earn the title of Team Canada. Crews flew in from all over the country; this truly was the national Canadian bboy championship. Special guest judges included legendary bboy Poe One from Style Elements crew (California), Nemesis from Breaks Kru (New York), Kid Glyde from one of breakings earliest and best know bboy crews the Dynamic Rockers (New York), Gizmo from Bag of Trix and 7 Gems crew (Toronto), and Zeb Rock from Contents Under Pressure (Vancouver).

The tension was palatable as each battle was more intense than the last. For the 1,400 spectators, the energy just kept rising as they screamed for the dancers blow ups and burns. DJ Dopey was killing it on the ones and twos, while host Lenny D’s hyped up the crowd and got the people vibing and cheering as the battles became more and more dynamic.

Highlight battles included Supernaturalz vs. Ill-Mask, FAM vs. O’Mighty, Conscious Soles vs. Supernaturalz and the heated finals FAM vs. Supernaturalz. In the first highlighted battle Montreal’s own Ill-Mask came out ridiculously strong by showing their crew unity and strength in routines. Utilizing Lazy Legz incredible blow ups and planche maneuvers the crew quickly won over the crowd. Supernaturalz answered with routines, but were losing ground until they pulled out a massive routine with both Dyzee and Puzzles linked together doing swipes across the stage. From then on, Supernaturalz dominated the battle to move on to the next round.

The finals were highly anticipated. Last year’s winner of Bboy Unit Canada, FAM, faced off against the world famous Supernaturalz crew. This battle had been a long time coming as they had not faced off at last year’s event. Many speculated that these were the two crews to beat and they ended up going head to head in the finals. Though as anticipated as it was, the finals were a blow out, with Supernaturalz dominating the floor with their huge arsenal of routines and commandos. FAM looked like they ran out of routines, and sent out their big hitter Zen to do the work solo. In the end, Supernaturalz just were too well prepared and were declared the winner of Bboy Unit Canada 2008!

After the battles were done DJ Starting From Scratch hit the decks and began rocking the crowd. Cyphers formed across the Guvernment’s floor as bboys called on each other and everyone partied until closing time. The positive atmosphere of the whole night was amazing. Bboy Unit Canada 2008 was a historic night for b-boying in Canada.