I might catch some heat for telling you this, but: 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 afrofuturisms of bands like Parliament Funkadelic and the rise of sci-fi in movies and television, the creative cross-pollination of California's inter-school talent show competitions, and the twin forces of political unrest and cultural awakening that marked the 1960s through the 80s...

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 like the Black Panthers, 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 the United States... and eventually the whole world.

In San Jose, California where dancers were known for their technical innovation, precision, and fierce battle spirit, groups like Playboyz Inc (inspired by other San Jose crews like the East Side Tickateers, the Puppetrons, and Sonic Wavers) helped solidify the South Bay as a cornerstone of popping and street dance culture.

Founded in East San Jose in 1981 by Robert "Playboy Rob" Sabala (1967-1999), Playboyz Inc is one of the Bay Area’s oldest active and most influential popping and strutting crews, having helped shape the San Jose style of popping known as flowmation. Unlike the sharper, more mechanical approaches to strutting and popping, flowmation emphasizes continuous, liquid-smooth and intricate transitions, where styles melt into each other seamlessly, blending precision with rhythm and storytelling.

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

MONEY B

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

Money B has been dancing since he was a little kid in the early years of popping. At 12 years old he was recruited into Playboyz Inc. For nearly five decades, he has pioneered, defined, and carried the San Jose flavor of popping and strutting forward, 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 unique style of popping. 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.

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, Filipino artists among many others, that once filled its neighborhoods with movement, music, culture and style.