RYUGI INTERVIEWS EPISODE 2
BBOY MONSTA
Q. Please introduce yourself
My name is Jacob Goodridge and my Bboy Name is Bboy Monsta. I was born on the 25th June 1987. I was born in Penrith Sydney and grew up in Newcastle which is where I started my Bboy Career. I’m now dancing, working and living it up in Brisbane Australia for the past 8 years. Damn time goes fast!
Q. What do you do for a living? Please tell us about your job.
I run my own product design consultancy called ShapeLabs, and we specialize in design and developing product ideas for prototyping and mass manufacture.
I also run an entertainment company called Swagamama International providing dance and theatrical entertainment for corporate events.
I’ve recently started a Media Company called Content Vizion doing photography and videography for various online marketing campaigns and industries.
Q. When did you start breaking? And how did you get into it? Please tell us about it.
I started breaking in 2001 at age 14, after my friend Lyle and I went to this school holiday camp to pick up girls. The camp had have a bunch of Korean exchange students, and on the final night they had a disco and this Korean kid pulls out some of the fastest windmills I’d ever seen with my own eyes and we thought to ourselves “those moves would make ladies notice us for sure!!” plus he made it look so easy I thought there had to be some trick to it.
The next week there was an add on television to learn Breaking at this Dance studio near my high school called Breakaway which just seemed like fate. After learning some basics of breaking and popping there for a few weeks I found break training sessions at the Palais Youth venue in Newcastle (since been turned into a KFC in 2005). This is where I met Deejay Mathmatics and the rest of the Newcastle Hip Hop scene, and where I really started to learn about real the Hip hop culture. From then on I would train in my parents living room tearing up the carpet basically everyday.
One night I was chilling at the skate park and saw a poster for a bboy battle at the Palais called Rockers Revenge Vol.1 which I entered I ended up winning my first real battle, which got me hooked. First prize was a Freestyle Sessions VHS which I would watch on repeat, till I swapped it for the Ken Swift VHS which would also be on constant repeat.
Q. How do you describe your breaking style?
I’ve was always curious about what the human body was capable of in terms of creative movement so I’ve always tried to be all-rounded in terms of Power, footwork and unique transitions. I’ve always been a fan of funk styles like locking a popping which helped my dance side of breaking. Never wanted shut myself out from any and all possibilities of movement and avenues for dance.
Q. Please tell us about your crew.
My crew….. this is always hard because I’m in so many crews
So growing up in Newcastle my first crew was Robotek BBoys, where we used to just party and perform together a lot at a night club called Fanny’s. We were never like a serious battle crew, my dream was always to compete against the crews in Sydney. I went to lot of break competitions with Dj Maths cause he’d be playing for the battles and I would watch SKB, Skill@will and Fresh Sox battle it, always dreaming of the day I could build my own crew to take them on.
I met Rush and started training at Liverpool St. Rush and started entering a few jams together, and pretty much won every single battle we entered as FAT kidz.
I met Hideboo, Willastr8t, Double‘Oh’Jono, OZBBoy Jeremy, and the Common Ground crew bboys and around 2006 we eventually formed Real Art Work aka RAW crew that combined all the best upcoming Bboys around Australia and NZ and ended up winning Shadow wars 2 years in a row. These guys are my family!
I eventually met Bounce who put me down in Shad0w Rock, a crew made up of underground bboys from different countries and helped me connect with many international sick dudes.
After living in QLD for a while I eventually Joined Team Cream, cause they were the hungriest bunch of older dudes around and I admired how hard they pushed each other and the younger gen to reach new levels. Also gave me an excuse to party with them on the Gold Coast.
Breaking has always been a way for me to connect with as many people as I can through the culture and influence people in a positive manner so meeting and joining crews have always been a way to do more of that.
Q. What is the differences between Sydney and Queensland breaking scene? How did you feel when you moved to Brisbane first time? And how do you feel now?
The Queensland scene has changed a lot naturally since I’ve moved here. Sydney was always seemed quite spread out so a lot of crews would rival each other because they were representing their suburbs. Where as Brisbane didn’t have a lot of crews so everyone would basically train together at the Fortitude Valley PCYC. It was more of a community environment. When I first started training in Brisbane no one was really cyphering. Then it eventually became more of a norm for people to cypher and train as the culture evolved. I think it helped Bboys focus on dancing more rather then the high power tricks they had been training to impress the Aussie public. Queensland’s always been known for its high level power moves, and living here has forced me to try and keep up with everyone. To be honest I don’t really know the Sydney scene anymore, I only know the old school dancers and how it was back in the day, which is has obviously evolved. I know there’s a lot of fresh up and coming Sydney Bboys however I feel like the younger guys are are becoming a bit generic all trying to be their favourite Redbull BC One Bboys. Whereas back in the day everyone had their own style and flavor to the dance. Such an old man thing to say, and holds true, but honestly just do what makes you happy.
I was pretty comfortable when I moved to Brisbane the first time because a lot of the Brissy scene guys would compete in Sydney often so we all already knew each other. It was nice to become apart of a different community because now I have close friends in both states.
I think its always good to travel and train with new scenes, because if you train in the same scene for too long you end up losing inspiration and drive. I always get inspired by being around new people, exchanging and sharing. I feel quite old now (haha) but happy that the younger Bboys and Bgirls can look up to me enough to get my opinion and knowledge on the dance and culture.
Preferred the competition the day after, once all the stress of BC One was over. There was a small jam ‘Kidz Return’ in Auckland where I entered with Rush and Felix, and the release of that stress just allowed me to let loose. The vibe of the comp was more of a hip-hop culture vibe and we ended up winning. My most exciting battles that have impacted me the most are probably the ones that stress me out the most. Because from then on, no other battles really made me as nervous. When I’m comfortable I tend to dance better and more freely.
One of my favorite competitive moments was definitely Radikal Forze Jam 2018 when we made the final against RedBull BC1 team. The cream guys and I worked really hard leading up to the competition and it paid off as we almost beat them (but we were still the people’s champs, which matters more). You know you work so hard for those first two days of the jam, and then the last day at the beach party you just absolutely let loose and HANCAI!
Q. What is your inspiration for your breaking?
I mean back in the day it was Ken Swift, Poe1, Crumbs, Kmel, after watching the Tribal VHS. I used to watch Kenny’s and The Freshest kids DVD everyday. Overtime I became more competitive and my inspiration started to drift to crews rather then Bboys, like Flo Mo crew and Rivers crew.
I’ve always wanted to be creative in my movement and I just want to look fresh. I just wanted to be fresher then everyone!!!!! And master every aspect of the dance, that was my inspiration. My thinking was if i master every step and move so when it came to freestyle I would be able to flow between all moves… but this has proven to be difficult.
Growing up I never used to see many Australian Bboys representing on an international level. It became a driver for me to be recognized on the Australian scene but then also show other Bboys and Bgirls that its possible to make it on an international level if they work hard enough.
And now these days I just want to be able to maintain my fitness do it. My inspiration comes in waves, I’ll watch videos on Youtube and see the up and coming Bboys and they’ll either inspire me or make me depressed, because I wasn’t as good as them at their age, so I’ll have a break from dance and focus on my work for a while being at that age.
My crews definitely inspire me. The boys of Team Cream (Gold Coast) are some of the hardest working Bboys I’ve ever met in Australia. We’re all older now and we’ve all got responsibilities, however they still maintain a level of skill and strength which inspires me to push myself.
Radikal Forze coming up every year and being the closest international competition that Bboys can travel and compete has been a main driver for maintaining my level of dance ability. By aiming to put Australia on the world map, I want other bboys to step up and see that they can do it themselves. That’s why I always try to boost everyone else up as individuals. I just want to make sure I’m good enough and fit enough to compete on an Australian stage so I can show other Australian bboys that they can do it too.
Q. Which battle of yours was the most exciting/favorite one for you?
Ah man … so many!
I mean all the Redbull BC1’s competitions were probably the most exciting, but also the most stressful. It really pushed me to dig deep within myself and compete solo on a stage in front of 10,000’s of people. It’s a very unique experience. Although it wasn’t my favourite. I feel like I wasn’t comfortable and actually preferred the competition the day after, once all the stress of BC one was over. There was a small jam ‘Kidz Return’ in Auckland where I entered with Rush and Felix, and the release of that stress just allowed me to let loose. The vibe of the comp was more of a hip-hop culture vibe and we ended up winning. My most exciting battles that have impacted me the most are probably the ones that stress me out the most. Because from then on, no other battles really made me as nervous. When I’m comfortable I tend to dance better and more freely.
One of my favorite competitive moments was definitely Radikal Forze Jam 2018 when we made the final against RedBull BC1 team. The cream guys and I worked really hard leading up to the competition and it paid off as we almost beat them (but we were still the people’s champs, which matters more). You know you work so hard for those first two days of the jam, and then the last day at the beach party you just absolutely let loose and HANCAI!
Q. What is your goal for breaking at this moment?
To be honest, I don’t really have many for myself competition wise. I feel like I’ve achieved most of them. I just want to travel more and meet, share and party with more Bboys and Bgirls and enter jams when I feel like it.
I suppose my main goal is to boost other Bboy and Bgirl crews. I want them to experience what I’ve experience, but I also still maintain and stay fit so that I can still smoke them when I want too.
Q. Message to new gen bboys and bgirls?
Don’t be whack!
Don’t focus on just one aspect of the dance, focus on all aspects cause some other kid will. Try different styles. Enter as many battles as possible cause you’ll always learn something. Travel! Go to Radikal Forze, meet people, share and exchange. But don’t overlook a decent career outside of dance as well. I think SOME dancers get too stuck in the dance world and struggle at other aspects of life. If you believe that you can really work hard at being just a professional Bboy/ Bgirl and make it then go for it, but don’t overlook having a career outside of being a professional Bboy, as hard as it can be, will definitely payoff later in life. Just don’t be lazy.
