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Mr. Wave:The Real Story Behind Beat Street "The Love Story," Harry Belafonte, The Bronx & The Birth
Nov 10, 2025
Before viral dance trends, there was a Bronx kid named Dr. Electric who could make his body move like water. That kid became Mr. Wave, one of the most iconic figures in Hip-Hop dance history and a star of Beat Street.
In this exclusive interview with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur and DJ Thoro, Mr. Wave breaks down his transformation from neighborhood legend to global Hip-Hop pioneer. He reveals how he created The Wave, how Harry Belafonte saw Beat Street as a love story first, and how the New York City Breakers became one of the world’s most influential dance crews.
🔖 Timestamps / Chapters
00:00 – Intro: Chuck Creekmur & DJ Thoro introduce Mr. Wave
01:00 – Early inspiration: Michael Jackson, mime, and the birth of Dr. Electric
02:15 – Creating “The Wave” and blending styles
03:20 – The Delancey Street moment that changed his life
04:00 – Auditioning for the President’s show and meeting the NYC Breakers
05:30 – Becoming “Mr. Wave” in one hour
06:15 – Life in the Bronx during Hip-Hop’s rise
07:40 – The block party energy that shaped a generation
09:00 – Michael Holman’s vision and business sense
10:20 – Turning down tights, building the Mr. Wave look
11:10 – How Harry Belafonte recruited the Breakers for Beat Street
12:10 – Why Beat Street was a love story before a Hip-Hop film
13:00 – Legacy and lessons from the Bronx
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0:00
Yes. Yes. Y'all, this is Mr. Wave from
0:02
the original New York City Breakers and
0:03
I want to tell you, man, being on all
0:05
hip-hop is being with real hip hop.
0:07
Peace.
0:08
Thank you.
0:13
On world. It's your man Chuck Creekmer
0:15
aka Jigsaw here with my boy
0:17
DJ Thorough aka Thoros. Bridge to the
0:20
streets. Let's go.
0:21
And we are here with a legend, a
0:23
pioneer, and an actual a pretty nice
0:26
guy.
0:26
Yeah, pretty nice guy. Straight
0:27
businessman.
0:28
Thank you very much, Mr. a wave. I don't
0:30
know if you give out your real name
0:32
these days. Tony West.
0:33
Tony Tony West.
0:34
Okay. I didn't want I didn't want to say
0:35
it, but
0:36
Right. Right. Right. You know how it is.
0:37
You know how I know that from um
0:39
watching Soul Train when you when you
0:40
said your name on Soul Train.
0:43
We got the photographic memory.
0:44
That's how I knew that. You mean
0:47
Well, first first things first, I just
0:49
want to say thank you. Thank you. Thank
0:51
you. Thank you for your contributions to
0:54
this great culture of ours called
0:56
hiphop.
0:58
I mean, both of us and and and and
1:01
millions and millions and millions and
1:03
probably billions more grew up watching
1:08
um you and others and what you gave. And
1:12
I will start right here and then we'll
1:14
Yeah, do you.
1:15
You were special though
1:20
because when we saw you, we were like,
1:23
how? We didn't think you had bones.
1:27
I heard that a lot.
1:28
I'm not going to lie. The way you moved.
1:31
So, I'll start there. Um, with how did
1:36
you develop your unique style
1:41
um of dance?
1:43
Well, to be totally honest with you,
1:45
when you go back and you when you admire
1:49
someone else.
1:50
Mhm.
1:51
So, I have to go to the days where we
1:54
didn't have much. There's a black and
1:55
white TV in the house.
1:57
You got Michael Jackson's cartoon on
2:01
television where they could make someone
2:03
look unreal. Then you have him coming
2:06
out with Dancing Machine.
2:08
My original dance name in the early 80s
2:11
was Dr. Electric.
2:12
Okay.
2:13
Okay.
2:14
Because of the Electric Boogie,
2:15
right? Dr. Electric.
2:16
And so because I already knew the
2:18
Electric Boogie and I had a thing for
2:20
the mime,
2:21
which is another illusion.
2:23
Mhm. and understood when we started
2:25
doing the float and the glide
2:28
that it was all based on tech illusion,
2:31
right? you know, lifting one side,
2:33
moving to the other. But I didn't start
2:35
the wave thing until uh one day I was
2:37
down on Delansancy Street and it was uh
2:40
me and my man Asa, you know, uh we used
2:43
to come we come we danced on the nine
2:45
hun 9th Webster Washington Avenue, all
2:47
the projects over there and we had a
2:49
little crew called the TR Nation, you
2:51
know. Um and everybody used to come play
2:53
over there at Flash Allen 63 Park or
2:55
whatever playground. Um
2:57
but we were we got some money, you know.
3:00
We were going out buying some sherings,
3:01
some sheep skins.
3:02
Sheep skins.
3:03
And while we were making the
3:04
transaction,
3:05
street man.
3:06
Jew man, bro.
3:07
Jean. Okay. All right.
3:08
Jew man. So uh we got down there and uh
3:13
we had um you know we had the iron on
3:16
the letters pressed on
3:18
and it said Dr. Electric on my back,
3:20
right?
3:21
And this kid pulls up in a motorcycle
3:25
helmet. Get out. Fresh fresh ass bike. K
3:29
Nice
3:30
from New York City Breakers.
3:32
And he said, "Yo, bro, we got a audition
3:36
to dance for Katherryn Dumb and the
3:38
President of the United States."
3:39
Wow.
3:39
Ronald Reagan at the Kenny Center
3:41
Honors. And you guys can come down to
3:43
Manhattan and audition for it. And I
3:45
always been the cat that was a rebel at
3:47
the household. So, I'm going to go check
3:49
this thing out,
3:50
right? and not the thrill of getting
3:52
down, but just to see this level of what
3:56
we've started, what we've done.
3:58
I get there and the room is full
4:01
full of B boys. I remember and I'm a kid
4:03
and maybe I'm don't remember well, but
4:05
there was like agents on the side
4:07
because
4:08
you know you whoever gets picked now has
4:10
to be
4:11
checked out,
4:12
right? And I get in the room and I see
4:14
all these dancers that I had not met
4:15
before because I I hadn't ventured out
4:18
to their parts of the neighborhood
4:19
outside of the Bronx um short of St.
4:22
James Park and Kona Park and those
4:25
parks, but I had never seen them. And in
4:27
that room, you had Pop Master Fable,
4:30
you had Norm Ski,
4:32
you had Mr. Wiggles, you had an
4:34
entourage of legends that had were not
4:36
legends yet,
4:38
right?
4:39
And so at that point, I said, I really
4:41
want to do this. So, I went over in the
4:43
corner and I said, "You know what I'm
4:45
gonna do? I'm gonna combine multiple
4:47
styles."
4:49
So, I went in the corner and I already
4:52
had the tick,
4:53
electric boogie, I had the vibration, I
4:56
had other different style. I had the
4:57
mind. Um, I started taking the tick and
5:01
smoothing it out because people were in
5:03
there ticking. M
5:04
Michael Hman looks over across the room,
5:06
him and Noel, and they see me and they
5:10
say, "Hey, check this guy out." So Mike
5:13
jumps up. Michael Homeman, the manager
5:15
of New York City Break, and said, "Hey,
5:16
man. Can I can you come outside for a
5:19
minute?" I'm like, "Sure." My man Asa
5:21
stay. I'm like, "Sure, I'll go out."
5:22
Went into the hallway. He took Chino who
5:24
was the president the the owner of the
5:27
the guy who started this with Mike him
5:29
and Noel took me in the hallway said hey
5:31
man because you we want to put you in
5:33
the group
5:34
of the New York City Breakers
5:36
and I was like yeah I'm good with that
5:39
you know so I go back in don't know
5:41
nobody in the room
5:43
I go back in Mike makes the announcement
5:46
wow
5:46
hello everybody we are going to name
5:51
Dr. electric as one of the new New York
5:54
City breakers.
5:55
Wow.
5:55
Everybody clapped though in respect.
5:57
Yeah.
5:58
Um then Chino said, "Nah, because you so
6:01
smooth with what you do, we're going to
6:03
rename you Mr. Wave."
6:05
Wow.
6:06
All in one
6:08
in about an hour. Crazy Cinderella. And
6:11
then I became Mr. Wave. And then Mike
6:13
had Brim for the the actual show
6:16
um do me a Mr. Wave pants on my pants
6:18
and on my jacket. It wasn't a Brim. It
6:21
was um Brim and um um another graffiti
6:24
artist. I forgot his name. For he'll
6:26
kill me though. But yeah. Um so that's
6:28
how it got started with the ways.
6:30
Okay.
6:31
But I realized in dance
6:34
and I'll tell you why I was accepted.
6:37
But I realized in dance if you don't
6:39
give your all
6:40
in rap, dance, any of the elements, you
6:43
become like the rest.
6:45
So why am I special?
6:47
Because I gave up my body for it.
6:49
Right? I went into the wave.
6:51
Yeah.
6:51
I elevated the wave. I I moved the wave
6:54
around. I didn't just,
6:56
you know, go tick tick and then make it
6:57
a wave, right?
6:58
And that was a lot of the difference
7:01
and, you know, elevation.
7:03
Okay. Wow. You you answered my question
7:06
before I I could ask it. So, I
7:07
originally thought you were from
7:08
Kingsbridge because I know a lot of New
7:10
York City breakers are from Kingsbridge
7:11
in the Bronx. Yep.
7:13
Right. So, I was going to I was going to
7:14
ask you how did you all even meet or
7:16
whatever, but you just answered that
7:17
question.
7:17
Well, we all were in the same area.
7:18
They're Kings Bridge. I'm 183 in Crest.
7:21
Okay. Up the block. Right.
7:22
And and just to jump subject, we all are
7:25
under the the misconception.
7:29
We all knew each other. A lot of us knew
7:31
each other. Me and Cass lived on the
7:33
same. We all were around each other.
7:35
That's not that far from Jerome Park,
7:38
you know. And so,
7:39
uh, it was easy to after I became part
7:42
of the crew, I'm so close to them,
7:45
right? So let's let's let's talk about
7:48
the the time period in which we're
7:50
talking. So what year is this and and
7:54
what else was happening in New York City
7:57
at this time
8:01
evolution
8:03
from 81
8:06
to 84
8:08
just before run them
8:10
that was the true evolution.
8:14
That's why it was a race because it was
8:16
about the block party. It was about the
8:18
jam.
8:19
It was about watching them set up
8:22
hours to set up at the project. No
8:25
quarrels, no fights.
8:27
And and and and the the enthusiasm
8:32
that at the end of the day when they
8:33
turn those speakers on,
8:35
your chest was going to fly.
8:39
It was vibrating the concrete for
8:42
blocks. M
8:43
you didn't have to know about a jam
8:45
through flyers like A1 says. You could
8:48
hear it.
8:49
You could walk long and far enough
8:52
to hear and know like the jam was like
8:56
the ice cream truck.
8:58
Make sense?
8:59
Yeah, that makes perfect.
9:00
And and we and we just fell in love with
9:02
it.
9:02
Yeah.
9:03
All night. But let me tell you something
9:05
else about a jam that they don't do
9:07
anymore. There were specific songs
9:10
because you had to allow the women to
9:12
participate in the jams,
9:14
right?
9:15
All night long.
9:17
Climb up on the And that's when the B
9:20
boys, the be the B girls, the MC's were
9:24
able to let their hair down, right,
9:26
and just enjoy the DJ,
9:28
right?
9:28
So, everybody had a place in a jam,
9:30
right?
9:31
And then there were the ropes.
9:33
You couldn't penetrate
9:35
street legends. Let's call them cuz we
9:38
were we were growing. So Dr. Electric
9:41
got accepted by TR Nation. See, people
9:44
only named the major crews. There were
9:46
so many more crews.
9:47
Okay. Right.
9:48
So many more. There were there was a
9:50
crew for every stitch in your hat,
9:53
right?
9:54
In the same areas,
9:56
right?
9:56
But silence is golden. And so that was
9:59
the time that
10:02
crews got chosen,
10:05
people got chosen on a local level.
10:08
Now, how do you get chosen on the big
10:12
stage, on the major level,
10:13
president stage? Yeah.
10:15
Right.
10:15
How do you get to that now? Is that a
10:18
credit to Michael Holman?
10:19
Which
10:20
uh as far as being picked for those
10:22
bigger stages like performing for Ronald
10:24
Reagan of all people?
10:27
You know what? I love Michael Hman and I
10:29
give him all the respect he's due
10:32
because he didn't only help the New York
10:33
City Breakers. He helped Rock Steady.
10:36
Rock Steady was four New York City
10:37
Breakers under Michael Hman.
10:39
He helped Rock Steady. He helped Jazzy
10:42
J. Ban all of them. He knew all of them.
10:44
Michael was a Michael was a middle class
10:48
guy out of Washington, I believe,
10:51
Washington State. that was well, you
10:54
know, uh uh uh um mentally there as far
10:57
as education
10:59
that fell in love with it and the
11:01
possibilities before us. It was Michael
11:04
Holman to what I've heard from my own
11:07
crew and what I've heard from Michael's
11:09
own mouth when Rock Steady was so dope
11:13
at at at first class and the grill. He
11:16
wanted a battle. So Mike wanted that
11:18
battle and and and I believe Let brought
11:22
lep or legs brought in the New York City
11:24
Breakers floor masters at that time.
11:26
According to legs, it was legs.
11:27
It might have been legs. He had a great
11:29
relationship with legs. He still does, I
11:30
believe. Legs, you know, legs.
11:32
But again, when that was going on, I was
11:33
in a group home somewhere. I was in
11:35
halfway house.
11:36
Okay.
11:36
You know, when when that was happening,
11:39
but it it Michael Holman has touched a
11:42
lot of us. He did run DMC's for that
11:45
Christmas commercial.
11:46
That's Little Le.
11:47
Yeah. Yeah. The elf.
11:48
That's Michael. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So you
11:51
got to credit Michael Hman. The calls
11:53
went into Michael Hman and thing he did
11:54
next is he went and got us an attorney.
11:57
Okay.
11:57
So in 1984 we were making $10,000 a
12:00
show.
12:01
We had to split it. But we made 10,000 a
12:03
show. We did so many shows split us up,
12:06
right?
12:06
We go three of us go to one country,
12:08
four of us go to another country. That's
12:10
how they was coming in
12:11
and 84. That's
12:12
for 8485.
12:13
It's good now.
12:15
That's great right there.
12:16
I'll take that now.
12:19
We were one of the highest paid dance
12:20
groups at that time.
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