Hip Hop 2021 Forever Stamps — Breaking and B-Boys, Pane of 20

Issue facts

Issue Date: July 1, 2020
First Day City: New York, NY
Printed by: Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd.
Printing Method: Offset
Format: Pane of 20

Where breaking came from

B-boys and b-girls — the b is for break — are the dancers who gave hip hop its physical form, and the moves routinely look impossible.

Acrobatic street performance goes back to the 1800s, but breaking specifically was born in the 1970s. DJ Kool Herc was the first to loop the rhythmic breakdown of a record, producing an extended beat for dancers to improvise over. The vocabulary that developed pulled from martial arts, gymnastics, the lindy hop and disco.

The four categories

Toprock is everything performed standing. Downrock — footwork or floorwork — puts the hands on the floor as load-bearing as the feet. Power moves are the acrobatic ones, the upper body supporting while the rest of the body generates momentum. Freezes are held poses suspended off the ground, sometimes on a single hand, and usually close a set, though they can be chained together for effect.

What began on street corners and at parties is now on film and television and at competitions worldwide.

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