Four years ago, a man drifted out of Angel tube station carrying a bag of records, turned left and headed round the corner, towards a grubby bar. Some DJs might be put off by a venue whose house wine is Jaegermeister, but not DJ Zulu AKA Disco Z, from another galaxy!
He saw potential in Arc Bar to fulfil his destiny to bring the funk to the people. Funk Off became a monthly mark in the diaries of poppers, lockers and groovy cats from all over town, in search of tunes to get down to and a floor to get down on.
By popular demand, Funk Off has been back in its Friday night slot for the past couple of months and on 20th November it joined forces with Funktrap and B-Better to present What’s Happenin’ 1 on 1 popping battle.
A few big names lent to the proceeding’s indisputable credibility: Mechanikool P bopping in the corner with Plague’s Mukhtar; Funkstylerz’s Chimpchilla took a night off from running the world to enjoy the night; and Pineapple’s own James Painting pec-popped on the sofa through his signature wife beater vest. But the veterans left the battling to the newer blood and even the judging was conceded to Walid, over from France who had been teaching workshops at Urdang.
By 11.30pm Arc was wall to wall with poppers, lockers, bboys, waackers and funk fans. With Zulu on the wheels and B-Better’s Tinacious MC on the mic, the vibe was so hot the windows were sweating.
Billed at London’s realest popping event with no mobile phone or energy drink sponsors, the competition was fierce, brutal, one on one, one round each until the final where Ssik Tingz narrowly beat Rikoshay to the £100 prize money.
Funktrap, Funk Off and B-Better proved a force to be reckoned with in presenting, by all accounts, a funkin’ good night.
Results (for full results, including qualifier rounds click here):
Quarter Finals
ALPA vs Blitz
Dr Shock vs SSIK TINGZ
Sheldon vs RIKOSHAY
Crazy vs UNCLE A
Semis
Alpa vs SSIK TINGZ
RIKOSHAY vs Uncle A
Final
SSIK TINGZ vs Rikoshay
For Funk Off info and Zulu DJ: myspace.com/zuludj
Keep up with B-Better, Self expression through Hip Hop: www.b-better.com
See what Funktrap have up their sleeves next: myspace.com/funktrapuk
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