Rock Steady Crew
(98th & Amsterdam, South Bronx New York, - Rock Steady Park Meeting Point)
Breakdancing was first made apparent in 1977 in the Boogie-Down borough by two original founders, Jo-Jo, (a one-time hustler who is credited with creating the Back-Spin) and Jimmy D who joined together to establish the most recognizable and foremost crew in breakdancing called the Rock Steady Crew. In 1979 as the disco fever struck the scene, breakdancing was beginning to fall. Jimmy D passed his legacy onto a young performer who would take over and become a world-wide spokesman for the movement, Robert “Crazy Legs” Colon from Manhattan along with his cousin Lenny Len. Together they breathed the life back into b-boys and first took their showcase over to Manhattan Island. The Rock Steady Crew was alive and kicking.
RSC used battles as a way of initiation in their crew. A feat hard to accomplish, but this made their crew one of the fiercest in all of New York in the future. Frosty Freeze was an elder b-boy and member of the Rock City Crew but could not settle with a steady crew. He pledged his allegiance to the younger members of RSC to back up any battles they got into.
1981 gave Rock Steady their biggest break, in August photographer Henry Chalfant offered the crew a chance to perform at the Lincoln Center Outdoors Program, covered by local NYC TV stations as well as the New York Times, The Village Voice, The Daily News and National Geographic. They were pitted against rival crew, The Dynamic Rockers, which would later give them worldwide exposure. Founder Jimmy D was so impressed with the hype Crazy Legs had generated for the crew he made him the president of the entire Rock Steady Crew. Legs then inducted two members of the Manhattan chapter, Frosty Freeze and Ken Swift,(from The Young City Boys crew, initiated after battling against Crazy Legs) as Co-Presidents.
In the winter season on ’82 the RSC was invited to perform at the Ritz nightclub that included a list of notable performers such as punk group, Bow Wow Wow, Afrika Bambaataa and the Jazzy 5. After the event Crazy Legs and Frosty Freeze asked Bam if they could join the Zulu Kings, considered to be the most highly respected b-boy crew. Afrika accepted and inducted the entire RSC as members of the Zulu Nation. Soon after this RSC were given the opportunity to expand their organization into a large family like group consisting of women, children, roller skaters, graffiti artists and DJs. Caught up in the diversity of the New York club scene, this move made the group and the breakdance culture bigger than New York City.
Rock Steady’s finest hour of fame came when members Crazy Legs, Ken Swift, Frosty Freeze and Mr. Freeze were asked to guest appear on the box office smash film “Flashdance”. This lead to a nation wide craze into what was now being called "breakdancing." It also played heavily into the development of the West Coast b-boy scene. This paved the way for variation of b-boying, namely the “Boogaloo” and “popping”.
By 1983 as the RSC had expanded their entertainment showcase they were managed by Kool Lady Blue, who booked onto the Roxy Tour sponsored by Europe Radio One. This tour carried the RSC, Afrika Bambaataa, Fab Five Freddy, the McDonalds Double Dutch girls, numerous DJs and graffiti artists from the urban jungles of New York to London and Paris and became the very first hip hop music tour. The Crew also appeared on the Jerry Lewis Telethon for the second time that year. In November of that same year Queen Elizabeth asked then to perform at the Royal Variety Performance in aid of the Artists Benevolent Fund.
2005 and present day, Crazy Legs is still presiding president with Fabel as vice president. There are now chapters active throughout the United States of America in Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles as well as overseas in Japan, Britain and Italy. They are at their 28th anniversary with more goals in sight for the RSC. Remaining active in several community outreach programs and several food drives for NYC pantries, Legs is passionate about putting back a positive contribution to the community. Also the organization runs dance classes to continue to keep the movement alive in the younger generations.
Rock Steady Crew Members:
| Jimmy D | Mr. Wiggles | Quit Riot | Masami | Rahzel | Fast Feet |
| Lenny Len | Frosty Freeze | Easy Roc | Teknyc | Mari | Venum |
| Crazy Legs | Tuff Tim Twist | Fabel | Jeromeskee | Eunico | Jeskilz |
| JoJo | Bonz Malone | YNOT | Charlie Rock | Mega | Renegade |
| Double T | Flea Rock | Tony Touch | Armani | Kool Ski | Shon Boog |
| Bobbito | DJ JS1 | Servin' Ervin | DJ Eclipse | Luigi | Denote |
| Abstrak | Q-Unique | Suga Pop | Mr. Freeze | Heps Fury | Fever 1 |
| Floor Rock | DJ Evil Dee | Artson |
Rock Steady Crew pose. Circa 1985. Frosty-Freeze bottom-rocking with the Crew, 1982.
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