Troy Harewood
The First B-Boy of the United Kingdom, as recognised by the New York State Assembly. Breaking Hall of Fame, Class of 2024. Co-Founder, The UK Hip Hop Museum.
Cited by the City and State of New York.
Competitive before the dance floor.
Troy's competitive instincts predate the dance floor. As a schoolboy he became the UK's first Black schoolboy scrambling (motocross) champion, growing up alongside future Formula 1 driver and Le Mans winner Mark Blundell and competing at the highest level of the sport, including in the United States.
A founding figure of UK hip-hop culture.
Troy learned the moonwalk directly from Shalamar's Jeffrey Daniel, before Daniel taught it to Michael Jackson, and battled across London's foundational venues with the UK Warriors crew, from the Electric Ballroom to Covent Garden.
The UK Warriors took their dancing to the nation on ITV's The Fame Game, the pioneering 1985 Granada talent show hosted by Tim Brooke-Taylor and among the first in television history to use live home voting, winning five times on the public vote. Troy's story has been told on BBC Radio 6 Music with Chris Hawkins.
Wembley, Converse and The Game Boyz.
A friend of Prince's guitarist Miko Weaver since the age of eighteen, Troy went on to manage him, securing Miko's first brand endorsement, with Converse, backstage at Prince's Lovesexy shows at Wembley Arena. At a Prince aftershow in London, Troy famously took on, and beat, Prince's celebrated dance crew, The Game Boyz, in a dance battle.
On top of the speaker stacks.
As the UK rave era exploded, Troy, known on the scene as "Troy Zuluking", became one of its most visible performers, dancing atop the speaker stacks at the legendary Sunrise and Energy parties. His presence inspired the iconic Raindanceman character by the artist Pez, a connection documented in the Cult to Culture exhibition (1989 to 2020).
Twice to the top of the US Dance chart.
From 1995 to 1996 Troy was the frontman and dancer of N-Joi, whose singles "Mindflux" and "The New Anthem" both reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Dance chart.
Three decades behind the scenes.
Troy built a three-decade career in artist development, A&R and publishing. He procured the first publishing deal for DJ Rap, drum & bass's premier female DJ, with Mute Records, home of Depeche Mode. He developed the sound of drum & bass innovator Optical and secured his record and publishing deals, and developed and signed Scott Sherrin to EMI alongside the A&R who signed Supergrass and Radiohead.
In recent years his sync work with No Sheet Music, the agency attached to BBC Radio 1, has placed multiple tracks into advertising and broadcast.
Built with Kurtis Blow.
Troy is co-founder of The UK Hip Hop Museum alongside hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow, the first artist ever signed to a major label as a rapper. The museum, covered by DJ Mag and Mixmag, counts Monie Love, Normski, Popin Pete, Special Ed and Kool Rock-Ski among its Cultural Ambassadors.
Cream Collective, from the circle to the boardroom.
As CEO & Founder, Troy leads artist development and label strategy at Cream Collective, bringing forty years at the centre of British music culture, from the breaking circle to the boardroom, to a new generation of artists and innovators.
Troy represents solar-powered microwave pyrolysis inventor Julian Brown of NatureJAB, whose Plastolene® technology converts waste plastic into high-octane fuel and for which Cream Collective holds exclusive commercial authority; leading hip-hop historian JayQuan; and Cornbread, the originator of modern graffiti and street art.
A certified bodyguard and close protection officer, Troy has also served as a Man at Arms on Game of Thrones and J.J. Abrams' Star Wars.