Souls of Hip Hop

Honey Rockwell & Orko

December 29, 2020 Soulidarity LLC Season 1 Episode 15
Souls of Hip Hop
Honey Rockwell & Orko
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

In this episode we interview Honey Rockwell and Orko. Honey is a legendary B-girl from the South Bronx who created the first film dedicated to B-girls in the 90s. Orko is a legendary B-boy from California who is also a marine veteran. Honey and Orko have performed around the world on Broadway, in movies and television. They currently own the Rockwell Dance Academy and are proud parents of four children.

We talk about the hunger to battle, touring with "Jam on the Groove", the challenges of parenting and marriage, serving as a Recon Marine and training with the SEAL Team Six, reaching career goals and running a dance studio, and much more.

You can find them here:
www.rockwelldanceacademy.com 
www.facebook.com/RockwellDanceAcademy 
www.instagram.com/rockwelldanceacademy 
www.instagram.com/honeyrockwell 

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Hey there, Candy and Razor here. Before we start the show, we want to take a moment to thank you for listening and supporting our podcast. We know that this year has been very challenging for everyone. Many of us have experienced loneliness, anxiety, fear, or even depression, sometimes all at once. Especially as we all navigate through the pandemic, the continued fight against racial injustice, and the recent movement against sexual harassment in the hip hop community. In these unprecedented times, we strive to bring you the unique stories of some of the great contributors to our culture, with the aim to inspire you and give you hope. Over the past seven months, we have been able to produce 15 episodes while relocating overseas, switching and working full time jobs, parenting a teenager and a toddler, and expanding our Soulidarity LLC. Each interview is researched, edited, scored with original music and mastered to bring you the best quality we can. We love making souls of hip hop for you and look forward to bringing you more inspiring stories and content next year. If you enjoy listening to our podcast, please consider becoming a member of our show through the buy me a coffee link in our show notes. Welcome to souls of hip hop, a podcast where hip hop head aims to bring inspiring people together to share their wisdom passion story. My name is Candy. I'm DJ Razor Cut, and together we are Soulidarity - connecting souls organically. Hi fam, on today's show we welcome Honey Rockwell and Orko. Honey; Can you describe Orko? Okay, Orko is crazy. This is what I tell everybody. This is what he told me. First generation B boy shake city rockers (SCR), Air Force crew later then Rocksteady - used to rock it with Buck4, Kuriyaki. They came out to LA scouted him out they wanted him to battle one of their boys, B boy German out in New York. And that was like 1985. he came out there and German he wasn't around, right? Yeah. Oh, did you battle him at fever? Yeah, the devils devils ness which was later called fever. It was this club in the Bronx. He battled him and they were like, Oh my god, who's that guy with that crazy power? And they were like, yo, that's Orko. He stayed out there with them in their apartment for three months. He was 15 years old, staying out in the Bronx, not knowing nothing about knowing Crotona Park 108 30 180 30 Crotona, and he doesn't even know how his parents let him go. You know, and he didn't hear the parents never even looked for him. There were no cops that were saying, we even met Tommy. Nothing. When you laugh You just left. And you know, when you came back, you're like, oh, where were you? You know, he was out there in New York. And that's where his name. And people remembered him. Because later on in 94/95, when I met him, he was brought on to this show Jim on the group, which is where we met. And they kept talking about this guy, they needed another power move guide to do the show with us. And they were like, oh, let's get Orko. And I was like, Who's Orko. And then we went to a b boy summit. And here comes this guy all in white bujo. Yo, hollywood, hollywood. And he backed it up. He definitely backed it up. And he was amazing. Like he was like that, like the fastest head spins. And he was doing all this crazy power move tricks and stuff. And it was a little different from what I'm used to, you know, in New York, New York style and flavor. Should I continue? You want to continue? That's perfect. Thank you very much. That's okay. You described me when it's sunny Rockwell, from the Bronx half down. Boogie Down half Panamanian and Puerto Rican Panamanian represent Panamanian, you know, my friend. I used to dance for freestyle. Freestyle, Brenda k star, and then I did the movie. And then I blew up. Yeah, my friend Louis, invited me over to practice Rocksteady and then a yo flip your flips. And my first thing was flipper. No, it wasn't. Ah, yeah. Anyway, I got down with Rocksteady. And then you know, made noise seven, then we've got down with seven grandmasters and then started touring. everywhere we went. People wanted to know like who were we because we were rocking these like seven Grandmaster jerseys. And I think we get a little deep. I think that they that think that put it on the map really also, not that many People were doing it. And we were not only doing it we were like possess, demon possessed for B boying and hip hop, love the underground, I never wanted to go commercial and public and glamour. It was just something that you know, connected to everyone. So man, you felt this, you live this, you didn't care about anything else other than this. We were like program beings or something. And people eventually spread even more so to the rest of the world. And when they saw what we were doing, man, when you see a kid, let's say enjoying himself in basketball and BMX or skateboarding, like wow, you know, you kind of want to do that, or he doesn't so gracefully that, you know, he makes it almost makes you feel like you could do it too. And I think that's what was a game changer for us. You know what I mean? That we were doing? We were training 24 seven, and then we're going to the clubs and battling and dancing to grooving. You know what I mean? It was about having a good time. We didn't even we always talk like, I'm like porco. Do you remember going to any restaurants like an eating? You know, like, was that important for us back in the day? Oh, hold on. He's gonna kill me. You know, we didn't even care about food whenever we were on these tours in Singapore, Hong Kong, Brazil, Japan that were everywhere. We never cared about food. We never cared about, you know, do I have medical insurance? Would it have that adult mentality? You know, we're just all you want to do everywhere we went. We were practicing in the in the hotel lobbies. We didn't even go anywhere. We never thought about food. And back then there was no monster there was no Gatorade. There was even Advil. gin saying we had little capsules, Tiger Balm. We had a lot of Tiger Balm. We were introduced really early into chiropractic care and massage therapy. And honestly, we didn't even drink back then. We weren't drinking. We didn't do nothing. I mean, one drink we got tore up. Yeah, that you know that footage that you see of us throwing down for the seven gyms in that nightclub. That was the first time I think we took shots. I think we took like two shots, all of us. And we were all like drunk with two shots. That's how lightweight in our in our cleaner system was that? We never ever, we never thought about that. So we thought that stuff was like losers. You know what I mean? We just wanted to like, just train and battle, we were afraid that we were gonna go to a city and get taken out, you know, because everybody would step to you, you know, and you had to come correct. And since we were I guess the ambassadors or this dance, we had to kill it. Like, it had to be on some amazing stuff. Every time you go down with can be on some regular stuff, you have to demonstrate that you had the control. You had the grace, he had the finesse, he had the speed, you could slow it up, speed it up, and then flip it and then land that freeze. You know what I mean? It's just the whole vocabulary of dance. And so the pressure was up for us. And I don't think we cared about anything else. Rent was cheap. Life was cheap. Back then gas was cheap. Food was cheap. Milk was like $1 a gallon. But on a pizza, we were able to Yeah, we were able to travel the world and not worry about financially, we're getting paid pretty decent. They were taking care of our flights, everything. So it was it was a good time. And a lot of fun. It was like it was brand new. It was the comeback again, because it was something that was old school that everybody would say and then and then to actually bring it back, and then have even more fun with it. And then we were at the right place at the right time. People were like, Oh, you know, Oh, you guys are back out then like these guys, were getting all these opportunities like to go on MTV grind and get offered all these up. Just filled the whole dream. Oh my god. Anyway, anyways, but yeah, it was I had a lot of fun, you know, a lot of good memories, a lot of craziness, too. I mean, I was younger at the time, and I was going through my stuff. And I was just living free at the moment, you know, just kind of like taking the opportunities and see where it was gonna take me and jumping on them. And the one thing I loved was the training. I love the training and I loved I was with the crema the Crim and being able to do what I love. Yeah, it was awesome to be trained by the guys that were teaching me these guys were like the legends. These were the, you know, pioneers of this dance, the creators of this culture and death. So it was so awesome to be rolling with these guys. And it was so contagious. That, you know, me getting down. I was at the right time at the right place. And I was able to get these opportunities also, you know, because yeah, there wasn't a lot of females back then doing it. So they, me being able to be part of that. Yeah, you know, a lot of it. Yeah, she's a girl. Let's put her down. I had to learn, you know, from scratch, you know, a six step, the different terminology because I'm from that era, and I had a I had a backspin in my gymnastics routine all the time. I even did it on the balance beam, believe it or not, I would do like a half the head spin and catch on the balance beam. And I would do back spins all the time. I just have to be careful because if you get a wedgie, then you got to leotard. in gymnastics, you can't pick it out, or else you get points deducted. So in a high school gymnastics competition, it's the worst because you got the hood looking at you. And the competition is like, Oh my god, you know, I was like, do I have to do the backspin? But I had? No, no, but it was a lot of fun. I mean, so much fun that like how many years later, 30 years later, I'm still doing it. You know, for me, I saw the whole growth of the culture from from being underground. And just, it was just life, it was no faddis or this, it was just life, you know, when people are trying to come up or have a good time, or show others a good time. And then it became like a business or became, it became something, then MCs were getting paid. And then the dancers started getting connections and contacts. And it was just, it went from nothing to something, you know, and then it just kept growing. And when we did the Off Broadway, and then we got a producer dance on Broadway and movies. And it just became something and now it's down to below. Boy, it's just incredible how the growth of this hip hop evolution. And we're still here, we're still doing it with a studio keeps us in the mix, you know, because what's cool with the studio is is that you know, we have all these little kids. So we get to reintroduce the birth of hip hop every day. So every time a new kid comes into the studio, it's like, well, this is how it started. This is top rock, this is a corkscrew is the transition from the top to the bottom, this is some basic rounds of how you go around in a circle called six step or CCs is how you go from one, you know, to and this is a power move. It's so much fun to be able to show these kids and they're like minds are like, they get hungry too. You know, they get so excited and want to do more and get even, you know, get better and train and they get that fire in their eyes. So it's like, it's hard to stop. They keep pulling us back in. I don't even know now I'm on the air. Hmm, I'm a hit the big five oh, in September, and I thought I could do something else. And I tried. I was like, maybe I'll do a Photoshop. And I like taking pictures. I think I'm a great photographer. And when I tried Photoshop, like Corona started, I was like, I'm gonna be a photographer, I threw the whole thing out the window. I was like, I am not doing No, no Photoshop, I'm gonna stay in my lane. I am meant to just be a teacher. And that's it. Because that's, um, you know, what the but I think for us even be involved still in the scene, you know, because we really love it. You know, there's some people that have come into the scene, they fell in love with it, or they want to do something new, something different. And then after you know that flame, just fade it down. And then they're not even doing it the more you know, I mean, I really love it. I really believe in it. You know what I mean? for the kids what it does for the youth, that's they're at an age in their life where they're like, they don't know what they want to do, or, or they don't want to do anything. You know, I mean, it's just too much pressure of life. 18 right, get it out of the house, go to college. I don't know, I don't know, if I want to go to college, you know, you just don't know. And for them to have something nice to connect to and show them a good time or help out with their self esteem and their growth. I was a shy nervous kid. So this thing helped me and for some people that have come into it and then just faded and that's not doing it completely. It's kind of hard to believe because you put so much time and sweat and blood and tears and it's just like anything else, you know, just like boxing or just like meditation or just one. Remember resume book came out? You know what I mean? It is it's an amazing culture. Not from it. You'll be going it'll be the best workout of life. Oh, yeah, I mean, I could be easily if I go to the gym. You know, I can look nice, but really try to break. Sorry, buddy. You can't even do a flare. You can't even do a handstand. You need finger form back shoulders last tries. You need everything to be born you know what I mean to are bigger throw down. It's the most ultimate workout ever, man no joke than the stamina and the control Jesus so well. He loves still doing it. You know, he wants to battle. He really likes to go in. And look at some of us men, you know, or she's also a competitor. She loves to battle little cash. Grab on anybody, right? So it's just that competitive spirit. You get rid of that? Or you're 50 years old. You don't have to go to the new you know, anything. Flow Valley for me. It's life is life that says I don't you know, I thought it would come down or go into fishing or bird watching. Oh, no. You know what I mean? I can't, I can't I just have too much fire. You can do that. Well, what's interesting is like my daughter, Amanda, she just got married. She's 28. She graduated college, went into a career. She's she is now in the career that she went to college for marketing and advertising works for a company. And I'm still doing what I did before she was born 28 years ago, like I had my parents Telling me oh you're still doing that. Now my kids are telling me you're still doing though like this is awesome what else am I gonna do you know like this is it I might as well embrace it. I've dedicated so many years to it. So why not like you know, I could be stocking at Walmart or I could be going into like working at McDonald's be like hi Can I help you How can I take your Would you like some fries with that shake but what we're doing with you we've invested so much time why not make this great? Make breaking great again you know what I'm even for you guys I know you guys are a couple and you guys on the same path as we are and what's the most beautiful thing of course this this this coaches moving needs also the representatives that people that do look up to us look, we do have a house we do have a studio we have nice cars. We put all our four kids through college. Do we got four kids now using college? No. No, we're rolling. We just got a nice car finally. We're in a Mercedes and we're doing good and life. And for yo he's a B boy and he's a big girl. They got down on the floor just like me, you know? I mean, they could do it. I could I could do it. Yo yo there's got to be I would love to see you know what I mean? I like driving the van if those people because if I want to go to the lake I don't want dirty the Mercedes. I want to drive. Oracle is not video it's with audio. No, you know what, um, so for me, I would have loved to see that all white guy. Jam. No, no, you know what? So when I was a kid when we went to Las Vegas to do those shows were booked for karaoke and ours. We stayed at Um, I think we said a sugar pop sells most of the time some of the time and then he'll tell me Mr. Freeze, but Mr. Freeze and sugar pop, were dancing on the show called splash at the Riviera Hotel and Casino. And sugar pop had a brand red new trans-am, you know, brand new, we're hanging out with them was sugar pop, the phone rang and it was laying around. She called me him. You know what I mean? And it was like, he's got had money and they're a generation before me or a little older. And I was like, wow, you and I mean, they had nice apartments, nice cars. A nice life. They were they're flying around everywhere they did Captain EO with Michael Jackson, door tour with Miko, so all this stuff, and I was like, wow, you know, it wasn't that. I didn't see a mess naughty or showing up. But it was dope to see, hey, that's my reward at the end of the tunnel when you have to be just like them, too. You know what I mean? I could get some certain things and certain connections or shows. And I did Thank God. Yeah. What was your first impression of honey rock? Well, you know what? When I first saw honey, and she threw down, she was she's actually young and she was still young in the game. I saw her hungry. You know, right away. Actually, this was at the practice for gem on the groove. I think we had like a two week rehearsal before the actual show. And right away, she wanted to learn power moves. And I was trying to help her to learn more power moves. And what happened I just saw her hungry. And it was dope to see a girl that we you know what I mean? That was willing to, to get down and dirty and the roughness of the power moves. So right away, I mean, I think that's what we all we're all good friends. You know what I mean? We were on that say, don't get me wrong. He didn't give me props for a long time. A lot of them did it. Like, because she was new, you know, I mean, to have a package together, you know what I mean? A new person credit, whatever. But these guys, none of these guys wanted to give me the time of day they would. They made me really, really train and then I think we went to a club, I made her better. We went to a club and we were dancing all night and going from club to club and throwing down and throwing down and it's like, four, four o'clock in the morning. And me him and Flowmaster we were riding the trains, like four o'clock in the morning, coming back from the club. My knees are busted up. We're all like sweaty, nasty. We're on the train platform. And he goes, You know what, honey? Now I'm gonna give you your props. Now, this was like after jam on the groove, two years traveling on the plane. And then after the club, the club night often all those years. Now you get your props. Oh, wait, whatever. Oh, yeah, we we like, club hop to New York. And she's also when she's in her zone. She's on fire. Oh, she's an aggressive person. She's, she's out there. You know, I mean, and I that night, you know, we were battling, you know, left and right, everybody and hard. And she threw down every single time and after that whole night, I was like, Yo, this girl could freakin hang up. I mean, I got to give her her prize. Finally, you know, I mean, she. She brought it correct. You know? I mean, she didn't do it. There's some big girls out there that are I still don't give them props to this day. And that's why that's when the twinkle when I did my backspin. The twinkle in his eye came about right. Okay. So you guys jam through and then Gemma and the group ends and some short time after everyone sort of goes their separate ways. Marco you went and you were a marine. Yeah, you know what else I was a marine before that's right after the whole breaking thing, the whole first wave in the 80s right after high school, I graduated and went into the Marine Corps during the first Gulf War, which is Desert Storm. Man, it was like, somebody picked me up from Los Angeles, and put me in another planet. I was nothing but military people military lifestyle. And not only military, I was a Marine, I was a recon marine. You know, I was like, with the most craziest, the most toughest individuals that that I'll ever meet, I had to always prove myself, I got to go to jump school. I got to go via certified Navy Diver I call for air support to have planes or artillery people drop bombs and trim Okay, to me, I was really in it. We did some, a lot of training, jumping on helicopters, you name it, we did it. That's what recon is about. And it was a whole nother like life. Like if I died and was born again, you know, and that's, that's what I was really, really into. And, you know, what I something that I've always also, you know, appreciate it and it's, it's a good time of my life. You know what I mean? That I got to prove myself, you know, for the country that has been so good to me all these years. You know, I mean, it feels good that some people here like, Trump supporters and all that drama here in the United States. And I'll ask them, did you serve your country? If you love your country that much? No. Well, I did. So shut up. Come on. So that was a whole life and that felt good. Like I said, all the time to represent B boying, you know, and another light I kill this guy was a recon Marine, who, if you guys know anything about the military, just the Marine Corps is hard enough. And if you, you know, if you ask him what a recon marine is, is like, yo, B, what Orca was a recon Marine, you know, that's insane. It's really, really insane. So we did train with the SEAL Team Six, and the Philippines off of a longer pole. And what have you, but you know, your boy was there. I mean, I was all the time representing you know, 100%. Honey, how does that make you feel? Knowing that about that he better represent because, you know, sometimes out here in Kennesaw, they they have gun laws here that you could have guns, and we don't have one and I'm like, Orko you're a marine recon, where's the gun? He's like, I don't need a gun. Let's try to come into this house. Please, please. And then we were like hiking in the mountains one time. And he got us lost. And he's looking up in the sky, waiting for the north and south star to come about. And I'm like, the bears in the Bronx will come and eat your butt out. Anybody want to follow me? We out? You'd have to look at the sun. The sun sets in the west. Follow the sun. That's it. I got us out. Yeah. Okay, I got us out. So Marine, what marine? represent. She knows all these marine benefits, though, guys. All the time. Yeah, he's a veteran. He's a veteran. Do you take military discount? parks that are impaired? Oh, we got um, you know, that's how we got our house. We got through the Marine Corps, you know, VA home loan, it was almost nothing, I didn't really give much down. So the military has been good to me, you know, because being a veteran of this country, there have been in many ways, if I want to go to the VA hospitals, you do get medical for life. And also I told her if I die, I could be allowed to be buried at the military funeral, a nice burial for free. So it's all covered, you know, I mean, so she knows. I'm not covered. So I'm doing a GoFundMe. So he asked me Oh, yeah, sorry. Sorry. You got it. But yeah, no, it's it's awesome. We battle all that all day long. But at the end of the day, we love this guy just right now, all day. This is what we go through. I think that's what keeps his relationship. dope. And especially for that West Coast. You don't I mean, that. West Coast, East Coast, West Coast, East Coast, all that we are. Oh my god, he wants West Coast music on I want East Coast music. I want like Tribe Called Quest. He wants like Snoop Dogg. So of course, we're always battling that. As a family. We have Christmas coming up soon. What kind of fun traditions Do you have as a family? We can take out Christmas and we're going to the beach. No, we did that a couple of times. But there's this place here in Georgia called Stone Mountain. We used to take the kid all the time. Dude is like the biggest rock on Earth. It's so stupid. He won't get bolder that you could almost put buildings on it and everything. And you go out there and they've got the fake snow and they've got the Polar Express movie and all this stuff is like family ish. And it was very flying over you. Yeah, that's an Oracle type of winter thing. I want to take him skiing like in the Poconos mountains, Oracle's la like I can't even go skiing and I used to go cross country skiing skiing, I could snowboard I love all of those went today and he was like, if I'm gonna get a week off vacation, it's gonna be to the beach. Yeah, the ski mountains. Yeah, he's like we are not doing. I'm not doing with the cold. No. I live in what you do for what we do for love you I was in the Bronx where they had a storm of the century all the cars recovered in the 90s. Remember that? And, yeah, I was like, I don't know why people want to live here. I don't understand. You can walk outside and die. This is not the place to go. Look at this. Hello. It is for the snow for me because I went we had a house in New Jersey. And it snowed. And I didn't know if you don't take the snow off. It turns into ice on your driveway. And then it's okay. It's super dangerous. So then I bought I bought salt. I found the bag in our basement of salt. We had salt and I got that bag and poured it. He poured the whole bag on one spot to sprinkle it like bird feeding dough. He's not he's not a winter boy. He's not an East Coast coast. Boy. You know what if I slip right on this driveway on this ice and hit my head. No one's gonna see me in four hours. I'm dying from hypothermia or two hours. I'm dead. Who wants to know where he could die that says nobody. He's gonna leave us. He was gonna leave us and go to go back to California. He's like, we barbecue where we come from, like, we go and hang out. We barbecue and I'm like in an igloo, like in his little house in Jersey, when he was like, I'll send for you guys back. No, you know what, there was these icicles I've never seen. I thought it was just like Disneyland. stuff. These big like two foot or three foot long icicles that were on the side of the houses. You know, if those things fall and hit you in the head, dude, you're dead. You're dead. I was like, no, we're not supposed to live here. Humans are supposed to live in this condition. No, I'm sorry. Yeah, you're gonna tell me you don't want my family's back in LA right now. Party, barbecuing, you know, chillin, going to Downtown Disney going to the mall? washing your car, putting new tires, you know, cruising. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. And that's why and that's how we ended up. We ended up in Georgia, we were gonna go to Florida. But Atlanta has a little cold here. And you got the seasons. And it's neutral ground for both of us. We didn't go to a area where everybody knows honey, or everybody knows me or all her family. You know what I mean? This is neutral for both of us. So we both Yeah, we will have no friends. Only five and 10 year olds tie with each other to make it happy and fun and different here. Interesting. have any advice for families? You know what? I eat drinks a lot? No. Don't lie. No, you know, I think just kids kids in general when they become teenagers are freaking true snotty. You know what I mean? That no attitude, like you're not cool. No more their music is better than your music. Or they might even be stronger than you for some reason. Like, dude. No, no, you're getting it twisted. For me, though. I'm a people. I'm a kid person. I love kids, people and keeps you like with that kid mentality. You know what I mean? You still want to ride a bike, you still want to chew gum and blow a bubble. You know, you want to still do things because of the the usefulness of B boying and, um, what's the point? The advice? I think you know what? Yeah, he thought, Oh, no, I think that I think the kids at the studio also fulfills us has been around kids. So you know what I mean, that blended family. It's all good. I just can't wait for them to leave now. Because they're all they're all successful. They're all good. Now. I can't wait for just a for me, my wife just to be alone, really. And well, it's weird because, you know, we're in this place. Our kids are 1822 and 28. We went like, for example, to be this age, this perks of having kids at an earlier age, right because we were able to the other day, he goes randomly Hey, I got he got offered a job opportunity in like Valdosta it's like maybe two and a half hours away. And I was like, okay, it was like Sunday to Sunday to Tuesday. And I was like, Well, I I have people at the studio that could cover for me. Analia has a car dog. He has a car. I was like, Okay, I'll go with you. They could watch the dog. Let's go. So we left and we had a blast. Like, he went to work. He did go to work that day. I was alone for the first time in my life. I could do whatever I want. I got up. I took a walk to the mall, it was walking distance. I had coffee, we met for lunch, I did whatever I wanted, and I was free. I was like, I can't believe it, I'm free. So there is an end point, they do still live with you, you know, especially if it's Georgia, and they have these nice houses or whatever, they don't leave, they don't have no debt. And there's a pandemic, they really not gonna leave. But I guess the advice is make sure they have cars, cell phones, make sure they have a job, because then you could be like, Oh, you could pay for your stuff. You can still live here. But we leave now they stay in the house, we break out also, you know what my a call is? Like, where are you? When are you coming home. They're always calling us now. Also my dad, my dad, my two older sisters are from another dad. You know what I mean? I saw my dad raised all four of us were four total have one brother and two sisters. And my dad was was loving was fair was, you know, with all four of us. So when I became that man, also that had kids, you know, when my dad brought her kids, I was the same way, you know what I mean? So he was an example for me. And of course, my mom always tells me that, you know, it's not the kids fault. You know what I mean? Anything, kids are kids, they're just any love. And they're neutral. You know what I mean? Because the x is a bonehead or an asshole or whatever. That doesn't mean the kid is like that the kids is just just loving. That's all they want love. My dad did it. And I could do it to me. And I tell these kids all that I want at the end of the day, you know, I've spoiled all of them run. I just want them to say that I was a good man. I didn't come into this family and say, I'm done your dad now. And you then my role in this house? No, I'm their friend. I'm cool. I've blessed them. I've taken them on nice vacations. You know, they've all got cars, they've all had cell phones, since they were in their teenage years. You know, I've spent a lot of money on them and giving them a lot of love and guidance and what have you. And I just want them to say I was a good man. That's it. There's the dance side the culture. And then there's the family like, Okay, well, how did how does this blend, work together? It's kind of separated though, because they don't have anything to do with what we do. Now you're used to, and she works the lobby now it's a job like I have to pay her to come to the studio, my own kid. But I'm like, if you want your car, you need to work and earn to drive this car and get your own gas and your own car insurance. But it's like pulling teeth with her. like she'd rather work another job doing the same thing. She's working at a gym as the reception lobby girl. And that's what she's supposed to do at Rockwell Dance Academy. But it's different, right? And I pay her car and her insurance. But that's the that's about the only thing they have to do with art dance in our culture. And it's totally separate. Oh, we we did do a family dance all together. For the wedding. I couldn't believe that's a dream come true for me. My kids were in the wedding were able to dance. And actually it was a tribute dance for kid Dynamo. Because that was like her uncle. You know, she was like, What do we do? Do I you know, who do I dance with? Like, I want to dance with you for your mother daughter dance. I want to be the one that dances with you like, wait a minute, let's all dance. And we will do get up off of that thing with James Brown. What kid Dynamo, you know in a church? He goes, yes, let's do it. That was probably the last time I'm ever gonna be able to have something like that happen in life. I'm glad they recorded it. But it was pretty awesome for me. Definitely. You know what I mean? This woman has you know what? The reason that I fell in love with her and the kids. This is the number one reason is because when they saw their kid her kids, they were all well behaved. A woman or kids. You know those those kids that you're all having all? You know? My kid? Yo, he's bergerie kids running around and crashing and you're like, ah nothing you know. Thank you very much. The fact that they were eight enough Yo, I think that was a big selling point. He did the man you know why she potty like Oh honey, train them and trick them yo when Oracle's around behave. Ready good. Okay, kids. We want him that Yo, step daddy. Uh huh. He's got benefit Yo, he a veteran? Oh, yeah. Good milk. We'll get that Kroger milk. Yes, the pay dues for it though. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So you know, little birds. That's when the little burgers sticking their mouth out when the mom comes with the food. That's how I feel they all are. Including the dog. Even the birds the birds are asking for bird like he might he feeds the birds outside but a nice bird feeder. Yeah, he's I forgot to bring bird feel like the birds outside. Just throw them some bread. No, you gotta buy bird foot bird food for the birds outside. Including the birds. You know how he is getting with the barbecues? Yep, yeah, he's still good. It can't wait for you guys to come over, man, thank god everything's, you know, the dust is settling and in our life in the kid's life and I think we're in a good place right now thank God, you know me, her and I can't believe that we're in this position right now. We're not special people this is that we've just been focused, we've been family driven, and we do fear God, if we're misbehaving, what have you. And I think, you know, we're just thankful, thankful to life because so many people now, I've lost so many friends, and so many people are dying left and right every day now that I'm like, yo, you know what, I don't have time for drama and problems and this and that. It's just have fun. Let's have fun. You know what I mean? That's what it's all about. Yeah. What piece of advice would you give your younger self, I have a lot of advice. You know, what I think, for me just also have that that second plan, you know, that plan B, or invest in some stocks, some long mutual stock, just so you could have that as a backup. My son, my young, you know, he, um, he knew about Bitcoin when it first came out. And he kept bugging me told me to pull out some money and buy some Bitcoin. And he was like, eight years old, eight or nine years, I was like, this little kid doesn't know anything. So I think I gave him 100 bucks. And then he bought some Bitcoin. And think not to, he made a couple $100 from it, but this is a long time ago, when the things were like a penny or 10 cents, or it was cheap. So I totally cash it out, cash out, that's it, you know, you made some money before it plummets again, had I not had I listened to this kid, this kid would have been a multi millionaire by now. He's gonna be a million awareness, he graduated. And he's the first to get accepted into the, to work for Apple. And he's working for Apple as a software engineer, as a software engineer. So yeah, he's doing good. Yeah, created all kinds of apps. But I think for my younger self, I would say just maybe also, um, I've done them pretty good, I put money aside, I plan my life out, I do a balance the hype of the dance, or the Hollywood of the fame of this with reality, too, you know, and I come from a poor country from a poor background from Nicaragua. So that doesn't let me in my head gets swole and blow up. And I always know that the music is going to stop and the party's gonna be over, and you're gonna have to go home, all exhausted, and then how these ladies look when the lights come on. So I just keep life balance, I think you know, what they use, I think also have also like another thing that you could also transition to, that keeps feeding your ego keep feeding your drive keeps challenging you in life, you know, also not just going to something real boring, that's totally opposite that will you don't get that rush, you know what I mean? To live to have a something to look forward to. And mine is Be brave, be a lot stronger in decision making. And it's okay to say no, definitely, because I always knew I was going to be involved in like teaching and I love teaching back then go to college, and finish and get a degree and you know, the stuff that I that I need now, for business, you know, being a business owner accounting, you know, just all the things that you need to do to run a business. That stuff that wasn't taught, no one told me about that. And now I'm learning it and I feel like it's taking me a lot longer to be a lot more successful on the business side, then, you know, with this Data Studio, then just loving the loving it and just doing it just because I love it. But I mean, I feel I'm blessed. I think God works in mysterious ways. And he's blessed me with somebody that likes working a nine to five job. So I can have fun and hang out with little kids all day. Yo, you know, I just thought of something for my younger self. If I could tell myself anything from my hip hop edge on my powerheads Yo, don't go for that crazy head spin on that concrete floor. Take off that little buttons on top of that, that hat because guess what? You're gonna go bald. Yo, don't Don't do it. Don't do it. Shave your hair. shave your head. You're already bald and I should have taken care of my my scapula. be disciplined. Eat right exercise. No Fritos and monster. But in the end, it was just to say to yourself, it's gonna be okay, knowing now where I'm at, and everything I've been through. just telling myself you're gonna be okay. You've got this. guys knew each other back in the day. How did you reconnect and how did that friendship turn into romance? You know what I uh, first of all, we were for the whole, you stop. You stop don't know. I saw there was a jam going on in Maryland. And Flowmaster and her were the judges of that jam. And I was gonna sneak up to that event and I was like, Yo, what are you It'd be dope. If three of the grandmasters got together in that same building because we all had this first, you know what I mean? Nobody knew where nobody was really at. And I was like, okay, so I flew myself out to that event to meet up with honey and flow. And, you know what honey, and I, it was like, time didn't pass by everything just picked up where I left off. We were great friends. I mean, we think the same. We train the same. I think a lot of, you know, we're both Latinos, we have had that. Also that Latino cultural background, there's just so much things that click in between both, we're both bughouse We both love to always like laugh and have a good time. I can't see like being serious. So I think that's what really, um, and then 14 Apple martinis later asked me to go to Vegas. chata like, saw me off my phone. Seven o'clock on the truck. I got my cup up cruising the streets. Mm hmm. And then real, pretty, pretty little thing that's waiting for me. Oh my god, I got plans to put my hand in places and ever seen girl. You know what? I need American Idol. Girl. You're going to Hollywood? Oh my gosh. So you know what I think also, at that time, I went through almost a horrible divorce, like pain and suffering like I've never experienced in my life. I've been chased by gangs. I've been in gang fights. I was in the Marine Corps getting screamed at all this stuff. You know, just the struggles and the real hardness of life. You know, and then that divorce was like, unlike anything, unlike anything and brought out the animal and you brought up it just felt like the worst suffering that I've ever felt. You know what I mean? When I met up with honey, she had gone through her trials and tribulations also. And I think both of us got together and we both help heal each other. Well, cuz I told him, I was like, I don't want to be with a B boy. No more. No, no, I'm not trying to be with you. You're a B boy. You're gonna be on tour. Nope, nope. And he was like, I'm not a B boy. I'm a man, ooh, whatever. And then a couple of weeks later, he shows up with a suitcase. And he was like, this could be fun. And that's what he told me. Because I was really in denial was like, No, this is I can't do this again. No, I don't want to do this. It's like, come on, this could be fun. And then when he said those words, all the memories, like the tours, US bugging out, us having a good time. I'm like, could I be with this man? 50 years, you know, 100 years from now? Like, where do I see myself with this guy? Where do I see an all I saw? This is the pitch I promise. This is what happened. What clicked in my head, I saw me in him on the beach, drinking a Corona, and just talking about breaking and just like the good old days or whatever, that alone was enough for me to say I do. And I was like, I could do we could do this. And And sure enough, every time I you know, I talked to him. I'm like, when he's being a bad boy. I'm like, this is not fine. This is not fine. Okay, yeah. So you know, you promise me This is gonna be fun. As promised, we have a great, happy, fun life. It was it was hard. You know, like we did all the touring. We did, I don't know, if we could reverse time. And if it would have worked with us being in the entertainment world. And it's hard, it's hard. You have to really, you know, there's a lot of debt, a lot of temptation. There's a lot of things that happen. When you're on the road and the type of world we're in with clubs and music and drink alcohol and everything that's around, you know, it was really hard. I don't know how that would have worked 20 years ago. But now we got stopped, like we're more family style. My kids are older. And they kind of needed more stability and consistency and Oracle coming in, you know what he wanted still to have that family lifestyle. He wanted to do the Disney chips. He wants to do that. And that's what I wanted, and it just clicked. And then we still get down, you know, like to a point with, you know, having the studio and I think that was something that was new for him to be a teacher and to be involved with that. But he was able to, like fit in, you know, and know, like, well, what are you doing? Like he when I would teach classes, he'd be like, he became my show and tell y'all how to get him to give him my player card. You know, I'm saying, doggy. I was like, the kids all the kids will be like head, head spin heads. And that's how we got kids to sign up for classes. Mm hmm. But you know what the also the beautiful thing with honey is that it's crazy because we could be in a five star hotel, or we could be at a monkey and she's still the same person. I thought that was special coming into this relationship. She didn't know the background that I had. With the Marine Corps, my benefits and my work ethics. I was already a technician working with the natural gas industries, anything from Putting it underground natural gas lines to, to responding to emergencies, working with restaurants, industrial Whatever. I'm already I've mastered that trade in that field. She didn't know none of this stuff, you know. So when we got together a little house in New Jersey, I wasn't even working. And I was I Oh boy, here we go again. Fixing stuff. Got a job. Yeah, I had money though. I should have fixed the stuff around the house. And she's like, yo, how do you know how to do that stuff? You know, I mean, she didn't know. And I just want it for me. Really. It was like a time of trials and seeing what you know, she was in it for really for me, you know, because if I would have brought all this stuff and showered her with gifts and this and that and told her I got this job. I could do this. I could do all that. Look. Oh my god. You know, I wanted her to love you for me. You know what I mean? Not till after I was like, yo, when my money started running out, she's like, what are you gonna do? You got to get a job. And I was like, Don't worry, I'll get a job. And she was like biting your fingernails. You know, cuz we're almost down to that last check. That was supporting three kids by myself. I was like, Well, what? What's up? And then guess how you like me now? Oh, now I take full advantage of it. And no, it's the it's still women with we're a team. We're a team. We bust our asses. We're still busting our asses. We have these kids are boujee our kids think that they're the Kardashians right now. You know we bought an I have this one. She's a she works a planet fit. She's like, please get me Starbucks, please. So me Noriko. Go get her Starbucks. And we we were like, we'll go get Waffle House. You know for us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we it's cool. It's a blessing. I feel blessed. I don't think I could date a banker. You know what I mean? Or like, like a regular girl, you know? I mean, she won't understand she won't understand that. Find that lingo that flavor. You know what I mean? When you get some new ideas? You don't I mean, are you get that matching outfit? like, Yo, I'm the sheriff out. Sure understand, you know what I mean? It just won't, it won't click, it just won't. So this is beautiful. I met someone that knows what I love feels what I feel. He's also I think she's, you know, caliente Hot Tamale. So, you know, he's trying to work his point. He's trying to work the points. So you mentioned an interesting point that you were able to heal each other? Yep. can both of you kind of describe what you do to maintain help? Like both physically, but also mentally? Yeah, you know, physically, I do, watch what I eat. I mean, I know that stress kills, stress leads to tumors, stress leads to all these other illnesses. So in my job, and in life, I don't really try to get too stressed out. And sometimes when I do get stressed out, I will have a drink, just to get the edge off. And just to relax. You know, I know some people run to pills, and some people run to drugs on some stuff. But I think for me, I know, and I see, I could see myself when I'm getting stressed out. And I think honey also has a good way of understanding, you know, the stress that I do have at that time. And so she helps me out with that she's understanding. And I think just, firstly, I don't, I don't paint this humungous picture, I don't see this finish line that we have to reach to be classified as successful people. I do, I do love what we have. And I feel appreciative what we have now, you know, I don't want to put a big pressure on our shoulder they get we got to get five Game Studios. And we got to do jam on the group tour, part three. And you know, so many things where I'm gonna, I'm not gonna be happy with what I have. If you ask, could I have some indigenous family members back in Nicaragua? When I went to visit them? You might say that they're poor, right? But I don't see them as being poor. Dude. I mean, they're eating fruit off the land. Everything in life is very basic. They don't have a lot of what I have. But I see them happy. You know, I mean, I try to study that, like, What is happiness? What is really happiness, you see something that some people when they get on them and the projects and they seem happy, they're genuinely happy, you know, I mean, they're not tripping, they're not trying to get that, that next car, that next gadget, they're happy, I see that like, yo, just calm down, breathe, enjoy what you have life think something about, you know, trying to keep up with the Joneses and this and that. So I think spirituality that's, that helps me out. And then um, you know, what, age are on the edges and you have a little drink, thank you to my little Roman Coke, my little barbecue. And that's like, my little sanctuary. You know what I mean? I invite people over And that, to me, that's just freedom. That's, that's what life is all about. You know, we're constantly he's constantly like, wanting more wanting, I mean, as far as bettering ourselves, you know, we try we try the best way that we can. But like as far as like eating and being healthy and working out, like our priorities are like and still trying to make it happen. You know, we're 10 years married now, would finally feeling like we have a grip on the mortgage payments and and so it's kind of hard to juggle like being healthy and knowing what to eat when we've never been like that before. But we know it's important. So like, that's kind of like the new thing that we can kind of introduce into our life. I'd like the last couple of years of like consciously trying to figure out what's best to eat wanting to make better decisions. I think we needed to get up until this point, you know, but for that whole healthy eating stuff you don't want to die skinny. I'm not dying skinny you know what I mean? No, bro I'm dying fit I'm dying a little bit on the fixed side you know? I mean, I don't want to die hungry, starving myself like some people do have just greens and vegan all the way No No bro, I'm dying. I'm dying happy, fat cranky Lord. And then the people that aren't you know to that extreme with that food? Are you gonna live longer? I don't think so. You know, I mean, what's the guarantee? There's no guarantee in life so I want to enjoy want to we do want to try to eat better what I had this morning steak and eggs. A nice steak. It was so juicy. And a pancake. steak and eggs and a pancake yo so good, bro. Come on now. That's why I'm better that's why I'm fat. That's better than me because he doesn't get fat. I get he eats it. I get the fat No, bro. I'm sorry. I'm not eating that healthy stuff. It has no flavor. It has no flair. You're gonna put a lot of salt out of vinegar out of this and that and to give it flavor. It has no flavor. I'm not done with that. Working out we're trying to work out better you know going to the gym and everything hurts. You know? I mean things hurt. It's not like before, you know 20 years ago. Oh, let's go train. Alright, I'm good. I'm ready to battle What's up? What's up? He's pain. You'll find out the old baby boy. Just took a two hour nap. Okay. And it's four o'clock let's go and he's drinking. Unfortunately, when I went to bed all the gods I wasn't 100% healthy you know had a slight little groin practicing or training with dizzy and then when I got there you know just the the time difference. And when you get to this place everybody wants to see you everybody wants to agree there so there's the energy in the air is electrifying. Just like when you go Ranger the jammer? You guys have been agenda like everybody wants to socialize and get and catch up and say hi, so I didn't get no sleep. You're trying to brainy hung out with Mertz to the night before? So all they did was drink no Morrissey Oh, yeah. Which is my boy from Italia. I go Murcia. He goes, let's go have fun. cortico I go No, no, dude, let's go get some rest. You know, after after the battle, we'll go ahead and drink. Or go I never see you for now for 10 years. What's next time I see you drink you drink with me. And I was like, she just kept adding. All right. So, you know turned out to be first we started off with beers, you know? And then we ended up taking shots. And then it was like an all nighter. And how could you say no to my ritual? You know, that means he's a good dude. And yeah, so I got I didn't dance like how I wanted to dance. I still gotta get out of my system. He wants to redeem himself. I'm ready. See what I'm saying? I deal with all day. That's what's up. That's what the beauty of hip hop and be born is. That's a real warrior. No. Oh, I gotta get paid.$5,000. No, come on. What I always find interesting too, is like people's real names from there. Like beep girl and B boy names. Oh, no. What is your names? And then if you want to share and then how did you get your breaking name? Yeah, my name is um, it's actually my dad's name is Roger Romero. Dude, I was a Roger. When I hear Roger. I'm like, I don't even turn my head. Like if somebody is calling me. When we got married. They were like, well, Roger, take it to be you know, and we were like, we looked at each other. We're like, cuz we did the first time we hear each other's real names really spoken. We didn't he was gonna say that the whole ceremony was done. I had to like squeeze my hands tight because I just couldn't stop laughing. The kids were on the floor. laughing when we heard each other's names, like we need to do over wedding ceremony. And honey. They miss it. Elena Valencia. It was like the gymnasts eating only net Valencia. Yo. Yeah, the word names were Orko. So Oracle, it was just when the cartoon character from he man, he man had a little wizard that would wear a red robe. And he had an old one is in his chest and you couldn't see his eyes or his hands? Nothing. So in the beginning, when I used to get down, I used to wear a hoodie. And I used to wear also like a ninja mask. And I split the hoodie up and they're like, yo, he looked like the cartoon character Oracle because you can't see your face you can. But I was just so shy. I didn't want nobody to see me. I don't want nobody knew who I was. And it stuck ever since then. You know what I mean? I actually look like the character stuck ever since running. That's what I'm saying. Like, I'm an immigrant to this country. I can't even really speak English. I'm so shy and now I'm around now these African American brothers you know what I mean? Like Am I gonna dance on beat Are you gonna set me Do I know that I put it down? Correct. You know, just the judgmental stuff of life only 12 years old. You know that's when you're very gullible and very vulnerable for what people saying, I was really shy man. And this thing really has definitely brought up my self esteem, my drive my confidence, you know, doing shows in Vegas doing shows, you know, cameo appearances I've done in movies and this net, it's been a blessing in my life. And dude, tell me how you know, you guys have traveled the world. So have I like, man, if I would have been a dude working at Costco, I would have never got to like, go to all these countries and meet all these people and have such an interesting life. I thank God for hip hop for B Boy, that's for sure. And then honey rockwool came because we were practicing and Rockefeller had come up with her own name. Alright, so we were like the two girls training at the time. And she was like, I got my Beagle name. And I was like, What? It was just like Rockefeller and I was like, that is the dopest name ever. Like you got the dopest name, Oh, my God. And I had another name. It was rainbow. Because of IRENA, Irena. And then I used to like to do back handsprings. So you get it like a rainbow back handspring. And then I had like, Wiggles, you know, and then like saying, All right, next up, we got rainbow. And after the practice, he was like, I can't call you that. I cannot call you that. I'm not saying that name. And then one day, we went to a practice spot, and I think we were I was with Quickstep and Gremlin. And there was like a street sign in the Bronx and said Rockwell Avenue. And I think, you know, Quickstep or Gremlin said, you know, you should call yourself because they should say Hi, what's up, honey, you know, come through honey. And then they were like, they put it together honey rock well, and then they were trying to write like, honey, rock ski, honey rock, water, you know, like, the graffiti style. And then they just said, Honey rock. Well, and then we was like, I'll call you hug rock. Well, yeah. And then that stuck. And then she's my hair is like honey and a rock real? Well, now she's honey. Hey, honey, boo boo. No comment. All right. Crickets. How good are we on time? I think we gotta go. Yeah, you know what, actually, No, you know what, I love this, but they're waiting for me at this fundraiser. Yeah, we just end all our interviews with the question, what is hip hop to you? You can answer first. Hip Hop to me is life. It's my life, then in my life. You got to take the good with the bad. That's what life is about the yin and the yang. I don't see myself doing anything else. I love it. I love the the lyrical poetry from it. You know, I love the beats of the deejays make. I love the artistic of the graffiti. You know, and the dancers do this. That's amazing. You know, I mean, so hip hop is life to me. I have had a corporate lifestyle, you know, as far as my employment goes on, and I'm still a B boy, I'm still in love hip hop to new just like I did back in the day. So for me, it's, it's life. It's amazing. And for me, I feel like I am hip hop. I feel like I think in hip hop, I interpret language and hip hop. I gave that little hip hop edge to everything that I do, whether it's what I dress, or the way I talk or the way I I teach at the studio, I just think it's been my culture for so long already that this is who I am. And the Brotherhood, the family, the freedom to be who I want to be. I think that's hip hop. It's being free. And that's what I love about hip hop. And I feel like we're all hip hop babies hip hop, the 80s hip hop, yo. Let's keep it 80s definitely, man, it was a great time, though. We miss you. I miss you so much. You know what, and much credit you know, for for the people that are that are kidding, continuing to keep the culture alive and the spirit that's what you guys are doing. You don't I mean, sometimes even us, like we may think like, oh, nobody really cares, or nobody's paying attention stuff. But all of us are keeping it alive. You know what I mean? All of our efforts, whether it be big or small, whatever, we're all contributing you know what I mean? And that's what it's about you guys and appreciate what you guys are doing. Of course we love you guys for it, for what you're doing. And shout out to our ancestors and I see my brother on your shirt you know Float, R.I.P. - Oh come on now. Yes Our brother yeah no beautiful person. You know all other ones Louis New Wave kid Dynamo. Look for cool Yaki kid tough animation. Yep, Skeeter rabbit. Well, you know, all the ones that you know we keep doing this in honor of them and we're honoring their their legacy. That's it. That's how we do it. Thank you so much to our guests Honey Rockwell and Orko for taking the time and being so open while sharing your perspective with us. Some of the gems we took away from this

interview where:

Friendship is the foundation for a healthy marriage. The eagerness to succeed, the determination to win and the passion to reach your full potential are fundamental attributes to release your own superbness. Success is different for everyone. Everybody defines it in their own way. People that are able to create a comfortable lifestyle from their passion, serve as an example for the next generation seeking the same kind of success. Family is not determined by blood or paperwork, but by the love that is shared among its members. Our theme music was beatbox by Denis the Menace and produced by Zede. A big shout out to the brothers from Switzerland. The background music was produced by Taki Brano. A big thank you to our brosky from Providence. Much love to our devoted listeners P.M. aka Afternoon from Montreal, and Jeryl from Boston. Thanks so much for your support. Our podcast basically runs on coffee to keep our show running you can support by buying us a coffee through the link in our show notes. We're so grateful for all our guests, and of course you our listeners. We would love to get your feedback questions and any suggestions you might have. You can reach out to us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @SoulidarityLLC or via email soulidarityllc@gmail.com if you like today's show, please tell a friend about our podcast. Or as Phife Dawg would say, Tell your mother, your father, sent a telegram. In our next episode, we have Aaron Myers. Aaron is a Locker, B-boy, Capoeirista and the co-artistic director of the Beantown Lockers. He is also a Harvard University alumni and Vice President at United Way worldwide. Aaron is married with two daughters and lives in Boston Don't forget to subscribe to the show and leave a rating and review. See you on our next episode. Thank you for listening to our podcast. Now Seriously though, thank you. I am Candy. I'm DJ Razor Cut and this is Souls of Hip Hop.

Introduction
Back in the days
Dance Academy
Meeting eachother
Serving as a Recon Marine
Family traditions
Advice for blended families
Advice for upcoming artists
Reconnecting
Maintaining health
Stage names
What is Hip Hop to you?