RawStyle Chapters 2010

Photos by George Rabe.

This battle was brought to you by Demolition Squad and Freestyle Magics, and it represented breakdancing and hip hop perfectly. It was executed in a professional manner, and I was really impressed with this crew as it was their first time organising a major event and they pulled it off with style and ease. All the b-boys that I spoke to after the battle had only positive things to say. The judges for the day were: Pakou, Christo, Moses, Mabini, Gift and Poké. They were judging according to originality, stamina, absence of repetition, flow, power and style. Commentator White Mic still keeping his feet on the ground and always being willing to host all battles, big and small, I take my hat off to you.

If you didn’t make it to the battle here is what went down: In the first round Eddy-B tore up the floor and really brought it, he was definitely one of the favourites for the finals. Shorty also stood out as usual and he battled against Hakeem who is meters taller than him. I thought this battle was really good as both of them have such unique styles, not to mention they are both part of the My Culture family. New comer b-boy Jazzie really impressed everyone with his skills and solid foundations, he’s totally on a different level to everyone else and we expect great things from this b-boy in the future. It was cool to see Devon holding it down for the ladies; she danced really well and managed to beat Sheldon in the first round but got knocked out in the second. B-boy Misfit, who’s been dancing for five and a half years, threw himself into the air time and time again, his acrobatics are amazing and his landings are squeaky clean plus he has a good attitude which is inspiring.

During the break the spectators we entertained by great performers such as; Freeze Frame (hip hop dance crew), Georgeous George (madest beat-boxer you’ll ever hear), Kinesics (pop and lock crew) and Demolition Squad (b-boy crew). After that the semi-finals got underway. Don Ramu fought back to Ashley, which ended up being one of the best battles of the day; Don Ramur hooked up a really well thought-out set and also added in some humour, which always gets the crowed going. Ashely danced well and, for some, he was the favourite. In the final round, this is when the judging needs to be on point, not one move can be missed and the judges made sure of that. Shorty against Eddy-B collided into clashes of strength; both b-boys hailing from Jo’burg battled their hearts out for the top spot but it was Shorty’s consistency, ability and clean style that left him on top once again.

Words from b-boy Misfit: “I really enjoyed this battle, it was off the chain; the turnout was great, and the level of b-boying is being raised, which is always nice to see.”

Well done to all the b-boys who made the finals and to the winners of course, big-ups to Demolition Squad and Freestyle Magics for putting on a top class event. I would also like to thank George Rabe who takes awesome b-boy photos and is always amped for hip hop events.

Results:
1^st  - Shorty
2^nd – Eddy-B
3^rd – Misfit