The Worst I Ever Got Smoked

A little throwback story to 2003, the worst time I, Focus, ever got smoked.

Early 2000’s I traveled and battled some with a Swedish crew called Beef Noodles. The leader of the crew Quake took me under his wing and taught me a lot. We battled in UK and in Sweden and so which was great for a young, hungry and up and coming b-boy like myself. I was very grateful for the opportunities which were rare around that time.

2003 we entered a jam called Rock the Spot in Norway a three on three battle. With dj Leacy (RIP) on the decks, the vibe was good and we rocked hard. The judges panel was ridiculous, Remind of Style Elements, Storm and Speedy of the Battle Squad were judging and K-Mel of the Boogie Brats hosted the event. Winning battle after battle, eventually we ended up winning the whole event. We went against a lot of strong b-boys like members of the legendary Atomic B-boys from Norway. After the final battle, when the winner was announced I was happy but completely beat.

Right after the winner was announced K-Mel continued:

“Before we leave, we promised ya’ll the surprise battle. So the surprise battle is….. Beef Noodles versus US!” 

Whaaaaat alright. So suddenly we were going against a bunch of b-boy superheroes and legends in their PRIME. With nothing left on our sleeves, Quake jumped up and was ready. All I could do was follow.

“Enough of the s*it talking, it’s battle time!”

Dj Leacy started the battle with one his signature tunes, the Getaway by the Soul Searchers. K-Mel was flying all over the place with his flips and freestyled like crazy. Remind brought so much soul I never saw nothing like that before. Speedy who’s always been very underestimated rocked stuff like one handed swipes people still can’t do today. Storm was like a machine with his text and concepts. We got smoked so bad.

One thing Quake had emphasized me was never to repeat my moves. With all of my moves gone there wasn’t much left but I stuck to the principle. Oh boy I wished I had more vocabulary. Or even could freestyle better with my foundation. With the worst beating of my life, I went back home as the winner of the event but at the same time knowing I still wasn’t there and ready. I had to search for knowledge twice as hard and TRAIN three times as hard. Back to the lab.

Moral of the story 1: Always be ready for a battle. You never know when you get called by a straight monster.

Moral of the story 2: Always have something left up the sleeve. Never show your whole arsenal because there’s always a monster lurking behind the corner waiting to call you out.

I felt ready before the jam and trained like crazy. But didn’t expect to be called out by superheroes.

Point of this:
Even if you think you’re ready there’s always an element of surprise in this b-boy / b-girl thing.

You will be called out when you least expect it.

You will run out of moves, out of breath and out of strategy.

The question is are you still ready to go for the extra rounds?

Back then could have only dreamed I had something like the B-Boy & B-Girl Dojo so that I’d have more material and vocabulary. If my vocabulary was more deep the scars of getting totally burned wouldn’t have been so deep.

There will be a monster calling you out anytime soon! Will you be ready for that?

-Focus