Tiffanie’s Take: ABDC 3 Episode 7

Even in the thick of a focused and meditative air, the energy was still raring high whilst the performers jiggled and giggled their anxieties out of their bones backstage.

As we mentioned in the playlist recap, Beat Freaks, Quest Crew and Fly Khicks all had the same challenge: integrate five different hip hop moves into the same bloated mastermix of five songs. Though I’ve enjoyed this season, I was—on the whole—pretty underwhelmed by the entire spectacle of season three. However, tonight’s face off between Quest Crew and Beat Freaks thoroughly quenched my thirst for a real throw down.

When it comes to your rigging theories and biases, say what you will, but the fact remains that season three’s top two teams have made it to the final showdown: Quest Crew vs. Beat Freaks! It may have been obvious right from the get-go, but we all know that ABDC has its history of irrationality and injustices—thankfully, this year is not the case.

Quest Crew

I love these guys, but I’ve been worried about them all season because we all know the Beat Freaks have been nippin’ and chomping at the boys’ heels. In order to really make a bounce back, Quest Crew really had to give it their 200% tonight, and that they did; my jaw literally dropped countless times during their 2-minute hip hop decathlon.

First thing’s first, what was that tutting thing Hok was tricking out? Someone mentioned backstage that Quest Crew is tight with some other crew that is known for that sort of intricate handwork, but even so, Quest Crew owned it tonight. Big up’s to Victor Kim for his one-handed handstand threading, as well as to the crazy ass flips from the always solid Steve Terada. But let’s get to what’s on everyone’s minds: Brian Hirano’s krumping, which blew the roof off the studio with a fit of hysterical screaming and hollering. I’ve never liked krumping because I just don’t dig the attitude dancers need to channel to pull it off—that and it’s monotonous, repetitive and slightly obnoxious. Even though Quest Crew is better known as a cheeky bboy group, tonight it was blazingly apparent that they too can get down and grimy. This routine started at the boys’ strongest and somehow managed to end at a point that exceeded that. An amazing win, and easily my favorite act of the night.

Beat Freaks

For these Wonder Women, the sky truly is the limit. Week upon week, they’ve treated us to performances that set the bar for all their fellow competitors, all while entrancing America with an awe-like stupor.

While their 2-minute decathlon challenge is no doubt a successful tale in the the Book of Beat, it broke their streak of ascending performances. That is, it didn’t top their most memorable performances: the magic challenge and the boys vs. girls challenge. Compared to Quest Crew’s 2-minute challenge, Beat Freaks’ performance was a little slow to warm up. At times, it seemed like Quest Crew and Beat Freaks’ roles were reversed as, for the first time this season, the Beat Freaks had a little more trouble transitioning with impact. Nevertheless, Beat Freaks shined in their stacked tutting, as well as in yet another spotlight moment for Shorty (aka Alex): she may be cute and sweet, but she’ll lay a krump-down on you.

Final performances

On the whole, I was pretty disappointed with both of the final crews’ second performances. Well, let me rephrase that… I wasn’t disappointed with the performances per se, but knowing that both crews had complete artistic freedom over their numbers, it was surprising that both of their 2-minute challenges beat their final spotlight moments. But then again, it is no easy feat to pull off two performances in one night.

Anyhow, what I did enjoy about Quest Crew and the Beat Freaks‘ performances was that they both channeled their respective crews’ vibes and vision. The Beat Freaks busted out of a giant boombox, which brought them back home to episode one, where they first made all of America go nuts in falling for a group of tough bgirls from LA. I was a little apprehensive about Quest Crew’s jazz theme, but it quickly materialized into a smooth and charismatic routine (though I don’t really want to imagine Dom as a woman named Charisma, like Lil Mama does).

The way I see it, both crews have clearly passed the requisite litmus test of talent. Either a strong Asian American team or a strong and multicultural group of don’t-call-me-baby’s will be the official winner of ABDC. I’ll be happy with whichever crew wins. And think of it this way, whichever crew “loses” won’t be bound to the yearlong MTV contract that prohibits them from marketing and booking themselves for their own gigs; either way, it’s safe to say those will be flowing a’plenty for both teams. Win-win.

Miscellaneous Notes:

Weeklong voting starts now. GET YOUR VOTE OUT! Stay tuned for Ningin’s ABDC “Rock the Vote” special. Also, enter to win Freak the Vote merchandise here; you have one week left to enter the giveaway! I tried my best to get Quest Crew autographs, but MTV owns all the rights to all of the crews’ names for one year. FYI: Freak the Vote is not affiliated with MTV; it’s a fan-based effort, so a big thanks to them for joining up with Ningin for the giveaway.

Unfortunately, I will not be able to cover next Thursday’s live taping of the finale as I will be covering the Wonder Girls’ LA concert. I’m currently snooping around for a guest blogger to go in lieu of me, so rest easy, Ningin will cover the finale.

As an extra treat, I’ve uploaded a grip load of backstage photos (big ones!) for you. I’ll email you wallpaper super-sized photos if you’re so inclined, but you need to PM me with the file name(s) you want, along with an email address. I hope you enjoy the various photos of Quest Crew goofing off with Beat Freaks (contrary to popular netizen belief, they do get along. :P)