The Floorlords: 45 Years and Still on the Floor

In 1981, a crew came together in Boston that would help shape the culture of Hip Hop and breaking in America. That crew was the Floorlords. I am a founding member, and 45 years later we are still here.

When we started, Hip Hop was still being invented in real time. There was no playbook. You learned from the people around you, you competed, you built something together or it fell apart. The Floorlords held together. We became one of the oldest active breaking crews in the country.

Along the way the crew shared stages with Beastie Boys, Madonna, Run DMC, Busta Rhymes, Eric B & Rakim, Edo G, and Missy Elliott. We collaborated with Saucony to create the first b-boy and b-girl shoe — Complex named it one of the 20 Best Saucony Collaborations of All Time. We built events, trained the next generation, and kept the culture alive through every era that tried to bury it.

45 years is not an accident. It is daily work. It is passing it down. It is showing up on the floor when nobody is watching and when everybody is watching. That is what the Floorlords have always been about.

This September we celebrate in Boston. Come be part of it.