HISTORY OF
THE OCTOGON™ WORLD RUMBLE®

While training with Lil Lep and Fever1 in the Bronx, Lil Lep put me to the test by making me break within the lines of the squares on the sidewalk. He stressed the important of control while breaking. "If you have no control, you really don't know what your doing" he said, and preceded to explain to me that back in the days, you might have a venue that had a 150 people capacity, yet promoters would ignore the capacity in order to make as much money as they can. Needless to say because of the crowds, your average cypher was very small, and i dont have to tell you what would happen in the old school if you was to step on someones sneakers.
As time went by, I started to notice how many contest would have anywhere from 10 to up to 50 feet arenas, yet most breakers, primarily the ones who choose to excel in airmoves (powermoves) had no control in thier moves, and regardless how big the arena was, would still crash in to the crowd that made up the perimiter of the arena.
The thought of being able to control any and all moves in breaking consumed me with ideas and the concept of the The Octogon™ wa born.

Originaly it had no name and I wasn't even trying to get an octagon shaped arena. I was merely trying to recreate a small circle in which I can train students in an attempt to help then get more control in thier dance. As time went by, the possibilities of what can be done in this new concept arena started to grow, and before you knew it, I and others who attempted to train with me in this arena started to play more with the perimiters creating new and exciting tricks and moves to compliment the way we danced.
what this new arena started to promote was not only full control of what we did, but also moving us away from premeditated sets, and towards more freestyle abilities.

I thought this would make a new and interesting concept that i could share with the world and wanted to bring this concept to the world in form of a contest to look for not only the best breaker, but the one with the most control. I then proceded to share my views on control and the concept of The Octogon™ with the breaking comunity by way of online forums dedicated to the dance. I got both positive and negative feedback and at the time felt that maybe the world was not ready to accept my theory on the subject of control, or a battle of this kind.

In 2001, kenny May, the founder of the San Jose club and event promotion company entitled "FUNK LAB" contacted me, and said he was looking to do something new in the bay area, and he read a post on a forum about my concept and wanted to make it a reality, so in March of 2001 the very first Octogon™ battle was held in San Jose, California and was very successful. Judges included Crazy Legs, Zulu Gremlin, and Lady Jules, and the battle itself bought out some of Californias best breakers including Flo Master, Wicket, Ajax and the winner of the first Octogon™ battle was none other than Roxrite, one of the best breaking compititors on the planet.

In April the same year, I did the second ever Octogon™ battle in the famous comunity center in the South Bronx called THE POINT and that too was successful. The New York edition of this event also hosted a birthday party for Hip Hop legends and pioneers Afika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Caz of the legendary Cold Crush Brothers. The New york event also included the worlds first ever exhibition battle betweens 2 crews, as opposed to solo dancers. The crews were Californias Flexible Flav and new Yorks infamous Breaks Kru, and bought out the best Dj's to spin at the even, as well as famed actor Bonz Malone to host the event and led me to do one more in NYC that same year.

Beacuse of internet video clips and internet forums, a buz was created and 4 more Octogon™ battles were held throughout the Unigted States in San Fransisco, Oakland, Virgina, and one in california at the B.O.S.S. JAM, which boasted the first ever international Octogon™ starting the notion of having 8 Octogon™ battles in the states, and bringing all 8 winners under one roof to see who was the best at this concept but that vision never materialized.

In 2007, while living in Europe,I realized that the concept had spread worldwide and many promoters wanted to host an Octogon™ battle in thier country. Miss Nicc of No Easy Props Europe, no only helped me in organizing a European Octogon™ Tour, but also hosted the first ever OCTOGON™ WORLD RUMBLE which included the winners of all the participating countries, and is still being organized to this day.

During the same tour, Charlie Blue of Uk's Throwown Co. fell in love with the concept, and not only hosted all The Octogons held in London, but in 2008 came on board and bought the concept to Eastpak Europe, and The Octogon™ went corporate leading to two simultanious Octogon™ tours in the same year, one with No Easy Props Europe, and one with the Eastpak Throwdown Tour.

Beacuse of the drive, determination and support of Funk Lab, Crazy legs, Tools of War, Asia1 and Miss Nicc and Charlie Blue, The Octogon™ has become a world wide phenomenom boasting battles all over the United States, Europe, Uk, Asia and the Middle East, with South America, and Canada soon to follow.

with kind regards to all who have been a part of The Octogon™
Alien Nes aka Ness4

for info on promoting an official Octogon™ World Rumble qualification in your country click here