The Red Bulletin 2025 Issue 2

As you likely have surmised by surveying the cover of the magazine you’re holding, this issue is a celebration of dance—more specifically, a global event series called Red Bull Dance Your Style. This annual competition is of special interest to us (and hopefully you) this year because the World Final will be held in the U.S. for the first time—in the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on October 11. The format of Red Bull Dance Your Style is unique. Participants can perform any style of dance they want—whether it’s house or hip-hop, popping or whatever—and must instantaneously react to unpredictable mainstream tracks. And as competitors tackle one-on-one battles, the crowd gets to decide who advances. As you might imagine, it’s a format that rewards dancers with improvisational composure and a…

PHOTOGRAPHER KOURY ANGELO The Los Angeles–based photographer shot West Coast hip-hop legend Xzibit for this issue. “It was so awesome working with Xzibit on this project,” says the Austin, Texas, native. “I love photographing musicians, and shooting at his personal recording studio was the perfect backdrop for this photo production.” Angelo’s clients include Apple, Netflix, Nike, Rolling Stone, Vibe and the Hollywood Reporter. Page 70 WRITER WILL LAVIN “As someone who grew up obsessed with California rap music, being able to write about so many great West Coast artists for this issue was a lot of fun,” says the U.K.-born, Los Angeles–based journalist, who interviewed Xzibit, Ab-Soul, Estevan Oriol and others. “Spending St. Patrick’s Day with Xzibit is something I will never forget.” A former managing editor of HipHopDX, Lavin…

TRUE KINGS ARE ANOINTED, NOT SELF-APPOINTED. And so it’s fitting that the dancer known as The Crown didn’t name himself. “It’s common for street dancers to have a dance name, but I didn’t have one. It was just David Jr., because my dad’s name is David. Simple,” says David Stalter Jr. “In high school, my crew would always try to give me one. At one point they tried ‘D-Pop,’ and I was like, No.” Content moving through the scene with such a nonflashy stage name, Stalter was five or six years in when he was struck with a case of stage fright before a performance at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis, his hometown. “I was 18 or 19, and it was my first time doing a solo according to my…

THE TORTURED ARTIST. IT’S A TIRED TROPE THAT ROMANT ICIZES THE IDEA THAT GREAT ART IS BORN OUT OF SUFFERING. But what about the nurtured artist? When a creative mind is supported from an early age, great art can also be made. That explains the origin story of movement artist Marlee Hightower, who has been grooving to a beat since she was in diapers. Just ask her mother, Anna, who’s also her manager. “I remember this moment,” Anna explains. As her mother tells it, Marlee was six months old, crawling on all fours in the living room. While music played in the background, her little baby started rocking back and forth. “She had perfect rhythm,” Anna recalls. In disbelief, she looked to her husband and Marlee’s father, Marlon, and they…

It’s hard to think of a dancer who reps Los Angeles harder than Storm DeBarge. So when dance industry veteran Fatima Robinson needed a choreographer to bring authentic Westside flavor to the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show, she knew exactly who could translate L.A. dance culture to the football field. For DeBarge, a native Angeleno, the opportunity was the moment she had been working toward—as a movement artist, choreographer and director. In a show headlined by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, featuring Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and Eminem, DeBarge danced gleefully atop a white lowrider to “California Love.” Then, to close the show, she set choreography on an ensemble of dancers decked out in khaki Dickies, C-walking across the field to Dre’s hip-hop anthem “Still D.R.E.” It was a…

Daisy “VMZ” Vazquez Age 19 Hometown Bay Area With a decade of experience in ballet, contemporary and hip-hop, Daisy “VMZ” Vazquez gained viral recognition in 2023 as the youngest finalist at the Red Bull Dance Your Style National Final in Chicago, where her battle solo to “Gypsy Woman” has netted more than 6 million views on TikTok. Thanks to her dedication to training, she’s often the youngest competitor at prestigious global competitions like World of Dance and Hip Hop International. She’s also made her mark in the dance community by appearing in music videos for artists such as E-40 and Gordo. Self-described style “My dance style is a fierce fusion of hip-hop energy and raw power. It’s all about bringing that intensity and fire to every move! I also add…