How Hip-Hop Helps Olympic Breaker Logan Edra Get in the Zone

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Being a face of a newly minted Olympic sport would stress out anyone, let alone someone who’s barely out of her teens. But Logan Edra, a 21-year-old California native who now lives in Florida, is handling the pressure with more chill than athletes twice her age. “If I fail, then I fail,” she tells SELF. So for now, she’s going “step by step, taking it one day at a time” as she prepares to take on the 2024 Paris Games.

That’s where Edra will make her Olympic debut in breaking, a “dance sport” more commonly known as “breakdancing” among laypeople. You might not be familiar with all the specifics, but you probably get the gist: busting out a range of complex moves—including flips, twists, head spins, and more—to the rhythmic strains of hip-hop music. And that soundtrack wasn’t chosen at random: Breaking, which originated in the Black and Hispanic communities of the 1970s Bronx, is one of four core elements of hip-hop culture, according to Red Bull, the sponsor of international breaking competition Red Bull BC One.

Urged on by her dad, a former breaker himself, Edra got her start when she was seven years old and instantly fell in love. Using the stage name “Logistx” (her dad’s coinage), she has since risen to the highest echelons of the discipline, nabbing first place at the 2018 Silverback Open Championships and the 2020 Junior Breaking 7ToSmoke Radikal Forze Jam. But her biggest victory (so far) came in 2021: That November, she beat Russian opponent Vavi to win the world championship at the Red Bull BC One World Final in Poland.

In light of breaking’s runaway success at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires (viewership topped one million, according to NBC), Olympics officials decided that it would finally make its way to the biggest stage of them all. On August 9 and 10, more than 30 B-boys and B-girls (as breakers are known) will face off in Paris in one-on-one “battles” soundtracked by a DJ and narrated by an MC. And Edra will be right there watching it all happen.

“It’s exciting that breaking is on this level right now,” Edra says. “I would say our reach is growing, our visibility. And I think all of us just hope that it doesn’t diminish the culture [of breaking], but more so allow it to have more outlets to be shared with the world.”

Given the athleticism and technical skill required of B-boys and B-girls—have you seen Edra’s one-handed handstand spin?!—it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they need to hit the gym along with practicing breaking. While training (which she typically does solo), Edra likes to switch up what she’s listening to: By her own admission, the “shuffle” feature is her best friend. “I always cover a new song every week, and that becomes my song for a few days, and then I discover a new song and I’ll be listening to that,” she says. When SELF caught up with her before the Games, she shared a few of her favorites at the moment.

1. “Trendsetter” by Connor Price and Haviah Mighty

This song is pretty dope. I love rap that is clean and not as explicit. I think it’s cool to have that because I can play it around kids and not worry about their parents getting mad.

But I also have to shout out Pro Era. Like Price, they’re new-gen rappers that are very high-level, keeping the essence of hip-hop alive.

But I also love the old-school stuff. James Brown is a classic artist for break beats and for funk and soul, and Fab Five Freddy—that’s more ’80s. His music is in a [1983] film called “Wild Style,” which is a classic breaking film.

2. “Digi Warfare” by Masta Killa

I love this song for breaking training—it is a really dope break, in my opinion. Reminds me of breakin’ with friends when I first moved to Florida—feeling like kids, messing around practicing, going rounds, laughing, me watching the guys wrestle. It gets me hype!

The first breaking song I ever heard, ever breaked to, was a track called “Funky Drummer (Bonus Beat Reprise)” from James Brown. And that is a classic. Anyone that’s learning breaking will probably hear that on their first day.

I’m normally breaking to break beats like these, but sometimes I’ll find new stuff, music that spans a variety of eras and genres. I love to explore.

3. “Walkin” by Denzel Curry

A lot of my training consists of breaking, but I also have to cross-train, mainly so that my body doesn’t get overworked with the same muscles being drilled over and over and over. I do weight training, I’ll do sprints for my cardio and endurance, sometimes Tabata yoga.

This is the song I like to listen to during those general workouts. The New Age rap lyrics motivate me to stay centered within myself, to use the depths of my awareness as gems for inspiration. Plus, it just holds memories for me.

There’s a saying, “Hip-hop saves lives,” about things that help bring people out of the dark place or bring ’em out of struggle. And breaking is definitely one of those things.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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