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Rock Steady Crew's Frosty Freeze Dies at 44
By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 6, 2008
Modified Apr 6, 2008
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Apr 6, 2008
Modified Apr 6, 2008
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Wayne Frost, one of the original Bronx-based Rock Steady Crew and better known as Frosty Freeze, died at Mount Sinai Medical Center late last week at the age of 44; it was not specified of what, just that he had a "long illness".
The NY Times notes that Frost, who began breakin' in 1976, garnered a lot of attention from a 1981 Village Voice cover which featured his photo along with the words: “Physical Graffiti: Breaking Is Hard to Do.” He was the first b-boy to get a magazine cover, and after that his moves were well documented in movies like Wild Style and Style Wars (both out in 1983). That same year, he even broke through to the more mainstream side of film when he appeared in Flashdance.
Many of his clips are online; you can watch him tear it up on the Lower East Side, here, and there's more from Wild Style here. The below clips are from when he revisited Style Wars (whose director, Tony Silver, died earlier this year in February).
His long time friend, and well-known graffiti artist Zulu King Slone, called Freeze: "a walking hip-hop culture encyclopedia." And it's been said "he was one of the first B-boys that most people ever saw." But Wayne Frost says himself in the above video: "I'll be remembered as a b-boy, but I'm gonna live and die as a human."
Tagged
break dancing
breakin'
b. boy
Frosty Freeze
Rock Steady Crew
Style Wars
Wayne Frost
Wild Style
breakdancing
death
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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