DopePosers:
1. Sèyo, JR, CCB (Switzerland)
2. Mickey, TFP (Holland)
3. KapiOne (Spain)
SEYO, Jazzy Rockers, CCBombers
1. Please introduce yourself
I am Sèyo, member of Jazzy Rockers, the CCBombers from BienneCity, Switzerland. I am married and father of two children.
Now I am 40 years old and make my money as an artist.
2. when and how evolve your interest in hiphop?
In 1983 my interest in hiphop evolved. I started to breakdance in the street, paint graffiti. In the beginning it was a sort of discodancing...Moonwalk, Robot, Smurf... it was a new thing, and the majority in my school did this kind of dance.
It was fresh. Most of the others stopped it after a time and we continued.
We formed a group named Street Force. Later we changed the name into Jazzy Rockers. We stole cans and did a „Smurf“ piece at the Schoolbuilding. It was my first illegal graffiti. A great experience was to see „WildStyle“ at the cinema. Before the film was playing, there were other guys breakdancing on stage . We were totally inspired. it was like a drug.
3. how do you dress to look fresh? (back in the days and nowadays?)
We had nothing back in the days. We saw fatlaces on the photos, but we couldn't buy it in a store. We had to do everything ourself. One friend did his fatlaces with cardboard. We had to laugh, when we saw it.
1984 a guy went to NewYork and we beg him to bring adidas superstar sneakers. He came back with two pairs, white and grey stripes. But we were 6 persons, who wanted them absolutely. We did a Breakdance-Battle at the Kongresshaus and I won a pair!
We painted backpieces and our radios, we cutted even our own nameplates. We really did this things like a ceremony, like the warriors preparing themselves for a fight. Today i think people dress just to be „in“. The majority are suckers. Today I like to dress for the occasion. Sometimes the nice sundayclothes, nice pants, nice shirt, i ve got a discreet gold teeth, and a little goldchain.
On top: Sèyo at the BTI-station Hall of Fame, 1986
above: Sèyo in front of a Jazzy Rock Piece, 1984
4. what is style in your opinion?
For me it is a question of who wears something. Style comes from inside.
The cloth you can buy on a fleemarket, for example a red sweater, white jeans anda red hat... it hasn't to be expensive. Style means to be proud of yourself, proud to be part of the hiphopculture and show it with your attitude. You simply have to be yourself. If you play a role, it doesn't look original and you need Style to be original...
5. what is your favorite piece of clothing? And where did you get it from?
I am not too much into fashion. For me it's most important to feel good in my cloth. I always loved my kangols, which I weared at top of my head. The first kangol I bought in london. Later I always had a flattop with cutted lines.
6. what is the secret of a b-boy to look good?
The choice of the colors it's important. Best dress to me, is a Blue Denim Jacket with a backpiece, jeans pants, superstars, a beltbuckle and a nice kangol hat. I also really like the Goose Jackets.
7. when you draw a character, what gives him a fresh look?
The pose, the attitude, the expression of the face.
8. who is in your opinion the star, dancer or rapper with most style?
Big Daddy Kane or LL cool J
9. when and why did you start to do posing-photos? who or what was an inspiration?
We did familyphotos with our crew, we wanted to represent; for the memory. I was inspired by recordcovers, for example by the rocksteady crew. Often other people took photos from us. We just had breakdancing in our mind.
above:
Characters drawn by Sèyo
1989 and 2008 (20years later)
left:
Zed and Sèyo in front of a
CCB Piece, 1988
down:
at the Kongresshaus, where the JazzyRockers used to break, 1985
10. what was your best posingphoto?
There are so many bad photos, a lot of blured ones, too dark or too bright.
But anyway one photo we posed in front of the Kongresshaus, where we always used to break. We posed the whole crew.
11. what makes a pose real dope? what makes a good posingphoto?
Often people are too forced on a photo. It is the art of the photographer
to let people be relaxed, to do the pose naturally. The Background is also very important. I think the old photos got more style. The digital photos are too clean.
12. what is your favorite pose? (for example: egypt, badboy... give it a name!)
The crewphoto: Every person shows what he got. You can see the fun!
MICKEY, TFP
1. Please introduce yourself
I’m Mickey (aka.MickLaRock) from Holland. I’ve been into hip hop
since the first days of it.
2. when and how evolve your interest in hiphop and
hiphop-fashion?
I’m not too interested in hiphop fashion as a thing as itself. Especially not in these days and after all the years. But when I was about 12 years old hiphop just started to slowly make it’s way over to Europe (1980/’82) As fascinated I was about the music of course I was very fascinated about the clothes worn by bboys, mc’s etc. There were hardly any examples. I mean there was no MTV, no internet, no hiphop magazines. There was only the weekly popmusic show on tv and the main stream pop music teenage magazines. And of course the hiphop they showed was nothing but that one video by Sugarhill Gang (no hiphop fashion, that was disco!), Grandmaster Flash’ The Message (they wore studded black leather) and Hey You by RockSteadyCrew. And Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren.
As kids in the early 80’s we adapted elements out of these videos with the new wave fashion of those days and made it hiphop. I remember going to the punk rock/ new wave fashion store in the city where I lived to spend my allowance money on white gloves and a studded leather wrist band. And a thin pair of red sunglasses, the space type, you’d see Jonzun Crew wearing them, and The Soulsonic force. I think those were my first hip hop fashion items. I had those scratch on letters, they were silver blockbuster letters with black outline. I scratched MICKEY with them on the side of my space sunglasses. That was my first customized item.
Around 1984-‘85 nothing changed too much for hiphop was still in it’s primal stage in Europe. My uncle gave me a bike racer’s glove that I cherished. Bike racer’s gloves were the fashion item for bboys at that times. Unfortunately I lost it somehow somewhere. I mixed the hiphop fashion items I had with the fashion Madonna was kicking at the time: lots of bracelets on each arm, lace fingerless gloves, I think I had 10 earrings in one hole in each ear. Prince also influenced me: wearing my hair a-symetrical, colouring some locks blue and purple. I customized jeans jackets with a piece on the back even before I really started writing (graffiti).
Another thing were the sneakers. Being 12yrs old I was dependant on my folks for my clothing and they refused buying me Nikes or Adidas. Those were too expensive. This resulted with the fact that my first sneaker craving was stilled with a pair of high top “Brownies”. Only years later I found out they were cheap copies of Pro-Kets. I wore them clean for just a short while, never satisfied knowing I was walking around in cheap sneakers. My more fortunate class mates giggling about them. I started writing around this time so I decided to start tagging up on my sneakers, customizing it more with silver chains, rhinestones and playboy bunny studs. Very fashionable were the rasta shoe strings. I had those too. Later I got crazy about Filas because all the rappers were talking about them, Roxanne Shante, Steady B, Schoolly D just to name some. For Filas you had to take a trip to Amsterdam. In the mid 90’s Fila fell off style wise. I had to switch brand: adidas, puma, nike.
In 1986 hip hop made a huge flight with the sound of DefJam artists. Thanks to BeastyBoys I just had to break off a Mercedes sign from a car and rack up fake gold chains from the local department store. I remember getting my aunt very upset by doing this. But hey, we (me and contemporary hiphoppers) didn’t have money but we really wanted to look fresh like our heros. In Holland you couldn’t find the real stuff, no original Kangol hats, anyway not the type LL, DMC or T La Rock was wearing. Forget about the dookie rope chains and bamboo doorknocker earrings I loved so much. No two finger rings here. But how can one get on the street back in ‘86/’87 without a custom made gold name plate on a chain around the neck, as sweet as they were my folks had a gold plated silver name plate made for my 17th birthday and I racked up the chain.
1987 was a heavy year: when you dressed fresh and you went to the jams out there in Amsterdam, or to buy clothes, you really had to beware because you could easily get robbed of your fresh gear. I remember going to the ’87 Def Jam Tour and being lucky all the robbers were busy robbing at the moment we walked from the bus stop to the venue. I did get robbed from the Kangol I borrowed from a friend at the Rap Attack in the Vondelpark. Classic. My homeboy got robbed of his fresh Fila jacket. In the end I had to hide my gold.
In 1988 I visited London and happen to pass by The 4 Star General, when he was still in the basement of a punk rock store on Carnaby St. (?) It was like stepping in heaven: copper name belt buckles, earrings like MC Lyte was wearing, a wall full of Kangol hats, leather goose down jackets, tsssss, I have no words. I had to make a choice, but still wish up to this day I had more money to spend that day. I had my name belt buckle made and bought a Kangol. Still I regret about the earrings.
Another store I’d go to between 1988 and 1994 was Tigaret in Paris. A legendary store. They had the same type of collection.... I got my twofingerrings and my first pairs of huge doorknocker earrings there. The type Neneh Cherry had in her video, Shante had on her album cover, the ones these hoes were rockin’in TwoLiveCrew’s videos. Unfortunately Tigaret closed down years ago.
After the late mid 80’s I’ve tried to keep up somehow with the fashion. Slowly the more commercial brands started to get fame, Cross Colours, Karl Kani, even thought I did until the mid 90’s, but I never really liked to wear the flashy brand names all over.
3. what is mother of all hiphop-fashion?
SNEAKERS. The right sneakers at the right time. At the moment I have about 50 pairs. Shoestrings are also important. No sneakers without proper shoestringing them! The hiphop rule since day one: fat laces, or actually ANY laces, should never be tied together in a bow knot in such a way that the bows are visible. Laces should be without a knot unless you go for illegal action in the night time.(Up to this day it disturbs me when I see a hiphopper posing or performing with knots in his or her laces.) And for the ladies: Bamboo hoop earrings. I have been collecting since the 80’s and own over 130 pairs. Funny to see they’re back in fashion, and this time not as a typical hip hop fashion statement. Also this disturbs me enormously.
4. what is your favorite piece of clothing? And where did you get it from?
At this moment I’m totally happy with a long camouflage skirt by DubWise, that I bought in my favourite rastafari store “Nicholas Variety” in Brooklyn NY.
5. how do you dress to look fresh? (back in the days and nowadays?)
It just got to be the right combination. Back in the days it was more about trying to copy the style of what was shown in the scarse media/record covers. You still see that done nowadays by many younger cats and chickies with the mainstream hiphop fashion of today: those payama looking baggy sweat suits by seanjohn, roccawear etc etc. But yo, that style to me ain’t fresh, because you can walk into the hiphop outfit store and buy them pret a porter. To me you dress fly when you match your outfit together with all kinds of single pieces. Nowadays I mix more flavours into one and I dare more to dress feminine. I can wear a thrift store skirt and flipflops and match it with a tight BabyPhat hoodie. My friend makes dope skirts out of hiphop t shirts. Combined with nice top and sneaker you’re F.L.Y.!
6. what is the secret of a b-girl to look good?
B girls stay feminine even though they don’t really wear femine outfits. It’s the little details that differ from person to person: beautiful eyes, beautiful hair, her choise of jewelery, or whatever. Just the fact she stands out of the male crowd by burning the guys on the dance floor, the mic or the walls, make her look good already. know what I’m sayyyiiiin! Forget about body figure. A true b girl/ fly girl believes in herself and you don’t have to have the so called perfect body to believe in who you are. I have been overweight since I was 13.
7. who is in your opinion the best dressed star / rapper? And why?
She’s a bit out of the picture, but I think Laurynn Hill had mad style back in the 90’s. So does Erykah Badu. I think they dress best. I’m so not into today’s female rap. Rap took a commercial flight I resent! The beauty of it has gone, made it’s way for the big money. I don’t like (read: hate) the blingbling-hoochie style of the last 8 – 10 years. Too much porn mixed into the fashion. Little Kim as the biggest example. What happened to the strong female image in rap? I mean: main stream rap. The ladies in the independent industry are so much more real: Jean Grae, Apani B., Bahamadia. But I only know their music, not their looks.
above:
an original sketch by mickey, 1987
left:
MICKEY
1993, Queens, NY
8. when and why did you start to do posing-photos?
Since the first photo of me in hiphop. But usually I pose with homies on parties and jams and in front of my pieces.
9. what was your best posingphoto or what is a project for the future?
It’s not so much a serious dope pose, it’s more a happy pose. It fits me better because it’s natural. Real dope poses are poses. But I’m talking about the one in front of this huge piece somewhere in NYC back in the early 90’s. Damn, I was so happy to be there. Making dreams come true. Thanks to Sach, Iz the Wiz and Sar.
10. what makes a pose real dope?
A real dope pose is the one you made back in the 80’s when you was still a kid. not even knowing it was called a dope pose.
11. what is your favorite pose? (for example: egypt, badboy... give it a name!)
I like the original Bboy stance: arms folded in front of chest, badboy face, head slightly to one side, one leg leaning on the knee to the floor, one leg bent to the front.
KAPI ONE
1. Please introduce yourself
I was born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) year 1971. My family emigrate to Spain one year later and I came to Barcelona in 1982 where I am living now. Nowadays I am living purely for and to Hip Hop. I am mainly doing music things (producing, deejaying, and starting to edit-publish my own music projects now, related with Electro old school music style).
I am also quite active with Graffiti too, painting on street and doing some exhibitions, and also still breakdancing and from time to time I get some jobs with this too (like judging on battles).
2. what is your background?
I kept interest in black music in 1983 and found Hip Hop through breakdance in August 1984 visiting my family at my motherland, Argentina. January 1986 I started paint as a graffiti writer and one year later started to handle my first electronic instruments for build Hip Hop music and started to write my first rap lyrics.
Since 1986, when writing came to my life, graffiti become my first way of life. First as hobby but later as job, doing a magazine for 10 years starting back in 1992 (Barcelona Game Over Magazine - Downrocks magazine) then the first graffiti shop in Spain in 1993 and after I helped to create the concept of Montana Colors Spray cans in 1994, where I was working seriously from 2001 to 2006, the years of the real expansion of the brand. In Music I was in a rap crew since 1987 and we had our first professional work on street in 1990 (Song in a Compilation) after hard work on stages taking experience and learning music world but from a very young movement, Hip Hop.
In Breakdance I never stopped dance even when in 1986 was a "dead" time and every single bboy was ashamed to dance, because was something "old". So for me was the moment I started to become fascinated for the Old things against the general movement opinion. To continue dancing gave me some power and good level when Bboying came back in middle 90's, because my 10 years experience. In 1995 I was part of the first serious breakdance project in Spain, Barcelona Addictos, the bboys crew that represent Spain in Europe scene, alone, during more than 5 years...
3. when and why did you start to do posing-fotos?
Probably from the day one. I was seriously influence by Beat Street Movie in 1984 after few months I started dance. And we always try to have same vibe of the movie so we started to do posing fotos like the ones on the beginning of the movie. After (late 1985) I get the Subway Art book and then we started to paint graffiti on Subway trains, what made us understand the importance of have pictures of everything, then in 86 was the real beginning time to do fotos of everything, us and the graffiti pieces.
Mafia2 1986, Barcelona
Koa 17 years old
Taka 18 years old
KapiOne 15 years old
4. what does it mean to you?
To have fotos was at that moment to have the remembering on physic form, so to see us posing on the pictures was kind of reaffirm of what we were doing and what we were. See us posing with friends, was like to do a party, was a great moment that only was possible once in a while, was the real brotherhood moment to confirm how united we were. Was more than a simple foto.
Now I see those fotos and I can feel the vibe, and understand better who I am now, watching I still wear similar shoes or haircut if possible... Back in 80's we wanted to copy NY fotos, now I like to copy my own 80's fotos...
KOA AND KAPI
1987, Barcelonaa
5. what was your best posingfoto?
Impossible to say... Most of my fotos are posing... Some times I like ones and other times others, probably what I like best were the ones in late 80's with my 2 friends, Taka and Koa, this ones means a lot to me and they look really good, tuff guys, graffiti writers but "cool"...
6. what makes a pose real dope?
Mainly is the face, the look (gaze). But to find the proper background is important, when someone poses without watching what is in background (living room of parents home, etc) the 50% of the pose is missing (when we talk about a foto, of course).
A Dopepose must be done in proper place. Of course the rest of elements are important, like clothing and pose (body).
7. what is your favorite pose?
I think best one for me is the simple one, looking to the objective serious, The one that you kept looking on details when you see a foto (clothing, background, etc), not on the position of the body. I name it "keep it real pose". But the pose must be "something", do you understand, looks like you dont do nothing but the body is a little bit posed...
UNDERRAP
1990, Barcelona
8. is fashion important to do a dope posing photo?
As I told before, yes. Absolutely.
9. who is your Posingking/queen/what is your favorite recordcover?
Hard to say so I will tell you the one that came to me now to my memory...The cover of the Album of British hardcore Rap crew, HIJACK (The horns of Jericho). Nothing to do with the ones I explain before but I was really impressed on that one.
10. last ten years posing-photos wasn't popular at all, what do you think was the reason?
Don't know really. I continue doing them, but maybe many people did not because it reminds maybe too much to current rap artists (covers). Here is like you want to look a bad boy when you are not (cover phenomenon) so looks ridiculous and very immature thing. So maybe people avoid this pose fotos to try don't remind this phenomenon...
My last 10 years pose fotos are a little different, like smiling or making jokes with clothing... Maybe to avoid this effect...
Thank you Kapi for the Interview!
check his websites:
© all rights reserved The DopePosePosse
http://www.dopepose.com