Bboy Wicket Explains Exactly Why Gay Representation Is Important

The culture of breaking is changing.

As it grows and expands through long running events like the Red Bull BC One competition as well as the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics, it is seeing a new generation of community members enter in. Ones that differ not only in dance technique, but also ideology in general. This new generation of breakers has differing thoughts on who should be a part of the community, offering a more inclusive path.

But this doesn’t negate some of the OGs who have been a part of the community for some time now. Ahead of the Red Bull BC One US National event in Orlando this summer, we sat down and spoke with Bboy Wicket about watching this generation and how he might have come out sooner if he had seen more representation growing up.

How did you get into the community and the scene? How did you start breaking?

I started dancing in 1993, just trying to fit in. Just trying to be one of the cool kids, whether it was DJing or rapping. It started off as me wanting to be a DJ and breaking happened by accident. I had friends in school that had DJ crews and one of the crews, a younger brother of one of them, was my best friend. And so we would sneak around behind my best friend’s older brother and we would get on his equipment and start scratching, trying to be like Q*BERT and Mix Master Mike. A couple months roll by and we think it’s all cool and then one day the needles were gone; the older brother had found out and hid the needles from us. That kind of ruined our world. 

After that my friend was just like do you want to start breakdancing? So that’s how that started. We started getting inspired and trying to copy the Knuckleneck Tribe -- they were our inspirations.

How was it coming up in the culture in the mid 90s?

Everybody that saw us practicing, whether it would be at school or a park, they would always clown us and tell us “you guys are like 20 years late, what are you doing?” Our parents, our family, everybody. But, you know once we started getting a little good people were like ok do you want to perform at your aunt’s birthday? People started to respect us. 

What keeps you coming back to breaking?

Over the years it’s changed but I’m starting to realize it’s to inspire. At first it was about me getting better and having the longest spins and doing the illest footwork but I’m starting to realize it’s not about that, I’m here to inspire and to share my experience.

You’re teaching and judging a lot now, is there something that you find time after time is missing?

I think it’s the detail. These days, everybody is dope. But it’s very rare to see somebody that has the detail and the connection to the music. They’re not just looking down, they are letting you know that “this is my world and this is what I’ve been practicing for and this is why I came here to win.”  As a judge you want to see that connection. I want to see your face and your emotion; everybody has talent but who has the detail. 

What is it like seeing breaking go to the Olympics in 2024?

It’s awesome. It’s going to be a huge opportunity for us to be spotlighted on a worldwide stage aside from what we’re already doing. I think it’s going to help us be even more magnified and help us inspire others. 

Over the past few weeks I’ve talked to Dosu and Randy and other people in the scene that are LGBTQ+. When I talked to Randi she was mentioning creating safe spaces and changing they culture and I wanted to know if you feel there’s a need for change in the culture?

Absolutely. I’m part of the culture. I’m an openly gay bboy. I came out when I turned 40. I realized that ever since I started dancing I’ve been pretending to be somebody else. If there had been somebody or a group in the scene that would educate us or let us know that it’s ok to be who you are, I probably would have come out earlier. There’s an opportunity for us to open doors and be those leaders. For myself, I’m still being educated.