Kicking off ABDC Season 5 (submitted by LEY)

Strap on your dancing shoes and hold on to the ass of your pants, cuz ABDC Season 5 is here! That’s right, after a craptastic fourth season, season five is bringing back the hype with new crews, a new format and a new judge. The best crews of seasons 1-3 brought “charisma” and “energy” to the table in heavy doses, something season 4 lacked. No one impressed me, no one stood out, no one really had (as JC would say) a “moment” that made me want to root for them. The fact that I couldn’t for the life of me find that special “audience connection” with any of the crews nearly broke my heart. Was this all that ABDC had to offer? Was this the best they could do after an amazing third season? Needless to say after hearing about the changes being made to ABDC, I was extremely doubtful.

Right off the bat, I was pleased with the formatting changes. With the addition of the regional episodes the season will run a bit longer and it gives the audience more time to find a connection and relate with the crews and their members.

I will say there was some concern about Shane Sparks. Well, not HIM per se, but his position as a judge for the show made the most sense out of the three. (Side rant: Really, Shane?! Really?! Well, I’m not all THAT surprised. At least someone finally exposed him for the creep we knew, deep down inside, he was. Jackass.) From a judging stand point he did give some of the best criticism for the crews to improve. Insert new judge Omarion. This one came straight out of left field, but it’s not all that unprecedented. Omarion did work with Shane in You Got Served, like JC he was in a boy band that danced (B2K who?), and he has an album coming out this year (i.e. MTV exploitation boys and girls. I could go on this side rant for quite some time, but that is another post for another day). My overall impression is that his capability as a judge is slowly coming along. He has more constructive criticism for the crews every week and it’ll be interesting to see how he develops as a judge by the end of the season.

Finally, the meat ‘n’ potatoes of this post, the crews! And the nine contenders for Season 5 ARE…

*Next to each crew denotes the crews safe spot or if they won the bottom three battle

South
Swagger Crew (1) Jungle Boogie (2) Royal Flush (WB)

East
Saltare (1) Blueprint Crew (2) Static Noyze (WB)

West
Poreotix (1) Heavy Impact (2) Hype 5-0 (WB)

And here’s even more fun! Early Season 5 Superlatives! Enjoy!

WTF Crew: Royal Flush
Every season has one. That one crew you just can’t stand and every week they seem to make it back. S3 had the God awful “Fly Khicks”, S4 had “Afroborike”, and season 5 brings you Royal Flush. I believe that Ghost was a better crew, but because of RF’s back story (of having attempted ABDC for 5 years) the judges leaned in their favor in the battle.

Underdogs: TIE! Static Noyze and Heavy Impact
Is this a surprise? Static Noyze (as Lil Mama mentioned) has a “Fanny Pak” vibe about them. With their classic and cultural based dance moves, I’ve gotta hunch we will see some interesting performances from them. Heavy Impact knew they would be underdogs, but you gotta admit that these boys (despite their size) can really move! I think that just by watching their regional performance earned them a HUGE fan base and we can’t wait to see more.

Favorite Crew Icon: Blueprint Crew

Good Crew likely to drop out halfway thru the season: Saltare
I’m just as skeptical as the judges. Their performance had lots of trick and little coreo. Now, ABDC has had its share of gimmick crews (i.e. BreakSk8, Dynamic Edition, etc) however those past crews based their gimmick off of the dancing experience they already had. Even then, they only lasted halfway thru the competition. Saltare is the exact opposite. They are medal winning jump ropers and their dancing abilities (I’m talking intricate coreo, NOT TRICKS) are yet to be seen. Another wrench in the works for them is that they have to carry and use a full time prop. That’s something that has never been done on the show, and more likely to get old really quick.

1st Impression Favorite to Win: Poreotix
Call me crazy, or that I just have a thing for Asian guys (love you sweetheart!) but I’m calling it in. These guys will be the Season 5 Champs. I guess the best way to review these guys is the first list everything they did right. High Energy. Charismatic. Theatrical. Comedic. Spot on Musicality. Precision Timing. So much thought and detail went into everything they did. They also proved that you don’t need to have tricks or complicated dance moves to make an impact. These guys have that “it” factor. They are the reason why I will anticipate watching every new episode.

(Note* This is MY OPINION, if you don’t like it go fuck a goat or shit a hat…whatever the kids are calling it nowadays. Yeah. THAT.)

Confessional

When I moved to Virginia in the summer of '96 my mother brother and I lived with my Godsister Pilar and her daughter Asha whom is also my godsister not only cause Pilar is my goddsister but becuase my mother is her godmother, did you get all that? Good. Anyways we lived in these townhomes (I think the name of it was Victoria sq. I cant believe I dont remember the name of em, moving on) And that complex was next to this apartment complex by the name of Langley Sq. All the kids that I went to school with (Lindsay Middle what up!) lived in that complex. I made a number of friends whom lived there and frequented in those parts. But the thing we used to do was go to the Kmart down the street. It was like we were too young to go to the mall and to old to play at the playground so Kmart was the next best thing. This brings me to my confession. Whilst in middle school and living in that area and going to Kmart...I used to steal Lisa Frank Products. Lisa Frank was the shiz back then so dont front. Till this day I get excited when I see a Lisa Frank holographic notebook! I mean it didnt get so bad or out of hand, I wasnt a bad kid. I just used to steal pens, pencils, stickers, small notebooks. Come to think of it in my whole existence this is probably the worst thing ive done. Well it was that one time in high school I stole a wristband from Hot Topic which I inevitably lost, go figure. I had a lot of fun in middle school. Hopping from Langley Square to Sinclair Gardens (which got torn down a number of years ago and is now host to really nice houses and senior citizens community where my grandmother lives.) Going to the Tyler elementary after school program where I was part of the double dutch club and my friends and I would take the short cut through a farm and step in tons of sh!t. Man those were the days...

This is my confession

So I open this post with the requisite "sorry i havent posted ive been busy, I have two jobs, yadda yadda yadda" but its the truth, moving on. So on my travels to work the iPod is on shuffleage and it definitely gives you some time to hear songs you forgot was on there. The other day on the ride home from williamsburg this song came on.

Yes. Insane Clown Posse's "Another Love Song". Which leads me to my confession. For about a good year and a half while in high school, I was a...*wait for it* a Juggalette, yep I was. I was fully into ICP, bumped the Jekyll Brothers CD and thoroughly enjoyed their foray into cinema Big Money Hustlas. I dont really know what happened to make me fall out of the Juggalo phase. Wait I know what happened...I grew up. Anyways I do look back at that phase and chuckle. It also reminds me of one of my HS BFF's Justene whom last I saw her (about 3-4 years ago now wow!)she was not only still into ICP but the whole Psychopathic Records movement. Wherever you are girlie, hope you and the seed are doing well.

I guess they were no longer a burden in each other's hands *golf claps*

Like my joke huh? huh? Anyways dude I just read some of the best news ever. My favorite favorite 'grunge' band Soundgarden is getting back together!!! Chris Cornell reporteldly made the annoucement via his twitter and also providing a link to the new band website. Now although this is very exciting news for me this whole situation could be REALLY good or REALLY bad like Van Halen with David Lee Roth and Sammy Haggar together bad. I dont know we would have to wait and see. Get the full scoop over at Pitchfork

On to the Next Conspiracy theory

Jay Hov has people really going nutzo over his new video for "On to the Next One"(the comments over at Miss Info's site is oddly insightful but ridiculous). I guess for some time people believed Jay Z was a satan worshipper? Now all these Illumanati and Freemasonry theories. I really dont have the mental capacity, or care in the world to look up these thingy's. Yes the imagery in this video does bring up questions but honestly and taking a lazy blogger's approach I dont care. Is Jay Z worshipping the devil, who cares, does he believe in the occult? Who cares. On December 21 2012 is he going to morph into a robot like MJ in Moonwalker and tell us the end is here? Probably not, but that would awesome. At the end of the day I personally like the look of the video, its different, its artistic, the song isnt too bad either, repetitive yes, but if it came on in a club will I dance to it? Yes. Ill dance throwing up the devil horns and stealing the nearest girls lipstick and writing triple 6's across my forehead. On to the next one.

Oh Yeah Happy New Year

Yeah I know its Jan 2 shut up! Well what did I do for New Year's? I woke up and got ready for work, yay me. But its 2010 and Im ready to get this year started. As you know last year was not a good one and I am highly optimistic about this one. I am *still* looking for another job. In fact a few days before xmas I got a job 'assignment' from the temp agency that I joined a while ago. Its for a specified education center at the college of william and mary doing office stuff. I was there for the 2 days before xmas and much to my surprise I actually enjoyed. I enjoy doing stuff, you know like busy work so your not counting every single second and being a secretary I guess, who woulda knew? I think I enjoy the fact thats its a 'regular' job being the hours are 8:30-4:30 M-F. Its in Willimasburg which is on the Peninsula which means I dont have to go through a bridge and a tunnel everyday. Im quite sure the pay is good as of right now im getting paid .28 cents more there as a temp than I do at the radio job. I hope that this works out for me and the powers that be see me fit for this posish. Only time will tell, hurry up and wait. Only bad thing is for now im working 2 jobs radio from 1a-6a then the temp job 8:30a-4:30p which leaves not a lot of time for sleep in between jobs so, yeah that sucks. I will grit and bear it for a while. So yeah new year, new attitude, I need some new hair, Ill work on that. So here's to you 2010, dont f*ck this up!

Song of the Day

Today's song come from a kid by the name of Mike Posner he is a musician who attends or attended Duke University and I guess he's a big college circuit artist, I came across this song a while ago(the version w/ Wale) via Miss Info's site and I just love this song for some reason, recently they came out with a video for "Drug Dealer Girl" feat Rosa Acosta the chick that came to fame by displaying her streching abilities on youtube...well good for her, she was also in Drake's "Best I Ever Had". Anyways yeah here you go.


"Drug Dealer Girl" OFFICIAL VIDEO

Mike Posner | MySpace Music Videos