Taking breaks (or) breaking bread as Cap City Breaking Jam brought the community together

Following the artistic in-your-face spectacle that was All of the Above Hip Hop Academy’s Cap City Breaking Jam on Saturday (Aug. 15) at Lansing Shuffle, I found the nonprofit organization’s director, Ozay Moore, as he was having a quiet meal alone inside.

With a look of contentment on his face, Moore dug into an avocado bowl from Shuffle eatery Takitos AF. To use a hip-hop reference, it was a mixtape of hearty ingredients, feat. rice, beans, pico de gallo, corn, lettuce and more.

Filled with such a colorful array of fixings, I found the dish to be symbolic of the diverse audience that eats up the Cap City Breaking Jam.
Moore had just taken big bite of his bowl when I danced over to his way with a question.

“This was a great day for the community, wasn’t it?” I asked.

With his mouth full, he responded, “Mmm hmm!”

…
A couple hours prior, the grounds around Lansing Shuffle bustled with the noise of life. Loud cheers peaked with every charismatic, acrobatic and awe-inspiring move. I saw the crowd hyping the cross steps filled with blurring backspins, dizzying headspins and breathtaking transitions as dancers moved from standing-up top rock to groundbreaking get-downs.

Judges B-girl Shade (Markham, Ontario), B-boy Ram1n (Chicago) and 99Stylez Crew member TV Breaks (AOTA mentor) decided the youth winners. A panel of all-star breakers, Orbitron Orb (Seattle), “The Zulu Kween” BabyGirl (Houston) and Keegan “Seoul” Loye (Indianapolis) judged the adults.

The event DJs — Y’z (AOTA mentor), Foojin (Phoenix) and living legend Ohmega Watts (San Diego) — spun their equipment as AOTA crew members worked, laughed and reflected on the jam’s full platter.

Youth battle champion Litos and his family would soon head home to Maryland. Adult champs Burn and Ali would be driving back to their native city of Toronto. Each of the winners, standouts from a pool of more than 70 local, national and international competitors, outmaneuvered their opponents to claim cash and bragging rights.
…
Moore, who emceed the one-on-one youth and two-on-two adult battles, conducted the symphony of sights and
sounds with unyielding enthusiasm. But that hungry crowd had long since dispersed. He sat in silence as he enjoyed a well-earned meal with no one around him. Except me.

As Ozay finished a bite of his platter, I told him I’d heard several people remark that Cap City was the best live
event in Lansing they’d been to all year.

“Yo, I heard that too,” he said.
After we both nodded to one another in approval and I asked him at what point he would realize whether this year’s Cap City was a success.

“There’s a lot of different moments that you scaffold,” Moore said. “When the music’s not playing and you have the attention of the crowd and you can talk to them about investing in community and the culture, talk about what it can do beyond making money from it, and
the people hoot and holler the same way they would if somebody did something cool, that’s the sign of a healthy event.

“When the same people at the same volume make noise for things that ar beyond just the entertainment value, and it’s for the human piece, that’s how I know,” he continued. “Today, we talked about men stepping up for our women and children and keeping our
spaces safe from violence and nonsense.

If people keep coming back and they rock with what the main thing is, with our message, to me that’s a win. They’re seeing hip-hop’s potential. Today, that made it feel like a really successful jam.”