A B-boy/break-boy (male) or B-girl/break-girl (female) is a person devoted to hip-hop culture. The term "b-boy" has come to refer more specifically to a male who practices what the media refers to as breakdancing, i.e., an individual who has the ability to perform rhythmic dance combining a variety of dance forms with gymnastics and original body movements. These stylized movements are commonly known as "breaking" or "breakdancing," and B-boys are often called breakdancers.

There are four basic elements which form the foundation of B-boying. The first is Toprock, a term referring to the upright dancing and shuffles that B-boys do when they enter a circle. The second element is the Downrock or Footwork, refers to dancing performed on the floor. The third element, is known as the Freeze, refers to the poses that B-boys throw into their dance sets to add punctuation to certain beats and end their routines. The fourth and final element of bboying is the Power moves. These are acrobatic moves normally made up of circular motions where the dancer will spin either on the floor, or in the air.

A related dance form which influenced B-boyings Uprocking / Rocking / The Rock Dance, also performed while standing, and a style of dance in which both dancers fabricate ways of beating the opponent using fictional weaponry and embarrassing situations in rhythm with the music (Burning). This style involves moves called Yerks [pronounced Jerks] which are a set of motions executed to the break of a track and are where most of the battling occurs, outside of the break of a track is where the freestyle element of the dance is executed with great musicality throughout.

Notable early b-boys included Klark Kent, The Amazing Bobo, James Bond, Harrison, and Tom Krew, Sau Sau, Ricksy, The Nigga Twins and El Dorado Mike. These dancers predated what we now know as the B-boy foundation, but they created the backdrop that inspired younger dancers to develop the moves that are used today.

Second-generation B-boys include Phase 2, Melle Mel, Mr Ness, Breakout, D.S.T., Pow Wow, Beaver, Spy, Sundance, Jo Jo , Jimmy D, Trac 2, Mongo, Off, Vinnie, Spivey, Cadilac Mel, Weeble Rock, Blue eyes, and Joey. These B-boys developed much of the uprocking, footwork and freezing now recognised as integral to B-boy style. Their early spin moves led to the first power move, the backspin.

Third-generation B-boys include Ken Swift, Frosty Freeze, Rip 7, Take One, Ty Fly, Flip Rock, Chino, Kid Float, Lil' Lep, Crazy Legs, Kid Freeze, Mr Freeze, Icey Ice, Doze, The late Buck 4, the late Kuriaki and the late Kippy Dee. These B-boys created most of the basic moves which are today considered foundation.

Notable b-girls include the late Bunny Lee (the first female member of The Rock Steady Crew), Sha Rock (the first female MC with the funky four plus one), Baby Love, Roc-a-fella (not the record label) and Asia-One (the organizer of the legendary B-Boy Summit in California ^{[citation needed]}). 'Blaze' is also a well known b-girl from the Dynamic Rockers crew. She appeared in an episode of MTV's 'Made - I want to be a breakdancer.'

Actress Debi Mazar started out her career as a B-girl in New York City before turning to acting.^{[citation needed]} B-girl also refers to a woman employed by a bar to serve as a companion to male customers and encourage them to spend money freely.

When two or more B-boys dance together, either simultaneously or separately, they are called a crew. Two of the more famous crews are The Rock Steady Crew and the New York City Breakers. (Although both are based in New York City, crews can be found around the world.) Some current famous international crews include Pockemon (France), Gambler (Korea), Terror Bunch (Germany), and Mortal Kombat (Japan).

Every year, crews meet in international dance battles. One of the most famous is the Battle Of The Year, which thus far has been held in Germany. Also well known is Freestyle Session, held by promoter/B-boy Cros-One, B-boy Summit, held by Asia-One, Ashes 2 Ashes based in Portland (with world wide tours), Red Bull BC One (held in a different location every year), Out For Fame (Regional Breaking events), IBE, and Mighty 4.

The first B-boy-themed novel, Kid B, was published by Houghton Mifflin in 2006. The author, Linden Dalecki, was an amateur B-boy in high school and directed a short documentary film about Texas B-boy culture before writing the novel. The novel was expanded from a B-boy-themed short story The B-Boys of Beaumont, that won the 2004 Austin Chronicle short story contest.

There are many different styles one can use to break, usually stemming from a given b-boy's area of origin and dancing influences. For example, the East Coast tend to emphasize the foundational style while the Westcoast and Southwest states such as California and Arizona tend to have b-boys who practice absract moves and house dancing. In countries such as Korea where powermoves are very popular, b-boys who practice power are dominant.

Bronx Style (Foundational) - considered to be closer to the original forms of breaking/rocking. Deals more with intense style and flow within the context of foundational styles. Though the b-boy scene has strayed away from foundation in recent years, the trend is now reverting back to a more foundational style. Examples of younger b-boys who use the foundational style are Machine, Roxrite, and Born.

Studio(power) - When people ask bboys if they "breakdance," usually this is what is comes to mind. Powermoves deal with full-body spins and rotations that give the illusion of defying gravity. Headspins, backspins, windmills, babymills (munchmills), flares, airflares, airtracks, 1990s, 2000s, jackhammers, turtles, halos, etc. Powermoves have become more complex in recent years and have been revolutionized by younger b-boys such as KYS (The End), Cico, Charles, and the Punisher.

Abstract - A very broad term of a bboy style, but may include the incorporation of threading footwork, freestyle movement to hit beats, the inclusion of house dancing, broken link styles (made famous by bboys like Paranoid Android, Law, and Fanatic), and "circus" styles (balance, tricks, contortionism, etc.)

Blowup Style - A type of dancing based on the "wow factor" of some power, trick, and circus style. Blowup styles are made to pile as many difficult trick combinations together right after one another to "smack" the other bboy. Usually comes after becoming proficient in other styles first due to the amount of control and practice needed. The blowup style has been made popular by b-boys like Baek, Darkness and Physicx.

• David Toop (1991). Rap Attack 2: African Rap To Global Hip Hop, p.113-115. New York. New York: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 1-85242-243-2. www.BostonBBoy.com