Jabbawockeez

The Jabbawockeez is an eight-member, all male, hip-hop dance crew best known for being the winners of the first season of America's Best Dance Crew. They were initially formed by members Kevin "KB" Brewer, Phil "Swagger Boy" Tayag, & Joe "Punkee" Larot under the name "3 Muskee". By 2004, their members included Ben "B-Tek" Chung, Chris "Cristyle" Gatdula, Rynan "Kid Rainen" Paguio, and Jeff "Phi" Nguyen. The Jabbawockeez do not have a leader of the group; choreography for their performances as well as music and design choices are made as a collective unit.

Early Career

Phil "Swagger Boy" Tayag, Kevin "KB" Brewer, and Joe "Punkee" Larot began performing as a trio called "Three Musky" in Sacramento, California while wearing white masks and gloves. The mask and glove motif was adopted as a tribute to the 1970's San Francisco strutting crew Medea Sirkas. Gary "Gee One" Kendall and Randy "DJ Wish One" Bernal were both members of the MindTricks dance crew who were active in the San Francisco Bay Area. Both the MindTricks dance crew and the Three Muskee were friends and associates with each other. Tayag, Brewer, and Larot all later moved to the San Diego area, and what began as an effort to start a Southern California chapter of the MindTricks crew later evolved into JabbaWockeeZ.
Established in 2003 in San Diego, California, Jabbawockeez is the brainchild of the "Three Musky" who wanted to showcase freestyle dance. The name Jabbawockeez, coined by Joe Larot, was inspired by the fantastical monster from the Lewis Carroll nonsense poem Jabberwocky The white masks and gloves from Phil, Kevin, and Joe's performances as Three Musky were adopted as the visual signature of the group. In San Diego, through Gary's connections, the Jabbawockeez added b-boys Rynan "Kid Rainen" Paguio and Chris "Cristyle" Gatdula to the group. The original seven member iteration of the Jabbawockeez began performing as a group in 2004. This lineup consisted of Gary, Randy, Phil, Kevin, Joe, Rynan, and Chris.
Jabbawockeez rounded out their numbers with additional members, bringing their total to eleven. Phoenix native Jeff "Phi" Nguyen had met Rynan Paguio at various Los Angeles area auditions and performances and earned a spot in the Jabbawockeez in 2004 by battling Kevin Brewer. The Jabbawockeez also brought Kaba Modern alumnus Ben "B-Tek" Chung and b-boys Eddie "Eddiestyles" Gutierrez and Saso "Saso Fresh" Jimenez into the fold. Stylistically, the Jabbawockeez style of dance features an eclectic mix of various urban styles, primarily popping & b-boying, along with a careful synchronicity to self created instrumentals which one member dubs "Beat-Kune-Do" (a play on the word "Jeet Kune Do", a martial arts style created by Bruce Lee). In 2007, the JabbaWockeeZ appeared on the second season of America's Got Talent. Performing with nine members, the group was eliminated in the Las Vegas callbacks episode. In 2008, they auditioned and were accepted onto the first season of America's Best Dance Crew.

America's Best Dance Crew

The Jabbawockeez auditioned a seven-member contingent for the first season of America's Best Dance Crew, because of crew member limits imposed by the show. Originally, the ABDC group was supposed to consist of Gary Kendell, Phil Tayag, Kevin Brewer, Joe Larot, Rynan Paguio, Chris Gatdula, and Phi Nguyen; however, Gary died that year, and Joe suffered a knee injury during the audition rounds. The group chose Ben Chung to replace Joe on the show and left Gary's spot vacant, proceeding with six members. They eventually went on to become the winners of the show. The win earned the crew $100,000 (USD).

JBWKZ Records

Since their MÜS.I.C show, the Jabbawockeez made an album consisting of all the songs that they used in the show. It was released March 1, 2011 on iTunes. Since this time, they have been working to establish JBWKZ Records by promoting fellow member Phil "Swagger Boy" Tayag, who was part of the indie hip-hop group KNGDM with his brother P.C. and friend Kilo. KNGDM released "The Goodbye Mixtape" in 2010, which included a song by Tayag titled, "Ima Get It". Tayag released an EP on February 12, 2012, titled "Privileged", along with two videos on the Jabbawockeez YouTube channel for "Ima Get It" and "F N G". "F N G" featured Phil's brother and KNGDM member P.C. The album is available on iTunes and was released on JBWKZ Records. The video for "Ima Get It" was directed by fellow Jabawockeez member Chris Gatdula.

Las Vegas show

On May 7, 2010, the Jabbawockeez debuted their own live stage show called MÜS.I.C at the MGM Grand Hollywood Theater in Las Vegas. They are the first dance crew to headline a show in Las Vegas.The show ran from May 7 to May 26 and included members from Super Cr3w, the winners of season two of America's Best Dance Crew. Music for the show was produced by DJ collective The Bangerz and their costumes were designed by Kara Saun Since its initial run at the MGM Grand, the show moved to the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino in Las Vegas and the Jupiters Casino in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. They will be moving to the Luxor Hotel and Casino in Spring 2013.