Red Bull BC One 2009 Report by Red Bull Reporter winner Phil Waddell

Last November Red Bull BC One took place back in the home of hip hop, New York City. I remember that night well. I was up until the early hours following the results to write this news report.

Prior to the battle, Red Bull ran a Red Bull Reporter competition for one lucky writer to go to New York and report on the event. That lucky writer wasn't me...

Phil Waddell, international relations student by day and b-boy by night won the competition, and got to see B-Boy Lilou battle B-Boy Cloud in the final for the former to take the title for the second time.

A few weeks later we tracked down Phil on Twitter where he actually linked us to his report. It's taken this long and a reminder from Red Bull to get round to posting it, so thanks to Holler for the prompt.

Big respect to Phil for winning. In fact, he even stated that TooMuchFlavour was an inspiration for him to give writing a go - thanks Phil!

Below is an extract of Phil's report below:

Stepping out of a yellow taxi in New York City, outside the Hammerstein Ballroom, the location of the 2009 Red Bull BC One, the first thing I hear is the music coming from inside the venue; it’s Jay Z’s “Empire State of Mind”. Add this to the fact that I’m here in the USA for the first time, and about to take my seat ringside at one of the most prestigious B-boy competitions in the world and you can see why I suddenly get butterflies in my stomach.


I make it inside and take my seat just in time to see the competitors take to the circle for the introduction, sixteen of the world’s best, picked for their uniqueness and dedication to B-boying, and definitely deserving of the deafening applause from the crowd. It’s certainly emotional for everyone here. The sixteen competitors form a ring running around the circle; standing in the middle is our MC for the evening, a certain KRS-One. It’s a powerful scene. KRS-One, the man who is hip hop, surrounded by the latest and greatest ambassadors of B-boying, united where it all began. Our DJ for the evening is DP One, a New York resident and B-boy. If anyone knows the beats to spin this evening, it’s him.


B-Boys to the circle. The battles commence.

Read the rest of the report at the Red Bull Reporter website here.

You can follow Phill Waddell on Twitter and check out his blog at Tumblr

Above: KRS One announces the winner...

 What do you think? Comment below!

Lilou is Red Bull BC One 2009 winner

Just to clarify, I wasn't there. Shamefully, the only action I saw of the event was from a Twitter ticker! Journalism isn't glamorous! Enjoy your news story.

For more hip hop dance news, visit the main site at http://www.toomuchflavour.co.uk/

Edit: Now with video footage, see below before it's removed from YouTube.

Pics are from Cros 1's Twitter, follow @IamCROS1 for more of his tweets.

New York City, with its heritage of hip hop, was the place where further hip hop history was made, because last night (UK time) Lilou became the holder of the Red Bull BC One champions belt.

This is the second time Lilou has taken the belt since he won the competition in 2005, having returned in following years to attempt to win the title back.

In the quarter finals, Cloud (US) defeated Neguin (Brazil) and Lilou (France/Algeria) battled Morris (US), the solo champion at the UK B-Boy Championships for a place in the final.

Red Bull's Twitter described it as "the battle of the characters," and in a matter of minutes, what felt like eternal internet hours, the winner emerged as Lilou, 3 votes to 2.

Within minutes there were tweets from people at the event spreading the news, and even Red Bull BC One's Wikipedia page was updated seconds after it was announced.

What remains to be seen is whether the new BC One Champions belt, specially redesigned for 2009, will be returned. As documented in the film Turn It Loose, Lilou has become notorious for not returning his winner's belt, and an educated guess says he won't this time either.

Official Red Bull BC One highlights


The final: Lilou vs Cloud For more BC One amateur mobile phone video action, visit itzbryz's channel.


Red Bull Blacks Out
Tickets for BC One sold out weeks before the event, meaning only a lucky few were able to see it in person. Those that couldn't turned to Twitter to be updated, but a problem with Red Bull's BC One account meant there was an information blackout during the quarter finals, prompting them to re-register another account while their followers waited or followed others at the event. After Lilou was announced as the winner, Red Bull's tweeter apologised for the delays.

Props to Cros1 and BreakerNYC for updating their Twitters so this report was possible!