A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from April 23, 2005
B-Boy or B-Girl (Bronx Boy/Girl or Break Boy/Girl)
"B-Boy" or "B-Girl" (also "Bronx boy/girl" or "break boy/girl") are breakdancing terms from the 1980s Bronx. They are still used today.

(Oxford English Dictionary)
B-boy, n.
orig. and chiefly U.S.

[Origin uncertain; prob. < b- (in BREAK n. (cf. slightly later break-dancing s.v. BREAK- II) or in BEAT n.1) + BOY n.1 Perh. cf. earlier B-GIRL n.
The term is sometimes attributed to the Jamaican-born U.S. disc jockey 'Kool Herc' (Clive Campbell, b. 1955), whose technique of prolonging the instrumental breaks in records by mixing back and forth between two copies on twin turntables is said to have given rise to break-dancing in the late 1970s.]

Originally: a male break-dancer. Now more generally: a young man involved with hip-hop culture. Freq. attrib.

1981 Village Voice (N.Y.) 22-8 Apr. 31 The heroes of these legends are the..B Boys, the Puerto Rican and black teenagers who invent and endlessly elaborate this exquisite, heady blend of dancing, acrobatics, and martial spectacle. 1982 N.Y. Rocker Jan. 26/1 Flash's audience, termed 'B-boys', were fans of break music. 1984 D. TOOP Rap Attack viii. 115/1 The b-boy DJs and MCs were half-way between consumers and performers..and their response to packaged music was to violate it with cutting and rapping.

(Urban Dictionary)
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=B-boy
1. b-boy

The words 'Break Boy and Break Girl' originated from the Bronx of New York. In the early 70's Dj Kool Herc would play the 'breaks' of songs. Meaning, he would only play parts of the songs where it was beat only, no lyrics. This would excite the people to dance. So in turn girls and guys who danced to these 'breaks' were called 'Break Boy and Break Girl' or 'B-Boy; B-Girl' in short.
(...)
Also b-boys do not like to be called "Break-dancers", as this was a term coined by the media in the 80's, and is not a 'true' hip-hop' phrase. Break-dancers are dancers who have no style and show their powermoves to get props from people who have no idea about breaking.

B-boy Cloud has the Dopest Top-rock ever.

B-boy Benji has the illest powermove combos.

Source: enveoner, Jan 24, 2005
(...)
3. b-boy

Bronx-boy; A person who breakdances is called Bronx-boy (b-boy) or Bronx-girl (b-girl) since breakdancing originated in the Bronx

Wow, Look at those B-boys dance!

Source: Noony, Jan 1, 2005

10 October 1985, Seattle (WA) Times, Pg. E5:
If this day he is prep, he says, ``Some days I'm a B-Boy.''

His brother, Mad Dog, is an example of B-Boy, D-Dog says - ski goggles, ski hat, sweatsuit and "any good tennis shoes.'' The B-Boy look (it stands for Bronx Boys) was the original style of break-dancers, D-Dog says.

31 August 1987, New York Times, pg. B1:
As part of a duo called Boogie Down Productions, he was on the verge of signing a major recording contract with Warner Bros. Their first album - a collection of rhythmic rap tunes on a smaller label, B-Boy Records - was about to hit the record charts, and he had kept a promise he had made to himself: that he, a young man from the South Bronx who had become a high school basketball star and had earned a bachelor's degree in business, would settle for nothing less than stardom.

(Trademark)
Word Mark
B-BOY RECORDS

Goods and Services
(ABANDONED) IC 009. US 036. G & S: PHONOGRAPH RECORDS, AUDIO TAPES AND COMPACT DISCS. FIRST USE: 19860804. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19860819

Mark Drawing Code
(3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS

Design Search Code
261713

Serial Number
73718803

Filing Date
March 28, 1988

Current Filing Basis
1A

Original Filing Basis
1A

Owner
(APPLICANT) B-BOY RECORDS, INC. CORPORATION NEW YORK 693 EAST 132ND STREET BRONX NEW YORK 10454

Attorney of Record
SEYMOUR I. FEIG

Type of Mark
TRADEMARK

Register
PRINCIPAL

Live/Dead Indicator
DEAD

Abandonment Date
December 14, 1988
Posted by {name}
Workers/People • Saturday, April 23, 2005 • Permalink


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