Break dancing, or breaking, is an Olympic event for the first time in this year’s Paris 2024 Games. On August 9th and 10th, 16 female and 16 male Breakers will compete for medals at the Place de la Concorde. Ahead of the competition, Universal Music Group has shared a new playlist entitled Breaking Essentials to celebrate the history of breaking culture.
The playlist features tracks from LL COOL J, Method Man, Foxy Brown, Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, EPMD, and more iconic hip-hop artists from the 1980s to today. There are also tracks pulled from the legendary James Brown’s 1986 album In The Jungle Groove. Each artist on the playlist has been integral to the breaking movement and culture.
Breaking originated in the Bronx in the early 1970s alongside hip-hop’s rise. The Bronx party scene was dominated by DJs like DJ Kool Herc, who innovated the break-beat style to give dancers space to improvise. “And once they heard that, that was it, wasn’t no turning back,” he told journalist Jeff Chang. “They always wanted to hear breaks after breaks after breaks after breaks.”
Breaking continues to evolve. Explaining the athleticism inherent in breaking, Sergey Nifontov, secretary-general of the World DanceSport Federation, told CNN, “the dance style was heavily influenced by a mix of movements from various sources, including gymnastics, martial arts and even the complex footwork of James Brown.”
No matter the context, however, music will always be at the heart of the dance. One of the six categories judges will consider in the event is musicality, alongside creativity, personality, variety, technique, and performativity. “The DJ sets the mood, and the dancers have to react to it,” Zack Slusser, also of the World DanceSport Federation, told CNN. “That is probably the most crucial thing when it comes to judging — how much a dancer can resonate their arsenal of moves with the music.”
Listen to the Breaking Essentials playlist now.