Prama X Move For Freedom | It Feels Better With My Crew | Prize T-Shirt
LET'S BRING CREWS BACK.
We've been seeing it and saying it for years now: where are the real crews? Where are the connections? Where have the multidisciplinary crews gone? When we started, the crew was one of the most important things. It was all there: Bboys and Bgirls, writers, MCs, and DJs. Or maybe you were a crew of writers or breakers, a musical group, but still connected to the entire scene. How could we forget Rome Zoo in Italy, with, among others: Urban Force, TRV, ZTK, Colle der Fomento, Cor Veleno, Gufo, Cina, Ice One, and many others, all representing the same name. We ourselves have always had large crews, like practically everyone in the '90s. And do you know why? Because Hip Hop is a culture based on socializing and exchanging energy, on partying and representing your city TOGETHER WITH your group, your friends, and the family you choose. Especially in breaking. Not to sound like a boomer, but in our opinion, it's an objective fact: the best matches, the most powerful entrances, the highest energy peaks are reached only in crew vs. crew. There are old matches that still remain undefeated. Expressions vs. Vagabonds at Boty 2002, Enemy Squad vs. The Family at Boty 1995, by way of Style Elements, Battle Squad, Wanted Posse, Passo sul Tempo, Flying Steps, Fighting Soul, Break the Funk, NYC Breakers, Dynamic Rockers, Rock Steady Crew, Natural Force, Ormus Force and all the crews that have rocked so far. The individualism and purely sporting attitude that has spread over the last 10 years seems to have swept away the concept of a crew, except as a simple group of individuals. It's a shame that 1v1s aren't even remotely comparable to crew vs. crew. With crews, there's more energy, there's more spectacle, there's more love. Even more so when crews are real, not "teams" or convenient groups to gather "the best." A crew is something else. A crew is family, it's friendship, it's connection, and it's also the sacrifice of taking a step back to help the group grow. For us, it meant scraping by to get to jams, sleeping on the sidewalk after jams because "we're crew, who cares," covering each other's asses when we get into trouble. These are adventures and memories far more precious than any individual trophy. And if the individual is truly strong, they also shine in the crew. Now, however, it's basically just 1v1, only solo albums. Besides the usual suspects, okay, just think about the Olympics situation. What a drag, guys. It's a show, but it gets really boring after a while, it's not athleticism. We want the energy of the old Botys, the old Hip Hop Connections, the BBoy Summit, the old Freestyle Sessions. We want the jams and crew versus crews back, as they should be! Even the Olympics would have been much more exciting and spectacular if it had been Crew vs. Crew. It would have been much more enjoyable to see the strongest crews from each nation all together. Individualism, however, costs less; who cares if a fundamental part of our culture is slowly fading or at least turning into a faded shadow of its former self. Culture is all of us; the responsibility is ours. Do we want a world of "me"s without "us"s? We're not going far like this; sooner or later the game will implode. There's no "ME" in Crew, thre's "WE" instead
So when B-Boy Statix invited us to Move for Freedom in Wiesbaden (also a legendary place for '90s Writers), explaining that they wanted to bring crew vs. crew back, we were thrilled to collaborate and push in this direction. Unfortunately, we couldn't be there in person, but we decided to provide some crunchy personalized prizes for the occasion. From the concept expressed above, "It Feels Better With My Crew" was born. Bottega Prama X Move For Freedom. It's true, for the more picky ones it's not crew vs. crew but 4vs4, but you have to start somewhere and this is the underlying philosophy.
Do you have a crew? Do you know the hip-hop scene in your city? What are you waiting for to make some connections?
One Love
Prama Fam
