Air Force poppers Animation, RE and Chuco talks about the West Coast poppin' scene

Chuco

Chuco started poppin' on the streets of East San Jose in 82'. In pursuit of an acting and dancing career, he moved south to Long Beach, just a 40- minute drive from downtown L.A. "The best poppers came from Long Beach," he proclaims. "I'LL go out of the way and say that a lot of the different styles were created there." Prior to Air force Crew, Chuco represented the LBC as a member of the DICE crew, which boasted the membership of Turbulent (RIP) from Lynwood. "He was amazing. He was the only one that could pop that fast. He could pop real, real fast." Chuco emphasizes his words with great respedt. Together the duo founded the crew that included Boogaloo Legs, Boogaloo Legs, Jr. and Hector.


This East Bay Area native of Mexican descent represents the rare breed of street dancer who excels in the unususal marriage of breakdancing and popping. He has mastered both forms of dancing, which makes him the most verstile member in the group. "I'm the only one in the group that can hang with the hardest poppers and can hang with the hardest breakers," he says.

Chuco's dancing talent was passed on th his nine-year-old daughter, Felizia. Although born with only one leg, she was still able to outperform other children with the aid of a prosthetic limb. "She was one of the best dancers in the world for her age," beams the proud father . "when she was dancing, I didn't know anybody, even loder than her, that could beat her." However, out of genuine concern about the negative changes in their little girl's personality, both parents decided to pull her out of a promising career performing in commercials and movies. Explains the protective dad, "She was getting too conceited, it was messing her up-and I'm thinkin', What's goin' to happen to my little girl? So I pulled her out...I was ready to make millions."

RE

A self-described former drifter, Re views Hip-Hop as a potent life force, both to himself growin' up in the ghettos of Los Angeles and to entire generations of marginal street kids worldwide

The product of a stringent childhood under a strict father, his vivid esperiences as a non-social adolescent influenced his street-dancing skills. "My poppin' was different," reflects Re, "became I was locked in my room [most of the time], so my influences were the golden Voyage of Sinbad when the thing with the six arms came to life." His large pool of ideals stemmed from hours spent viewing sci-fi movies and cartoons. "That's why my poppin' doesn't look like nobody else's. I got my King Tut off of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. I had no choice, I had to entertain myself." Unfortunately Re, who is a strong believer in the art of freestyle flowing, was on a path that many underprivileged kids find themselves on He witnessed firsthand the harsh realities that eventually engulfed street dancing...and himself. He elaborates: "Hip-Hop was an influence on me 'cause I was a criminal and I couldn't keep out of jail. And everybody I knew that had mad flava back then was hardcore criminals. That's the reason why they went to extremes in breakin' and poppin', 'cause they were extremes as criminals."

Reflecting back, Re gets so amped he busts into a rhyme abruptly, giving up a taste of just what happened to Hip-Hop during his teens: "It took a concrete dive in '85/it stopped/It was no more ticktock, poplock or uprocks/Life without Hip-Hop/Before then all crime had dropped/Locked up I was and my mind was on my cousins/Crews ran in dozens/Let's not be frontin' 'cause crews was out huntin'/Pull back-to-back/Get your whole crew racked/Like a cage/True B-boy rage/Take it to the stage/See who can fade from the moves that they made/Master of trades, flaves.."

Animation

Palm trees, tourists and toxic waters may be fixtures of Venice Beach, but for the past decade-plus the incomparable Mr. Animation has definitely been a Mainstay underneath sunny skies. Known for his eclectic and at times outlandish behavior(the most crazy move he's associated with is the humpback, a Quasimodo-like walk that's a real crowd-pleaser), this seasoned street performer excels at combining true skills with oddball humor.

Insired in 1984 by the film Breakin', which was shot on location at the famous coastal shores, Animation explain "I found myself out in Venice doing some acts with the local fellas, catchin' the bus out there. Then one day out there they were givin' out fliers for the Radiotron, so I just went down there and joined in." He was 17.

"I didn't even know how to make a dollar back in the days of 17 years old," concedes the local icon, who boasts he's never worked a 9-to-5 gig in his life. "But, you know, time came to the point where I knew that I had to survive." That he did. Since beginning, Animation has been able to save up enough dialy bread from his act to buy a Celica a few years back. He says, "Venice Beach was the main alternate that kept me into my dance art. I came up with a show to work around breakdancing and pop- locking, and now it's become the big thing. It's a business to me."

But the benefits don't stop there. Time has been good to our master of cartoon style, even after prolonged exposure to the West Coast sun. According to Animation, who's recording his first album, "I was workin' on this 13 years ago, and now 13 years later I look kinda younger than I looked when I was 17. It's like, 'What is he doing? He must be doin' something right.' Ice-T, Afrika Islam, Henry G, all them old-time brothers back in the days, they still see me around movin' strong."