Meet dancer Charles “Lil Buck” Riley and pianist Mattias Mimoun. The former hails from Memphis; the latter comes straight from the City of Light. What do they have in common, besides being the entertainment at Tory’s celebration of her Shanghai flagship? They’re known for their cool cross-cultural mashups. Lil Buck specializes in a style of street dance called jookin — it’s equally beautiful, whether set to old-school rap or Yo-Yo Ma’s cello solos, and Buck’s done both — while Mattias takes to that most classical of instruments, the grand piano, with contemporary hip-hop and pop riffs. We talk to them both.
Lil Buck
I was super young, like around eight — I was a little fireball moving to music. But I didn’t get serious till I was 12. That’s when I saw my older sister, Stephanie, jookin in the living room one day; a friend had taught her in school. I asked her to show me some moves and fell in love from there.
And I knew I wanted to make a career out of it when…
I was 13 and at Crystal Palace, this skating rink that, at a certain time at night, would open the floor to people to walk around and dance. One day I walked in and saw this guy — we call him Bobo, but his name is Jeremy Greer — gliding across the carpet. It was just magic. I thought, this is what I want to do.
Jookin is…
Michael Jackson times 10. It consists of a lot of intricate footwork — sliding, glides, tiptoe moves. It’s a really fluid dance style that’s freestyle-oriented.
And its backstory…
The fundamentals come from gangsta walking, a style from the mid- to late-Eighties. It looks like a confident line dance, a confident strut, and comes from Memphis underground rap music, which makes you bounce in a certain way. Memphis is a very rhythmic city — it’s home to Elvis, rhythm and blues…
Advice to first-time jookers…
You have to get in tune with the underground rap music. Because a lot of people try it on Youtube with music we would never use. You have to start out dancing to that Memphis sound. Go back to that music, take it back to gangsta walking — really get afflicted with it — and then everything else will start flowing. Because once you have the music and gangsta walking in you — and you develop that natural bounce in your shoulders — then everything else is freestyle.
Underground rap music to check out…
Three 6 Mafia, DJ Squeek and DJ Zirk.
And other jookers to check out on Youtube…
Dr. Rico — he’s the doctor of dance. He knows everything about dance, period. Daniel Price, also known as DPKOM, is the perfect hybrid of gangsta walking and jookin. G-Nerd — people love watching him. He’s more into the battle scene of jookin and that’s very entertaining. Also check out Lil Black and Phyouture.
The backstory behind my name…
I’ve told you about gangsta walking and under this umbrella is jookin. But then under jookin you have choppin and buckin. Choppin is a smooth, intricate style. In your head you’re “chop, chop, chop, chop,” breaking the moves down so they’re seamless. Then there’s buckin, which is more high energy and with explosive moves. When I started, I was doing more bucking and, because I was super short as a 13 year old, everybody just called me Lil Buck.
Career highlight so far…
One of the tops would have to be dancing with Yo-Yo Ma for the first time. It was at Bryan Lords’ place in L.A. for an event for the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Spike Jonze was there, recorded a video and it went super viral. My career skyrocketed after that. Another memorable moment was going on tour with Madonna [for her MDNA Tour].
My pre-performance ritual…
Before I perform, I stretch — like any other dancer. I just get in the zone, in tune with the music. And I dedicate every show to my granddad, who passed away from cancer and Parkinson’s. That’s my basic ritual.
Up next…
I’m doing a project with this group called Bandaloop where I’ll be dancing on the side of a skyscraper. And I want to get into film, production and start an agency for all the jookin and dancing talent out there.
Mattias Mimoun
I started the piano at six years old and it was my will. I went through all the classical music courses and started learning jazz and improvisation with a private teacher at 14. I joined my first band at 15 and never stopped playing since that.
And my musical career began when…
At first, I didn’t know how to make my living out of music so, after attending business school, I worked for French cultural magazines for three years. When this ended, I began playing the piano every evening on a boat in Paris and then I joined the pop band Scenario Rock. I was their keyboard player for five years, we toured all around the world and, since then, I understood my life could only rely on music. That’s what I do the best.
How I discovered my style…
What you learn in music school is often boring and inappropriate for a 10-year-old boy. So, quite early, I began to write down the scores for music I liked from radio or television. And when I saw the reaction of my friends, their parents and the girls when I started playing The Simpsons or Star Wars’ themes on the piano, I understood the power of my instrument as well as these covers compared to a Mozart sonata — it made me immediately as cool and popular as the guys who were good at skateboarding or football.
And how I pick the songs I want to play…
I only reinterpret songs that I basically like or touch me. Then I follow the musical news with the aim to stick to the current hits. And finally, I try to choose songs in which there’s originally no piano — this makes the cover more original and unexpected.
My very first music obsession…
Michael Jackson at the time he released Thriller. I asked my mother to buy me the same leather pants as Billie Jean. I had a boa snake puppet, called Muscles, to be exactly and live like Michael. In my bed, I was listening the whole album in auto-reverse on my Walkman.
My musical influences…
As a pianist, I won’t be that original but my heroes are Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock and Chopin. I also appreciate Brad Mehldau a lot and recently had a real shock listening to the Armenian genius Tigran Hamasyan. Otherwise, as a DJ, I listen to a lot of rap and electronic music. So I guess I’m as inspired by Drake or Rick Ross as James Blake and Theo Parrish. But I would definitely say that my influences mostly come from black music (jazz, soul, funk, reggae, dub, hip-hop…).
The album that changed my life…
I’d rather say that a few albums made me who I am today: Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, Sonic Youth’s Dirty, A Tribe Called Quest’s The Low End Theory, Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks.
Favorite song to play on the piano…
“Someday My Prince Will Come.” Miles Davis was the first to reinterpret this classic song made popular by Walt Disney’s Snow White. It’s a harmonically rich waltz that I never get bored of. It can be played and appreciated in every condition and context.
My pre-performance ritual…
Before a concert, I enjoy having an espresso and a cigarette. It puts me in a pianist mood. I also like to properly fix my bow-tie knot.
My Shanghai performance…
It was a tribute to New York and the urban vibes. This means a lot of hip-hop and rhythmic music.
Up next…
I’m working on a solo album around the piano and thinking of a series of videos to illustrate this project. And I’ll keep on producing tracks for my two main projects: Aethority on CLEKCLEKBOOM Recordings and my band Apollo.