When you mention the name King Tech, what comes to mind for most people is him being one half of the esteemed Sway and DJ King Tech of the world-famous Wake Show. This groundbreaking syndicated radio show has been around for almost 30 years and is known all around the world. Countless artists have swung through the doors of that show and got put on the Hip Hop map. The Wake Show has been a standard bearer within Hip Hop and continues to be.
For those within the music industry, many know King Tech as an incredible producer. His most recent projects include working closely with Rza of Wu-Tang to score much of the music for the award-winning ‘Wu-Tang Saga’ Hulu TV series. Those who go back further with King Tech know him from the days when he and Sway were making albums, first under the name Flynamic Force and ALL City, and later under the name Sway and DJ King Tech. Their major label album, ‘Concrete Jungle,’ showed the pair had much promise and were poised to go to great heights, but they switched focus and put a lot of their energy into developing the Wake Up Show.
What many people don’t know about King Tech, who despite being on the radio doesn’t do too many interviews, is that he actually started out as a break dancer. For him, it wasn’t just a passing fad that he occasionally dabbled in, as was the case for many who were first introduced to Hip Hop in the early 1980s. Tech was a force to be reckoned with. He was one of the best in Northern Cali. He went by the name “the Wizard” and was one of the key people in the then-newly formed SF Ballet Breakers.
As Tech explained, it was a unique concept and was initially formed as a way for the SF Ballet to one-up their Russian counterparts, whom they saw as rivals. The Breakers were initially designed to be a surprising aspect of their often-pitched competition. But in true fashion, Hip Hop, and in this case breaking, had a life of its own, and King Tech, aka the Wizard, and his fellow SF Ballet Breakers became very popular. So popular that Tech and several of the dancers were offered scholarships to SF State. This was in the early 1980s.
We sat down with King Tech for our Hip Hop is 50 series on Hard Knock Radio and talked at length about his journey into Hip Hop, what it was like in the early days of Hip Hop in the Bay Area, and the important role street dance, in particular popping, played here in the Bay Area. We talked about the legendary battle he had in San Jose with members of the Rocksteady Crew. We also discussed his close relationship with Rza of the Wu-Tang and the work the two do together.
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