Cape Town’s ILL-ROCK

I caught up with Barry in Claremont, who gave me the low-down on the b-boys around town, as well as some info about his own crew; Ill-Rock.

“In 2002 my cousin came down from Durban to study at UCT, and that’s when I really got into b-boying. Before then, it had pretty much been a few live shows, and a couple of DVDs shipped over from overseas. Well, I finally decided to stop just watching it and actually do it”.

How’s the scene in Cape Town? “I’d say that it’s pretty underground at this stage, you don’t hear much in the media.”

What you will hear about is something like African Hip Hop Indaba, which took place last month. “Ja, the Hip Hop Indaba is an annual event that serves as the South African b-boy champs. It’s been happening since 1997.”

What comes next? “After that the champs are pretty much on their way to Germany in October”.

By Sofia Tosolari