Everywhere I go, I see how far misinformation about popping’s origins have spread. So let me say this plainly: Popin' Pete and Boogaloo Sam were not the creators of popping and boogaloo. The dances started in California, but not in the city of Fresno.

Although it's now often reduced to the “hit,” or muscle contraction on the beat, in its early years popping was a much broader and deeper expression of funk music, born into a continuum (from jazz, blues, and soul), shaped by the afrofuturism of bands like Parliament Funkadelic and the rise of the sci-fi genre. Popping was created from the cross-pollination of inter-school talent shows, where young dancers, fueled by the political unrest and cultural awakening of the 1960s-80s, pushed the collective imagination.

Los Angeles had Soul Train. Fresno had Pete and Sam. But Oakland had an extraordinary amount of funk—as one of the crucibles where the genre was innovated, localized, and given a political edge.

During the Second Great Migration (1940s to 70s), an influx of Black musicians from the South created a thriving music and dance scene in West Oakland and in San Francisco’s Fillmore district. Together the two were known as "the Harlem of the West," mirroring New York’s epicenter of Black culture on the East Coast. The artistic vitality and political fire of Oakland's culture, music, and social justice movements (including the Black Panther Party), blended Black power aesthetics and political radicalism with the raw energy of funk.

From Oakland and San Francisco, countless young pioneers carried the likes of boogaloo, strutting, robotting, and popping, across cities like Richmond, Berkeley, Hayward, Union City, Fremont, San Jose, Modesto, Stockton, Sacramento, before the dances made their way down through the rest of California and on to the greater United States... and eventually the whole world.

In San Jose, where dancers were known for their technical innovation, precision, and fierce battle spirit, groups like Playboyz Inc helped solidify the South Bay as a cornerstone of popping and street dance culture, alongside many other San Jose crews including East Side Tickateers, Puppetrons, Sonic Wavers, Jam Patrol, Snap A Long, The Untouchables, Silver City Strutters, Chocolate City Buggers, and Camelot Kings.

Playboyz Inc was founded in East San Jose in 1981 by Robert “Playboy Rob” Sabala (1967–1999), and has become one of the Bay Area’s oldest active and most influential popping and strutting crews. Central to their legacy is "flowmation": a San Jose originated approach to popping and strutting that emphasizes liquid-smooth transitions where styles melt seamlessly into and out from one another, while balancing increasingly intricate techniques and storytelling.

As San Jose transformed from immigrant working-class neighborhoods into tech campuses and overpriced housing developments, this dance carries the essence of a different San Jose—one rooted in garage practices, recreation centers, street battles, school rallies and talent show stages. Popping isn't just a set of tricks for winning dance competitions; it’s a living archive of the city’s history and the African American, Chicano, Samoan, and Filipino artists (among many others) that once filled its neighborhoods with movement, music, culture and style.

Born and raised in East San Jose, Bryan Moreno, better known as Money B, was recruited into Playboyz Inc at just 12 years old, making him the youngest member of the crew. He has been dancing since he was 6 years old in the early years of popping during the mid-1970s. Today he is the longest-active member of Playboyz Inc, and its current head.

For nearly five decades, Money B has defined, pioneered, and carried San Jose's unique take on popping and strutting, shaping generations of dancers and sharing its influence on stages and in communities across the globe.

Money B’s online course gives dancers rare access to the foundations of San Jose's street dance traditions. Rather than focusing on rigid, mechanical breakdowns, the lessons draw from B’s lived experience — offering not just technique, but also the perspective of someone who grew up inside the music, neighborhoods, and crews that gave birth to the style.

Since 1981, Playboyz Inc has been an integral part of American street dance history. Now, for the first time, you can learn online directly from the OG Bryan Moreno, better known as

MONEY B

with 30 exclusive video tutorials capturing the essence of popping, waving, strutting, flowmation, and more.