Dance to the Drummer's Beat

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Originally uploaded by ALifeAllah.

Peace,
My father is in his mid 80’s. He is in excellent health. He is one of those farm boys who rise with the sun and keep physically active. On the real I have to take the snow shovel with me to work during the winter and keep gas out of the lawn mower during the summer or you will find him behind them.

I grew up in a Pentecostal church so ‘movement’ was always important; bouncing with the ‘holy ghost’. The two ways that I bonded with in terms of exercise growing up was fighting (it became ‘martial arts’ later) and dance.

In terms of my ‘fighting tree’ I grew up in pre (crack) rock age so there weren’t that many pistols on the street. Everything was handled with the fist and an occasional knife, board, etc. EVERY boy knew how to fight at some level. Some were good wrestlers; some had 52 skills, etc. I SUCKED at wrestling so I kept up my 52 skills. Later on in life I found and fell in love with Capoeira Angola.

Around the same time that I was learning he skills of self protection I started to learn how to Uprock. I had traveled to NYC to learn how to Uprock. While I was getting that skill down I also started becoming a B-Boy also. My whole life started to be consumed by music and dance. Uprock and B-Boying are very martial dances so they merged right in with 52.

While adding on with some of the older Gods a lot of them dropped how they had dancing skills cause that’s how they rocked their magnetic on the women. I bear witness to that. I wasn’t, at that point in my life, good with the verbal yet once I started dancing, all eyes were on the God.

As I got older I started to get into Jazz, House, African rhythms, Tap, and Salsa. This picture right here is from a Fela concert in New Heaven. This old man got out of a wheel chair and started dancing once I was dancing on the side of the stage. It was only later that I found out that he was a famous Cuban dancer from back in the day.

Physical activity is SO important. I can recall Abu Shaheed reflecting on how Allah the Father would just bust out push ups. If you roll with the right group of Gods nowadays you may get a ‘physical challenge’..lol.

Right now I-Victory goes CRAZY when a break beat comes on. He’s got that 6 step down. The love of dance is what I share with his mother who DJ’s also.

I say all of the above who forget that we are righteous NOT religious. Get out there and have FUN. Enjoy yourself. Enjoy life.

Peace

BTW..check out the current issue of the Source with the interview with Just-Ice by K-Born. Hot to death!