All Elements Boys Club Chichester Read the jam preview Ok, so it's the Monday after the event and I'm still shell shocked…I need more, in fact fuck it, I'm hungrily anticipating the next event already. Now for those of you that attended, you will know where I'm coming from, and for those less fortunate…shit, you missed one hell of a day. See I've been to Chichester before, and it didn't seem very Hip Hop to me then, but fuck, was I mistaken. It's here that I have to say RESPECT DUE WHERE IT'S DESERVED….and if there's two people that deserve respect for what they achieved then it's got to be Spencer (Born to Rock) & Darrell ( Eastside Records ). The efforts of these two along with the fact they both knew they would make absolutely no money from the event is something many people could and probably should learn from. So on to the event, well due to difficulties, (the fact I had a 2 hour journey from my house and then was met by flood water as we entered Chichester) we arrived at around 11:30pm on the Saturday night, (Big up to Shoota for the use of his place whilst he was on holiday in the US) Smoked some weed, drunk some beers and slept. Well when I eventually got to the Boys Club on the Sunday, I underwent a few minutes of searching for Spencer, found him, was introduced to Darrell, given the mic and got the proceedings on the way (Apologies guys for my lateness, but like I stated, you will live in flooded areas). So after the sorting of a few technicalities, the 1st round of the DJ Battle got on the way, with the DJ's battling for the prize of a mixer donated by Ecler (Nice). The overall standard of the DJ's was 1st class, and I found myself thinking "thank God that I don't have to judge this"..shouts to the judges who had a very hard job, in fact whilst I'm on the shouts out tip, big up to all the judges from all the elements..(Graffiti, Emceeing, B'Boying and DeeJaying) for the hard work and dedication that was shown. Anyway shortly after the that, I announce that the first round of the B'Boying (and one B'Girl) Battle will be happening shortly, and that the contenders need to register themselves. Now apologies to those that came down and thought that they might get the chance to battle, but because of numbers and time limitations, it had to be restricted to members of the B'Boy schools run by the whole Sin Crew set up. When it did get started, watching those young heads do their stuff was something I will savour for a long time trust me, and my only regret is that I didn't make my own list of ALL competitors to give them a more personal shout of respect, as bearing in mind that many of them had not been B'Boying very long, they didn't hold back. Power moves, footwork, you name it, they showed it, and all I could say was "Yeah", Just goes to show that if you can get a few dedicated teachers with a handful of dedicated pupils, the boundaries are limitless. Anyway that finished and it was time for me to do my thing..host the emcee battle, now what is it us emcee's an rules an shit, dam. Anyway to cut a long story short we had 7 enter which meant we (big up to Celltrait for much appreciated assistance with the judging) had to lose 3 heads, no problem, so we get down to the semi's and this is where the shit started, the first semi final was between "Drastiq" from London and "Gleem" from Portsmouth, Drastiq went first and killed it, But then we had Gleem, who stated "I ain't gunna drop a battle rhyme, I'm gunna give you some constructive business instead" and Bang! He dropped what was one of the best rhymes I heard all day, only problem being it wasn't a battle rhyme, therefore Drastiq proceeded to the final. So up stepped the next two and after No Way disposed of B.D.Eyes in supreme style, there was no doubt in my mind who deserved to be in the final, but more on that later. Back to the B'Boying and after the judges had got it down to the final battle, yours truly had an idea, something that was surely to be one of the highlights of the day, So whilst the DJ's where getting ready to battle it out for their final, and whilst also waiting for the B'Boys to recover for their battle, I turned to the crowd and said, "Who wants to see the old boys get down" to which the crowd began to cheer at the thought of seeing something special, "If you wanna see the "Old Skool" show you how it's done, on the count of 3 I want you to make the most noise you've made all day" was my reply, and on the count of 3 the crowd went wild. What happened next was a totally professional approach and display of some the best B'Boying and B'Girling I'd witnessed since the farce that was the World B'Boy champs earlier in the year. For those of you that have witnessed the SinStars in action you will understand, for those who haven't, Dam shame, me myself would pay money to see that shit again, and whilst I'm on a money tip, let me remind you that this whole event was FREE, there was NO money made although there was a donations box which left it at peoples discretion on how much, if at all any, money they would put in. The reason for the box, certain people needed to be paid. So, back to the battles, and firstly the emcee one, ok, right here's the situation, the final was to be between No Way & Drastiq, and they both new that, and that was the problem. So to cut what could be a long story short, they bitched about "not battling, cause we're a crew man" to which I replied "You both new when you entered this battle there would be the chance of you going against each other, play the game or quit the battle" to which I got the response of "Tell you what, we'll take on the judges", Yeah right, I calmly tell them that "they don't even wanna go there", to which someone asks if it's cause I'm scared, Anyway after then having to make him look foolish in front of his friends, I announce that "due to the fact the 2 emcees that got through to the final, didn't wanna battle, there would be no battle. Nice. After that it was time for the remaining B'Boys to battle it out in the final, and boy did they battle, again the level of competitiveness was incredible, in fact awesome, and guess what, yes the finalist hailed from the same crew. (Emcee's take note, they came to battle, and didn't disappoint, there's a lesson there for a lot a man). Like I said I didn't take the names of the B'Boys, or the B'Girl for that matter, so I can't give them the respect that they deserve, So if any of you know them, or indeed if any of you was them, then hit me on my email addy, Hennacee@ukhh.com and I'll put things right. You were all good, and deserve props.  So the last battle, the DJ battle, which was between "Cutty" and "Theory". Both guys had 3 rounds in which to do their stuff and they both done it to perfection. The first to sets from both DJ's I thought were very close, but with the 3rd set the winner killed it, with a brutal display of turntable wizardry and I must say though that although again the overall standard from both DJ's was nice, the 1st prize went to in my opinion the best on the day, Big up and congratulations to Theory, a well deserving winner. So that nearly brings the day to a close, or so I thought, but no, there was more in the form of a tight DJ set by "Jazz T", which proved to be the "icing on the cake" as they say, along with the after party @ the local pub which I only attended for around 20 mins, (It's a long drive home from Chichester). That brings me to this brief summery of the whole event… NICE, Hip Hop needs more events like this in order to go forwards, NOT because it was FREE, but because of the love and dedication that went into the organisation of it all. To put it in a plain and simple context… ALL ELEMENTS = HIP HOP AS IT'S MENT TO BE Ain't that the truth, I await the next installment of All Elements, and with that stated, I will leave you with a mission statement from the organisers…Please read it. Missin - HennaCee | profile   All Elements Mission Statement: To increase awareness, understanding and participation of Hip Hop in the UK. We aim to hold six jams and two big events per year (one being an annual version of the battle jam held in December 2000). The goal of increasing awareness and participation will not be achieved through the commercialisation of the culture to gain a financial profit. However we do believe that everyone dedicating his or her time and skills to this project should be paid accordingly. Therefore, as of the next jam onwards we will be charging a small fee for entry to cover these costs as well as ensure the continuation of the project. As with the battle jam, only sponsors who are relevant to the scene will be considered. If you would like to be added to the All Elements e-mail list, for info on events or any questions you may have about Hip Hop history, please e-mail us at allelements@superheros.as © ukhh.com 1999 - 2001