Karim “C Mack” Evans, (member of the world renowned hip hop dance trio “The Soul Brothers”) is considered to be one of the pioneers of the West Coast Hip Hop Dance and Choreography. C Mack has set a standard for hip hop, and street style fashion on a worldwide level since 1989.
He has influenced such groups as the Black Eyed Peas, BBD (just to name a few) and countless other dancers, singers, MC’s and DJ’s across the globe.
C Mack worked with the icon Michael Jackson on one of his most recognized videos “Remember the Time.” He was also featured with Ice T, Tone Loc and Ice Cube for a special performance in celebration of the release of Nelson Mandela at the Los Angeles Coliseum (with over 200,000 in attendance). He was a warm-up dancer for “The Ricki Lake Show”, a choreographer for the NY Knickerbockers and a model for Richard Avedon (famed photographer for Calvin Klein).
His main interest is to bring the truth to the world about street dance and its contributions from the black community from which he was raised. He has taught workshops and master classes at some of the most famous institutions across the globe which includes the LuLa Washington Dance Academy (CA), Booker T Sparks Dance Academy (TX) and Exile Dance Studios (Japan). My initial introduction to C-Mack was through Mikey Disko; a HipHop freestyle dancer from the Bay area. We started a conversation on an online group chat back in 2018 to possibly arrange a series of dance workshops at various studios throughout Cairo, Egypt. I will be completely honest, I was pretty star struck to say the least. As soon as we had confirmed all the logistics of travel and studio dates, I knew that I would be hosting not only an OG, but a pioneer of West-Coast HipHop dance in Egypt. I was incredibly hyped to get this going. I had so many ideas swirling through my head and everything became pretty real when I continued chatting with C-Mack to finalize all the last minute arrangements. It took me almost 6 months to get this trip launched. As with everything else, there were some obstacles that we needed to tackle before C-Mack came to Egypt. At this point, I could gauge how humble and supportive C-Mack was as a person. When I explained some of the challenges in Egypt, he was still optimistic and ready to share his dance knowledge with the Egyptian Dance community. Fast forward to the day C-Mack arrived in Egypt, I went to meet him at Cairo International Airport and all I kept thinking was, "Here I am, with one of the key figures in the global dance community" - If I wasn't starstruck before, I definitely was now. In the few days before the dance workshops, I had the opportunity to show him around Cairo. We visited The Great Pyramids of Giza, The Egyptian Museum, Sailed the Nile, and showed him more historical sites that he fell in love with. The first day I had arranged for the multi-series workshop at Danzone Studio, was set-up for different age groups to make sure we differentiated and reached each age level appropriately. We had three full workshops and it was one of the most rewarding and incredible experiences not only for me, but for everyone that attended. The amount of information, advice and training that C-Mack provided surpassed all my expectations. I soaked up every bit of knowledge and I would probably say that this was a pivotal moment for me, both towards my dance career and on a personal level. Following the success of the workshops at Danzone, C-Mack and I discussed and planned for a future trip for him to return back to Egypt after his tour in India. My idea and goal was to expand C-Mack's dance workshops throughout various dance studios within Cairo. I wanted other dancers in Egypt to experience the wealth of knowledge of the culture he was able to provide. I was fortunate enough to host C-Mack two more times after his initial trip, each proving more and more successful. One of the main reasons I started this blog was to spread awareness and information that I had the privilege of learning first hand. I want to create a space where dancers from all over the world have free access to obtain information and guidance that can help them grow as artists efficiently. With that being said, I recently asked C-Mack a few questions that I think would guide and support dancers globally, but especially within Egypt. I believe the Egyptian dance community has the potential to learn key elements and core foundations about HipHop culture. How did you get into streetdance? I never got into anything called street dance because we never called it that. I first got into breaking the year was 1984. Before breaking reached LOS Angeles from NYC everyone was poppin, lockin or doing their own thing. There were already dances out at that time that everyone would do at the house parties or at the clubs. I’m a club dancer because we really used to get down in the most popular clubs in Los Angeles at that time. And that’s how I built my rep as a dancer and one of the top.
Who were the key influencers that inspired you and influenced your dancing?
James Brown to this day is my biggest influence. Second is Michael Jackson, The Nicklaus Brothers, Jimmy Slide, Gregory Hines, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr.
An advice you would give young artists and dancers?
Develop your own style! That’s very hard to do for the young generation since there whole influence is only coming from YouTube. And they are only focused on the dance styles now when in fact all the dances we have created were influenced from the past. That’s why nowadays all dancers look the same. Everyone just does the moves they have seen or what’s popular and don’t even think about creating there own moves. So All Style is LOST ! It’s takes years to Create your own style so patience and development are essential.
How was your trip to Egypt like and what do you think the dance scene needs to do to get better and bigger?
My trip to Egypt was a learning experience to say the least. Egypt as a country is nice, however the people tend to rely heavily on Western ideologies. The lack of global identity may be challenging to develop a strong Egyptian Street Dance scene. From what I've noticed, the dance community in Egypt has little exposure to authentic hip hop music, culture, and the artists from the US. The dance community needs to get more familiarized with those pillars. Hip hop was created in the United States; if you say the words HipHop and you are not from the states, take the time to research and expand your knowledge.
Tell us about your experience with being in Protests and marches against racism and how racism and oppression gave birth to African American Art forms?
So called Black Americans have a very dark history when it comes to racism in the US. That being said there have been several protests, marches and rebellions to fight against this mentality. Black Artists have spoken against this for many years till now. Hip hop being a street music, culture and movement connects directly with the freedom movement. I personally have participated in several protests and Rebellions most notable 1992 LA Rebellion. It’s our responsibility as those who Claim they're hip hop to stand with those oppressed no matter what the skin color. Hip hop is a way of free expression that all human beings are entitled too.
C-Mack will be dropping a new single called 'Peace of Mind' in September of 2020. The music video will be filmed in Egypt.
Check out the links to watch many famous and notable West Coast HipHop dances taught by C-Mack and Legendary from the Soul Brothers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW1kZQBFooE (Part 1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnTg2H5Wk08 (Part 2)
To learn more about C-Mack, check out his website: www.cmackllc.com for more information, updates, merchandise, books and contact information.
Awesome read!
I met him for a one hour , he was amazing & inspired man
Inspiring!
Amazing as alwaysss 🔥🔥👏🏼👏🏼
Awesome 💥💥💥