Research Catalog

Title

Interview with John Rich aka Float Master John, 2021 / Conducted remotely by Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK on June 7, 8, and 9, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.

Author

Rich, John, 1964-

Publication

2021.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Pickett, Mark aka Zone TDK
• Float Master John

Description

3 streaming video files (approximately three hours and 59 minutes) : sound, color. +

Alternative Title

• Interview with Float Master John
• Dance Oral History Project.
• Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

• Rich, John, 1964- > Interviews
• Float Master John
• Pickett, Mark
• Zone TDK
• Hip-hop
• Racism against Black people
• Hip-hop > Political aspects
• Hip-hop > Social aspects
• Hip-hop, Economic aspects
• Hip-hop dance
• Break dancing
• Street entertainers
• Rap (Music)
• Black lives matter movement
• Black Lives Matter movement
• Racism

Genre/Form

• Video recordings.
• Oral histories.
• Interviews.

Note

• Interview with John Rich aka Grand Master Float, in Harlem (New York, N.Y.) conducted remotely by Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK in the Bronx (New York, N.Y.) on June 7, 8, and 9, 2021, for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
• Breaking is the preferred and self-identifying term of the community.
• For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3505
• The video recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The video files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming.
• Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

• Photography of the transcript permitted for research purposes only.

Funding (note)

• The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3505

OCLC

1481959773

Author

Rich, John, 1964- interviewee.

Title

Interview with John Rich aka Float Master John, 2021 / Conducted remotely by Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK on June 7, 8, and 9, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.

Imprint

2021.

Playing Time

035900

Type of Content

spoken word

two-dimensional moving image

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

video

computer

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

video file

Restricted Access

Photography of the transcript permitted for research purposes only.

Event

Recorded for for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 2021, June 7, 8, and 9 New York (N.Y.).

Summary

Streaming file 1 (approximately one hour and 21 minutes), June 7, 2021. John Rich aka Float Master John speaks with Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK about his first time street-dancing, in the 1970s on 14th Street in New York City; the Executioners, his five man B-Boy crew; their daily route including their internal financial arrangements and how they dealt with the competition from other street dance crews; regularly dancing at discos with his crew; the shift from disco to hip-hop in the late 1970s; his high school teacher's advice to leave school and take the opportunity to dance while still young; street hitting as the opposite of dancing in a studio; his standard: to be good enough to catch and hold the attention of a New York City audience; matching the movement to the beat as key to his dancing; being inspired by Robotron (also known as Robo) and the Pop Lockers [phonetic spelling] to perform dances that told a story; Robo's christening him "Float Master John" due to his superb floats; strong calves and knowing how to pace oneself as necessary elements of street dancing; his belief that all of the crew members should be able to carry a solo; more on floats including the difference between floats and glides and the mechanics of the front float; "biter" and "biting" as terms of disrespect; his brother Will [William] as a dancer compared to him; his first time on film, a commercial shot for Puma in Mexico in the early 1980s including why it was such a good experience; the challenge of dancing while suffering from asthma; reminiscences of Larry Love; Pickett reminisces about a talent show in which he and Rich danced; Rich speaks about the change in name of his crew in the 1980s from Executioners to Float Committee; the reason to avoid bending one's knee in a float; the special challenges of dancing on concrete; more on matching the movement to the music, for example the music of Kraftwerk; the futuristic accessories they wore while performing [Rich models his new plastic glasses with multi-colored lights]; his never-ending work on his product, creating new moves and new outfits; the risk of appearing too affluent while busking, for example by wearing expensive sneakers; Rich and Pickett reminisce about the clothes they wore; Rich speaks about his name belt [shows the buckle, which spells out his name "John Rich" with a figure of a dancer between the "John" and the "Rich"]; the "Chinese bamboo lettering" that was popular for nameplates and other accessories; his view of the music popular today; they reminiscence about the music they listened to, including on after-hours radio stations; Rich's view of people videotaping his performances (without his permission) as theft; mentions Kool Herc as the subject of unauthorized filming; Pickett explains the origins of the initialism "TDK": Totally Destructive Kids, which was the original name of his crew; subsequent names including the TDK Masters, who dressed in martial arts-inspired attire; they reminisce about other street performers from that time including Boogietron and Duracell [phonetic spelling]; Frosty Freeze [Wayne Frost] from Rock Steady [Crew] and his documenting of the scene with disposable cameras.

Streaming file 2 (approximately 55 minutes), June 8, 2021. John Rich aka Float Master John speaks with Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK about doing head spins on a hot day at Coney Island (in New York, N.Y.); his detention in a New York City jail for fare-beating; dancing at jails under the aegis of Hospital with Audience [Hospital Audiences] and other outreach programs, including with Rokafella [Ana Garcia] and Full Circle [Souljahs]; street dancing as a money-making activity one can engage in immediately after release from prison; the positive effect of dance performances on prison inmate morale; his frustration and anger with the police for their harassment of street dancers; his message to young people: make money dancing and stay away from drugs; the Graffiti Hall of Fame including some of his favorite pieces; his own talent for drawing; how he customized the sound of his "boom box"; Yoko [Joselle Yokogawa] the first Japanese hitter; [former New York City mayor Rudy] Giuliani and the unequal enforcement of drug laws against Black people; his negative view of people who bring their cell phones and e-cigarettes to the dance floor; his view that the recognition by society at large of hip-hop [as an art form and cultural force] took far too long; his view that the dissemination of hip-hop to the point where it is now universal is a positive development; his concern that hip-hop is now too often treated as a gimmick and something to sell rather than what it is: a culture, a life-style and movement; rap as a form of political speech and activism; how he felt when seeing breakers (Rock Steady Crew) dance in front of President Ronald Reagan at a Kennedy Center Honors ceremony; breaking as an escape from poverty and crime; the swindlers and pick-pockets who prowl the streets including his own vulnerability to theft; why he feels like Harriet Tubman when he performs in New York City subway stations; the many different countries from which dancers come to join him in his subway performances; practicing alone and dancing solos as the optimal way to sharpen his skills; the limitations he now feels due to age and injuries; dancing all out in spite of the pain when inspired by music; his pleasure in teaching dance to his wife Emi [Funaoka] and her pleasure in dancing; Pickett speaks about the history of the Adidas company and his upcoming performances at the Little Italy festival in the Bronx; Rich reminisces about frequently hearing gunshots when he was young, dancing in jams in the parks; his wearing a necklace with a bullet as a symbolic reminder of the Black Lives Matter movement and the people unjustly killed by the police; reminisces about the constant police harassment of him and his peers, for example destroying his radio; his gratitude for his destiny, namely that he survived on the streets of New York City through hip-hop.

Streaming file 3 (approximately one hour and 43 minutes), June 9, 2021. John Rich aka Float Master John speaks with Mark Pickett aka Zone TDK about how, in the second half of the 1980s, crack cocaine adversely affected hip-hop culture and led to a decline in the number of breakers on the street; the anti-drug messages that started appearing in some hip-hop music at this time; the racial injustice perpetuated by the police over the years including more on why he wears a necklace with a bullet; having educated himself about the financial aspects of his career and how to promote himself and his crew; Pickett speaks about having seen photos of Rich in a book in The New York Public Library and in tourist bus handouts; Rich speaks about the "old-school" music he still dances to; more on the commercial for Puma shot in Mexico, in particular his discovery that auditions were how his peers were getting jobs; educating himself about the business of dance including how to find gigs; how street dance experience has gone from being a negative factor to a positive one at auditions; his focus when judging on a whether a dancer shows creativity and originality; his and Pickett's view of shows like America's Got Talent and So You Think You Can Dance, in particular the judges; reminiscences of the practice of battling for the right to a name; reasons he and Pickett dislike the connotations of the term "street dance" as used in certain contexts; his pride in his knowledge of how to promote and stage his crew's performances; Rich and Pickett speak about the long history of dancers performing on the streets in New York City including an anecdote (told by Pickett) about Sammy Davis, Jr. earning nine dollars in pennies; Rich's experience teaching dance including some observations about his students; Pickett speaks about his experience as Rich's student years ago; Rich's practice of including people he spots in the audience in his routines; amateur night at the Apollo Theater, in particular, the tough and knowledgeable audience there; how much he enjoys having children join in his crew's street performances; the necessity of matching the tenor of one's performance to the mood of the crowd, in particular when the mood of the city is bleak; how 9/11 [the 9/11 terrorist attacks] has affected where he performs, for example his avoiding of the area of the attacks; Rich and Pickett reminisce fondly about the 1980s including a Where's Waldo-style poster promoting New York City tourism; Rich speaks about and quotes from an article about the Float Committee that appeared in an issue of The New Yorker [June 6, 1983, pp. 30-32] including the reasons not all of his crew members were pleased with it; the inclusion of breakers and poppers in his crew; Rich's and Pickett's differing views of Times Square as a place to perform; Rich speaks about having been arrested and detained many times for dancing on the street and the frequent confiscation of his sound equipment; they speak about Paul Hardcastle and his song "19" [Rich plays excerpts from "19" while they comment on it; Rich plays excerpts from Paul Hardcastle's mix of "Rain Forest," followed by "What's Going On"]; what he looks for in his dance music; Pickett speaks about the many artists who changed after moving to the West Coast; Rich speaks about the differing styles of East Coast and West Coast dancers as well as regional differences within the West Coast; choice of music as key to these stylistic differences; reasons the movie Colors [1988] made him reluctant to visit the West Coast; his fondness for his original New York style; reflections on his career as a dancer including his readiness to pass the baton; his respect for Kool Herc, the father of hip-hop; his chagrin that foreign governments have shown greater support for promoting hip-hop dance than that of United States, its birthplace; Pickett speaks about meeting the North Korean break dance team (in the United States); Rich speaks about his dream of greater recognition and support for the preservation of hip-hop culture before its legacy is lost; reminiscences of Paradise Garage and Studio 54 including some of the famous people he met there such as Larry Levan, Chaka Khan, and Keith Haring.

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Local Subject

Breaking

Added Author

Pickett, Mark aka Zone TDK, interviewer.

Float Master John

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3505

*MGZDOH 3505