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Skill Methodz UK B-Boy Championships 2009 winners!

The world’s super powers Russia and the US went head-to-head in an epic east-meets-west final

Words: David Barros

Photos: Courtesy of Brando PR

UK B-Boy World Champions Skill Methodz

2009 might possibly have been the biggest year for the UK B-Boy Championships: Soul Mavericks representing UK, Top 9 defending their crown, and the release of B-Girl The Movie (buy) coinciding with the first b-girl battles taking place over the same weekend, excitement was at an all-time high.

Now the secret is out and the mainstream news outlets know about the finals, the excitement of this year’s was unequalled. The queues trailed all the way around the Brixton Academy with thousands of fans, some who didn’t have tickets, but turned up in good faith that there would be returns (that, and 100 tickets were held until Sunday’s finals at the box office).

Inside the venue it was packed as far as the eye could see. People came to see the world’s most elite b-boys, who were warming up on stage before the main show.

Expectant fans were looking for a repeat of last year’s Russia vs Korea, but sometimes the trophies have to change ownership...

B-Girl 3-on-3 battles

For the first time in the championships there was a focus on girl-only battles. Tied in to the release of B-Girl The Movie, Lady Jules of the Beat Freaks and lead character in the film guest judged the b-girl battles, formed of the elite members of various crews.

The girls brought flavour, and by the second round of battles, things were warmed up nicely as the audience cheered for the girls that executed the best combination of freezes.

Interestingly, while we thought some battles were straight wins in the semi finals, the finals saw a 3-0 result between the winners, US and Finland’s trio against the UK’s Breakin’ Bitches

B-Boy Solo battles

Besides the crew battles, the solo b-boy battles were the hottest thing on the night with two US b-boys having qualified. Defending champion, Kosto (Russia) breezed through Saturday’s qualifying rounds, with Menno (Holland) also qualifying for Sunday’s final. Spee-D (US) was one of the b-boys representing land of the Stars and Stripes, but it was New Yorker Morris that caused the upsets.

Battling through the qualifying rounds at the Rock Steady Crew 32nd Anniversary to make an appearance at the Championships, it was Morris’s attention to foundations, energetic and creative power moves and stage presence that crowned him the winner of the solos, and deservedly so.

Locking

Because there weren’t enough entrants at the Regional Conflict qualifiers for locking, there were no duos representing UK - last year there was a strong line up competing for a place in the finals.

A Train and Razzle Dazzle took this year’s title, seeing off Korea’s Olleh in an endless tiebreaker. Cyprus’s LMC earned their place in the finals on Saturday night, but by Sunday it appeared they were thin on the ground for backup routines with some material reused from the night before.

If there was an award for the most funky dressed team it would have to go to Atomic Splits.

Popping

Since Salah won the popping world title in 2007 there’s been a lack of poppers that have the charisma to look like they’re enjoying themselves. Down to the last four poppers, it was a shame to see the charismatic and costume-switching Dixon hadn’t made it through to the final rounds.

Our money was on Slim Boogie to win - there were point where we he was more technical with different forms of popping (tracing, glides, and other variations), but the judges, of which Salah was one, chose Dey Dey.

Congratulations to Dey Dey for being the first female to take the world title!

UK B-Boy Championships 2009 results:

Scores show how many of the judge’s votes the winning team won by out of three.

‘X’ shows if one of the judge’s decisions was tied

(tb) means the winner was decided by tiebreaker.

B-Girl 3 on 3 Crew Battles:

Ladies Mafia vs Breakin’ Bitches (UK) - winner Breakin’ Bitches 3-0

Candy, AT & Taya (US&Finland) vs Team Poland - winner Candy, AT & Taya (US&Finland) 3-0

B-Girl battle finals: Breakin’ Bitches (UK) vs Candy, AT & Taya (US) - winner Candy et al 3-0

B-Girl Battle winners: Candy, AT & Taya (US&Finland)

Popping:

Djidawi (France) vs Slim Boogie (US) - winner Slim Boogie 2-x (tb)

Dey Dey (France) vs Hozin (Korea) - winner Dey Dey 3-0

Popping finals:

Dey Dey (France) vs Slim Boogie (US)

Popping World Champion: Dey Dey (France) - first woman winner.

B-Boy solos:

Morris (US) vs Kosto (Russia) - winner Morris 2-x

Menno (Holland) vs Spee-D (US) - winner Menno 3-0 (tb)

B-Boy solos finals: Menno (Holland) vs Morris (US) 5 rounds

Solo B-Boy World Champion: Morris (US)

Locking:

Atomic Splits (Japan) vs LMC (Cyprus) - winner Atomic Splits 3-0

Olleh (Korea) vs A-Train & Razzle Dazzle (Sweden) - winner Sweden 2-1 (tb)

Locking finals: Atomic Splits (Japan) vs A-Train & Razzle Dazzle (Sweden)

Locking World Champions: A Train & Razzle Dazzle (Sweden)

Crew Battles:

(Endangered Species entered under the name Skill Methodz)

Eastside Ruffnecks (Ukraine) vs EXC Crew (Japan) - winner Ukraine 3-0

Top 9 (Russia) vs Soul Mavericks (UK) - winner Top 9 3-0

Skill Methodz (US) vs Team Schmetta (Belgium) - winner Endangered Species 3-1

Jinjo (Korea) vs Flo Mo (Finland) - winner Jinjo 2-1

Crew battle semi finals:

Jinjo (Korea) vs Skill Methodz (US) - winner Endangered Species 2-1 (tb)

Eastside Roughnecks (Ukraine) vs Top 9 (Russia) - winner Top 9 3-0

Crew battle finals:

Top 9 (Russia)vs Skill Methodz (US) - winner 2-1 (tb)

UK B-Boy World Champions 2009: Skill Methodz (US)

Chief Rocker - Lil Jon (US)

IBE Seven to Smoke winner: Sunni (UK)

IBE Footwork Battle winner: Robin (Russia)

Was the judging fair?

There’s a lot of whispers on the internet about the judges allegedly being influenced by Crazy Leg’s commenting “this is not a showcase” when breakers didn’t do enough footwork. To see the comments, click here (comments at bottom).

In our opinion, regardless of bias claims, the judging was on point: foundations over party tricks, falls lost teams points. It was a shame to see Soul Mavericks go out in the first round against Top 9, but even they said so themselves: don’t hate the judges!

Poe One on judging b-boy battles

Soul Mavericks on not booing judges(3min 20 in)

Morris (US) vs Lilou (FRA)

Official DVD footage of Lilou vs Morris in Saturday’s knockouts