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When I speak to the young kids in the Bronx about life, I speak to them about knowing their history. I speak to them about the importance of how far we've come... but more importantly the how and the why in regards to what brought us to this time and place.

It's common knowledge that the South Bronx was left for dead so many years ago but how many of you know who left us for dead?

Did you know that the decision was made in 1929 by the New York Regional Plan Association to cut the Bronx in half strictly to move the money from Manhattan to Queens and New Jersey?

And that a man named Robert Moses carried out that plan in 1953 when he broke ground on the Cross Bronx Expressway?

They should have called the highway the "Run over Poor People Turnpike," because that is exactly what they did.

600,000 manufacturing jobs lost, untold millions of dollars gone and 750,000 Jewish, Italian and Irish residents fleeing the Bronx in search of a better life.

Yes, they abandoned the Bronx in search of a better life...

When the landlords realized what was happening they simply set fire to the buildings to collect their insurance money and off they went to the suburbs of Queens and New Jersey. All they saw in their rearview mirrors was the smoke of a Burning Bronx...

And out of that ash came brilliant creative energy, came an art form made up of four elements. And out of one of those elements came Frosty Freeze and the rest of the Rock Steady Crew.

Graffiti writers like Rist1 painted the burnt brick and the dull gray subway cars and introduced us to beautifully colored masterpieces. It became our art!

DJ's & MC's like DJ Disco Wiz and Grandmaster Caz provided the beats and lyrics that made us understand how fly we were... It became our freedom of expression!

Breakdancers like Frosty Freeze and Crazy Legs showed the world that we'd dance on anything, off of anything and in front of anyone.... It became our party!

Early visionaries like Henry Chalfant (Subway Art & Style Wars) came to document the hood. Shortly thereafter brothers like Jamel Shabazz (A Time Before Crack), Joe Conzo (Born in the Bronx) and Ernie Paniccioli (Who Shot Ya?) continued that documentation. And as of late Koe Rodriguez continues in their footsteps... This became our history!

Last week we lost a true visionary of our culture. Frosty Freeze by all accounts captured the true essence of who we are and why we had the strength to rise up out of that ash so many years ago... Comedic by nature and equally aggressive... Freeze truly was a walking definition of "I'll make you smile but don't you ever disrespect me of I'll make you cry."

I caught up with a few of Frosty Freezes longtime friends and here's what they had to say:

Crazy Legs (Rock Steady Crew) - "Frosty Freezes other name was Freeze to Pleeze. He was the type of person who loved to please the crowd and make them happy, whether it was by some outrageous move or just some funny shit he loved to make em' clap. The first day I met him we battled. I went into his neighborhood and found him across the street from Brandeis High in a school yard. After the battle jumped off we never discussed who won we just decided to hang out. If you ask me who won, I'd say me. And if you ask him, I'm sure he would've said he won. (Laughs). He was the type of person who wanted to be the funny guy and at the same time he wanted to be respected as someone who was strong as well. Frosty Freeze... If shit hit the fan he'd always have your back."

Henry Chalfant (New York City, April 5, 2008) - In 1981 I was asked to do a performance piece based on my graffiti photos. I thought I should jazz it up a bit, so I asked Take One, a graffiti writer I knew, if he knew any "break dancers". He said, "I know the best crew in the city". Next day he brought Frosty Freeze and Crazy Legs to my studio and they proceeded to demonstrate their moves to my astonishment. This was my first look at a dance I had only heard rumors of. How lucky to have Frosty as my introduction. He was good looking, incredibly agile, and a natural born performer. He knew how to put on a show. In the first days I knew him (I was following Rock Steady around, getting to know them), I watched him do back flips off walls, ride the swing in the playground to an almost verticle "high noon" position, dismount and grab hold of the top of the playground fence and sit there laughing. He brought his daredevil tendencies and physical prowess to his dancing, as in the famous "suicide move" where he leaps high above the floor to slam down flat on his back. Frosty truly represented the b boy and hip hop ethos of creating something from very meager material facilities. All you have is your body and your spirit: no dance lessons, no gym in which to practice, no art lessons. Frosty and his friends, in a bankrupt city and an environment of neglect and no access to the usual channels of media and cultural institutions, invented their own expressive voice. This voice was heard around the world and became an inspiration to youth everywhere who identified very strongly with these marginalized minority teenagers, whose characters and skills were formed on the mean streets of New York, and who challenged and rose above the conditions in which they found themselves.

Koe Rodriguez (Hip Hop Historian)- Personally, the late, great, Frosty Freeze should be remembered as a B-Boy's "B-Boy." Every time I saw him do his trademark "suicide" dive, it not only amazed me, but always reminded me of how important originality and style was in our culture. Freeze was charismatic, innovative, fearless and a stalwart to the art of "going off." His presence on --and I'm sure off-- the dance floor was always known, totally anticipated and always admired. Wayne "Frosty Freeze" Frost should be remembered as the friend, student, teacher and B-Boy pioneer that he was in life, and should no doubt be remembered as such in death. Frost was unequivocally "that dude" and one of my favorite and most inspirational B-boys of all time. B-boys around the world should always remember what he brought to the game and how adamant he was about maintaining and furthering the essence of true B-Boy culture.

R.ock I.n P.eace

Rist1 (Graf Writer) - The one thing that set him apart was that I found his style to be rather entertaining; as a former Brooklyn B-boy, (Breaker) I learned that you had to have it, or you didn't have it at all; Wayne had his own style, and no one could imitate him without knowing if someone was biting. I used to laugh my ass off just from watching him, and when he used to dance on the train or at places like the Staten Island, (NYC) ferry or at West 4th Street Park, man the whole crowd would just come alive with energy. That was the magic that Wayne had with the crowd chanting, . "Go Frosty, Go Frosty..." He definitely would have wanted to have been remembered for what he contributed to the culture, and not for what others would judge him for. We have all made mistakes, but in spite of whatever, Frosty was the first cat to make the front page of the Village Voice as a breaker, so that was his first accomplishment towards becoming who he was...

I only had the pleasure of meeting the brother once at the Wild Style Sampler at the powerHouse Arena last summer. And although I didn't know him on a personal level he embodies everything I care for, everything I love and everything I represent as a survivor of the hip-hop culture.

I am hip-hop because brothers like Frosty Freeze paved the way for me to feel proud about rising up out of the ash, holding my head up high and telling the world... You can leave us for dead but we're just going to throw a party anyway and breakdance all over your asses.

And when we're done we'll uprock our way into Heaven just like the legendary Frosty Freeze.

Rock In Peace Brother...

http://www.myspace.com/frostyfreeze50w93

One Love, Ivan Sanchez - Your Friendly Neighborhood Author

Photo Below: Courtesty of Joe Conzo (Celebrating Frosty's Life)