How Breakdancing, Rap, and Futuristic Sounds Shaped My Early Musical Identity
The First Shockwave: Hearing Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”
Music has always had a way of grabbing hold of me. I still remember hearing Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit” for the first time — it blew my mind wide open. Suddenly, this song led to a world of beat-driven, futuristic music mixed with something bold, raw, and rebellious on top: rap.
That track would lead to a whole universe of music I didn’t know existed yet.
Breakdancing Culture: More Than a Trend
With rap came breakdancing, a movement that felt electric. I wasn’t chasing a trend — the music pulled me in completely.
Movies like Breakin’ and Beat Street only fueled it further.
Soon I was:
begging my grandma for a ghetto blaster
piecing together whatever “streetwear” I could find - Kangaroo shoes, windbreaker, bandana
dragging cardboard to the park to practice the wave
My breakdance crew even performed at school. I was given significant recourse afterwards from several teachers for doing the headspin in front of the younger kids. It didn't occur to me at all that I might influence them. It was in fact that move that was remembered by my mates well after the performance.
Early Rap, Electronic Pioneers & R&B Icons
That era introduced me to the early legends of rap:
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Whodini
Run-D.M.C.
Alongside them were electronic pioneers like Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk, creating futuristic textures that sounded like transmissions from another planet.
And sprinkled throughout this new genre was the brilliance of established R&B, funk, and soul artists like Chaka Khan, rounding out a slick rhythmic universe full of edge and possibility.
As much as I downplay it, this chapter of my life really did help shape how I hear and create music even now. I absorbed that music completely, at such an impressionable age. I couldn't help it; the interest and enthusiasm for the style was as honest as it gets.
How These Influences Still Shape My Music Today
Hypnotic hooks.
Funky yet mechanical sounding beats.
Electronic pioneers.
R&B icons.
All of it still shows up in the way I arrange, write, and feel music. Mechanical beats and hypnotic simple hooks are elements that excite and draw me in to this day. These influences live underneath everything I create in some way or another — sometimes obvious, sometimes more like a pulse beneath the surface. Nods to this era can be humorous, and let's face it, it's fun!
