King Rastus Brown, one of the first Tap dance pioneers was a regular Hoofers Club visitor. When he walked in the room, such was the respect and adoration he had, dancers would stop to see what he was about to do. He always requested what was known as "The Buck Dancers Lament", a tune that could be played with one finger.

King Rastus would do his own version of the time step and during the break in the music would throw in an improvisation. The big named dancers always used to improvise at the Hoofers Club because that was a way that other dancers could not pick up his moves from his performance on stage and steal them.

King Rastus, was never really seen by white audiences and so never enjoyed the same appreciation and exposure as Bill Robinson. His style of Tap Dancing, was seen to be more flat footed, which is a style that is evident today and preferred by many dancers. He was not always flat footed and was able to Tape on his toes, but seldom bounced like Bill Robinson's animated up on his toes technique.

King Rastus had what was really a buck dancing style where you would bend forward and stomp, with intermittent clogging. King Rastus was the best at his particular style and was very versatile in the execution of his steps. He could do the sand dance, an exaggerated cakewalk and incorporated the cane from time to time into some of his routines. He was also known to perform an excellent Irish Jig, which demonstrated that he was able to learn from all areas of dance..