Out of the heart in Johannesburg RSA a crew called Demolition Squad was formed in 2000.
Inside a club called Demolition based in Park Hurst. The DS abbreviation has spread its name throughout the city. People like Bboy Dix, Willy B, Chris Jones, Christos and Seb started out this crew during the days of Club Reality later changed to Insanity, where bboying initially started out. I joined in 2003 followed by Bboy Lamas in 2004, then in 2008 Spark, Dizz1, Dream, Stix and B Pride all joined. The energy our crew was built upon for hip hop has lasted to this day while inspiring, learning and investing to bettering the future of the sport for many more years to come.
Chapter 1
Out Of The Dust Came Rain
I grew up in Parkhurst since the age of 10; I have lived here most of my life. It’s a green area with lots of trees and parks, many of my days were spent roaming around and exploring the little bit of nature left here. It’s a fast pace environment with lots of restaurants filled with business people constantly on the go. My father has been a technician for as long as I can remember spending most of his time on the road out fixing machines that many had difficulty in fixing. My mother an accountant who when I was living with her since up to the age of 10 spent lots of her life moving from one place to another.
In 2001 my father and I joined up for Kung Fu classes. Once a week we would go for an intense training work out which helped me a lot since I was diagnosed of having ADD. Then in the spring of 2001 my dad bought me a PlayStation that came with a complimentary game called Tekken. This was the first time I had played this game and I soon became crazed about all the fighters and was massively inspired by Eddie Gordo the capoiera style fighter.
Most of my years before this I was influenced by my grandfather who would do many comedy shows in a small town hall of Harrysmith. My father’s family was well known for entertainment from playing instruments to ventriloquism with puppets, photography for the town’s newspaper, you name it. . .
During that year I began attempting to do Eddie Gordo's most famous move called the helicopter which we call a rocket handstand walk in a circle. Man was I chuffed at this new move, I used to show it off in primary school to my friends on the cricket pitch thinking it was the most awesome move I ever learned. The one day at Kung Fu class there was this guy showing the sensei what tricks he could do and at the time I had no clue it was breaking I was totally inspired at this underground trickster world developing. I then went on holiday with my good friend Ivan to my grandfather’s town with the PlayStation. We'd spend days on end going to the edge of the town at the petrol garage where they had trampolines, and boy did we love this. I'm sure my grandfather got sick of taking us there and having to wait until we were done every day. Then one night my grandfather taped VH1 all through the night. I watched the video and saw this music video to my blue eyed amazement. There was this dancer who would set up a cardboard box in front of this shop. Then one day she left and every year he would dance in mind of her in that same spot. He had this blue Adidas track suite on. He was Pop’n locking a Break-dancing like a champion. I remember him doing swipes and moon walks basically all the styles that founded break-dancing.
After that I was totally hooked. I began doing what booker T the wrestler calls spinner roonies at school. It soon became the start of my career at school people would ask I do it again and paid me few coins for another. I was soon to be known as that GUY!
Then our school started the DISCO :D !!. . . Man was I amped.
I had most of my years before this done lots of pantsula which was the craze back then mostly influenced by TKZ and Arthur. . .
Chapter 2
Pay Up To Learn A Move
My first Disco at primary school was just what I had been waiting for. Back then circles were mainly formed by house dancers and I being one of them would battle it out for who owned the floor, but this time. To my amazement there were two other breakers at the disco!! They were doing a new move that I hadn't ever seen before. . . The WORM in a circle. Then it was my time to shine due to most of my friends calling me out to come and show these out of schooled who we are. That was my first experience in a circle with breakers not to be the last. I must say I was probably pretty bad. Then these new rivals went outside to practice and I saw them with my sneaky little eyes doing Y kicks and cartwheel Y kicks. . . Man I thought this was an evolution of everything I had know. Plus the one kid had an older guy and I found out that he was hired to teach him the way of the Bboy. Man I felt I was at such a disadvantage. So I asked one of the older guys in their last year of Primary school where I could find someone to help me or just anything to get me started in this game. What he said to me I think threw me way off course in a good way and in a bad way. He said that there was a guy in high school that you could pay to learn one trick and that they would charge according to the level of the trick. Flip was I excited!!!. . . Then soon to come would be the most changing moments in my life. . .
Chapter 3
Catch Up Or Stay Out
Now that I was fully into this weird yet mind consuming endeavor to become a Bboy. We started watching Channel O a lot and there were nights where we would watch it till sunrise just so that me and a few of my friends didn’t miss any new move or trick. They weren't as interested as I was. Then during the Summer Holidays we used to ride our bikes all around Parkhurst our playground. We used to visit a well known place for us, the Parkhurst Recreation that had a half pipe . . . Where everything used to go down. On one random afternoon we stumbled upon an older bunch of friends we would normally always see. We were already well acquainted since these were the cool guys and they stayed in the area. But this time they were crowding for a completely different reason. There were two guys who were breaking!!! . . . Daym so I crept closer to get and eagles eye view. . . I was sitting right opposite the middle of the pipe on a grind pole they had back then. Then out of the blue this one guy Vusi who was soon to be my teacher did a 1990. I had already tried the rocket up but didn’t think you could just spin on one hand. Brave as I was I went into the circle without saying a thing and tried the exact same move. Then they asked what else I can do and were very interested in how I knew what I knew. Man from that day I was hooked!!. So Vusi pulled me to the side and gave me a full sit down on what breaking was for him at the time and how much potential he saw in me. I was the brave one to say yo I’ll give you 10bucks a lesson and he was smiling like a new gold mine owner. I will never forget how long he spoke to me about this and how my friends were so itching to leave. He gave me his number and asked I should call for when class begins. This was the turnover of my life!!!
Chapter 4
One Of Us In The Crew
My first class was on a Saturday after the sun casted a shadow over the Half Pipe at 3:30. He taught me swipes, Nike freeze on the elbow, new six-step styles, the angry top rock for battles, flair the wrong way, 1990, coffee grinder, apple jack, the Brooklyn drop, and many more skills I had not known. Most of these tricks I learned on the spot but the rest such as the flair and windmill took me very long to figure out. I remember him telling me that at a battle it was all about points, and as he said that an image of one of those game shows where the winner gets points for answering a question lighted up in some red box popped in my mind. He was like you get signature tricks that just cancel out other moves like a suicide which was his best move after a back flip. Also he said you must change your uprock with some anger in it and show me how you would battle your foe pull a face and show me some zaps. . . I loved this like my week was only cool if I was at Bboy class. After a few classes my teacher would use my cash including some of the other guys to buy pap sak, which became the weekend norm for us since these guys were able to buy it. I remember once coming to class and asking the fellas where’s Vusi yo, and they said he passed out. As I got to the Half Pipe there was my legend out on the cold metal floor. Then on an initiation day he said he would make me a head spin binnie and took me on a mission to this small bridge in between Parkhurst and Greenside. He randomly broke a bottle above the bridge for its sharp edge and then ripped out a block of mesh from a garden gate for my binnie to easily spin on. Man I was so proud like my teacher was the bomb diggedy! I don't remember as much of my school years as well as I do these days of my Bboy upbringing.
Chapter 5
Now You Battle For Us
 |
| Taken at the old house in 2002 |
The crew invited me to come with them to Rosebank for a weekend of fun. At the time I didn’t know exactly what would happen that side. On my first day there from around 7 onwards, Vusi went and found me someone to battle but this was like my first call out battle ever. Man was I nervous. We battled in between the hallway of the Banking Section on large tile blocks. That time there was no judge it was almost like my sensei was the judge of my personal performance. This was totally the highlight of my career this whole underground scene of battles going down. We started making a name for us being the one crew that was always there. Other crews started popping up. I remember one day there was a crew that came to us and was like we are a full crew lets battle. We ended up having an all element battle between the MC’s and Bboy’s while the Beatboxer hooked us up with some vibes to rock to. There was this one guy who id'e always battle because we would never see eye to eye. He was the only guy who could do 3 proper flairs and at that time I was still working on two. I had the luck of seeing DJ Easy many a time that would come rock a few sets including the infamous flair. But us kids was like too much for him to want to rock something cause we just wanted to learn any lose tricks there was available. There was also a time while we were battling, this guy with an Afro and blue Addidas on just came and ripped a windmill swipe 90. He just totally blew our minds, the battle totally felt weak and he just walked off like a legend. . . Those days there was just this young energy to battle and discover more opponents and moves, not knowing who or what was next. Those were my days of Rosebank my home base.
Chapter 6
Social Or Non-Social
The latest thing became Socials as Rosebank became more and quieter with the growth of age. We would go there and we became like the only people jamming in our corridor. Plus I guess the security guards had much to do with this. Then te world of parties and older age presented itself and I went to my very first social and started seeing crews like 1610 and a few cats who used to dance with Eugene from Rhema church. There was a party just passed Orange groove where for the first time I got to see some of the 1610 breakers. I remember Renzo being there. They had a circle going and I came trying to get my windmill on and I did like two and landed in a crappy position. It was just me there with no one to back me up. Was probably a joke that side for them because they were far ahead by that time. There was also a time at S.T. Mary’s High where I met my dear friend KB. We would team up and battle guys in the circle even though we weren’t in the same crew. Things were steadily growing for me I was learning a lot of new things from this way of breaking.
Chapter 7
You Ain't Seen nothing Yet
 |
| My OldSkool Swagga |
Before I left my Primary school we did a talent show. This was the first show I ever did. My friends Phetani, Theodor, Victor and me did a two style show mainly involving pantsula with my ending of a solo Bboy performance. I did what they call fidget style today, into a six step, coffee grinder and ending it off with a Spinnaroonie and freeze. My dad has the tape somewhere lost in his house I hope to find it someday. There was also a final party. At the Craighall scouts hall where they played Freestyler rock the microphone.!!!! I started popping like crazy and everyone from my grade was there to see me rock it. I felt pretty cool that time. During the final month of school closing we had to do the packing of chairs and tables. One of my good teachers who was a soccer coach asked everyone where and what they are going to do in life. He then asked me knowing i was a break-dancer show me what you can do. So i busted up a spinnaroonie for my last time i think. As i whipped my legs up with a loud echoing thump i knocked my head hard on the concrete/vinyl floor. Man oh man did i feel wack thats one thing i'll never forget. Then started the glorious days of High school in 2002. I was so hoping there would be some breakers for this journey was very lonely since all the guys in the crew slowly became more influenced in woman and experimenting in new things. As i got to the school i started hearing that there was an awesome crew that used to be in our school. I also met a few breakers who would dance with us at the half pipe. In the first month of school we had our gala day. That would become my time to shine. I met up with two breakers a few grades above me Eric and Thulani who I used to battle and train with at the half pipe. We came up with this move where one guy spins two guys around like a helicopter. What an intro to my High School everyone in my grade now knew who i was. Luckily we were on the same Gala team. On that day I ended up sessioning above the grandstands with the new kids. There were about four who could do some tricks and had the knowhow. I learnt a lot that day from them. One of them was my good friend Bazil the brother of Christos the OG Bboy in DS. He was telling me about his brother and that crew but at the time I didn’t believe too much of what I heard. There after my mom took me to one of her parties far out in the lands of Sakki Sakki and bore troos. That’s where I finally got my windmills for the first time. I was spinning so fast it felt like my feet were going to fall off from all the blood building up. The guys there with their big boots were totally amazed and really like it. I was just too happy I had my windmills on lock finally. My mom must have been pretty proud of her boy. We still used to go to Rosebank on weekends but these days were totally dead. I was like the only dedicated breaker going there for one thing only. Then one day while training my windmills on the big tiles I met Morgan (Dj Switch) who began helping me with my windmills. I remember him saying just go for it and I did like 6 but still very sketchy windmills. He suggested I come to his classes in Melville in a studio. I never knew of breaking in a studio before this and I was totally amped to meet some new guys. There was also two other breakers in my school the one was Falco he was a skater/bboy he could rock some flairs, and his friend whose name i cant remember, He was pretty good could do continuous flairs and did many moves i had dreamed of seeing. I used to chill with them every break and bust up a practice on the smooth concrete floor. I hadn't gone to static's classes yet because i remember i lost the details of where the place was. Then my good friend Sid (Artist Fezzur) would always give me the low down of whats going down in the battle seen always saying yo static won this and demolition squad is on this level and would share a lot of info i hadn't known before. He then gave me the details to where static was giving their classes. . .
Chapter 8
Embrace Yourself You Are Being Watched
I used to sit remembering the days of how my dad would always drop me off at the half pipe and was very supportive in this activity that i became very fond of. I used to always wear a binnie some even thought that was my style back then. Now i had to go ask my dad to give me lifts to a studio for classes, I really hoped he would be okay with it. I told my dad and funny enough he said yes. We went to go check out the place. It was on the third floor corner 4th and Main. The Static Studio. . . My first time in a studio flip it was the most amazing experience ever. There i met Cinda who was the studio owner. I enrolled myself into the weekend practices who was held by Alex the Legendary because they said the work out would be a little less strenuous. At my first class i met Jesse (Bboy Dizz1) and Sid was there, Three other guys one who could head-spin for days the other guy was mad flexible and the other very versatile and tall. My homeboy Ivan who i started with came with me to the classes. I remember that i enjoyed the classes but they werent on the level i felt i could achieve. So i enrolled into both classes with Static aswell. Back then it was R30 for a class and for me that was mad steep but their time was worth it. Man oh man, then i met Versatile, Chopstix, Shorty was there now and then. First class there was the best ever. We did a top rock warm up of doing a top rock in the center and then a large top rock pushing the crowd out of the way. We did two six-steps into a side chair freeze. For me the best was the final freestyle where every student had to kick a combo. Man this was the best thing i ever done i felt mad nervous but in control to show the new breakers my stuff. Many moves i am well known for today was harvested from those classes. I remember my favorite move became the glide. Ivan and I would constantly battle to see who could do the fastest and longest spins. Since i started those classes my skill dramatically increased and i became more aware of how to do what i liked so much. They were very good teachers. Practice at school became a every day thing at break i would session and push others to join me. I remember one break i had one windmill down into a glide i felt like a total legend at the time.
Chapter 9
What You Will See Will Never Change
After being at the Static Studio for several months my skill was growing better and better. There was a day where i got to meet the infamous Ramone from cape town. The static guys called me out and asked me to pop n lock. So we went into the other dance room to show him some of my stuff. Flip i thought it was soo funy now but back then i was really serious because in front of me was a legendary. I rocked what i knew and he gave me some good pointers. I also had the luck of meeting Sipo from the soweto crew of bboy's. I had such an amazing session with him like i could understand his vibe and he had a good eye in seeing where to go. He taught me some memorable tricks and inspired me to keep going. Then one glorious day i got heads up of an event going down in Revonia Bowling Club. My first bboy battle to go watch. Man i was so excited to go check it out. M father took me that day and i will never forget the butterflies i had for this awesome endeavor for Bboy knowledge. When i got there i was so unsure about what was inside and what it would look like and how it all goes down. I went into the venue and was totally impressed, there was so many bboys. All in one room busting flames on the floor. One guy that stood out for me that will forever inspire me was Barry from Azanian Flames. I had never seen a bboy of his caliber. He had like two bandannas on one on his head and the other wrapped onto his jeans. This guy was scary he had this swagger and flare about him that i haven't seen before. There were a few breakers i have met before but not many who knew me. I was like a small fly at the time. There few cats that i remember being there. 1610 was there, Azanian Flames was there, Kung Fools and Static was the host. Just sitting there amongst the crowd watching the battles was amazing enough. The guys that inspired me the most was Bboy Switch and Bboy Socks from 1610 their routines and vibe on the floor was something i hoped i would look like when i battle they just took it for me on the day. I remember the final was, Bboy Lil'Flex and White Mike versus Bboy Switch and Socks. It was the most intense battle i had ever seen there was this energy that was just overwhelming to see. My eyes were massive that whole day because i was so amazed at this potential. After the battle i managed to build up some courage to go rock some sets on the side with all these monsters about. One thing i remember so well was a the end and before the battle 1610 would cheer their name loudly with pride. A lot of breakers didn't like it because they were all in other crews. But i found this totally amazing , all that pride and crew moral was totally amazing to see. That day when i left home i remember feeling so overwhelmed with joy before this i knew only but a tiny bit of what was really happening in our amazing city of gold. This would be the anchor to my intentions as a bboy from now on. All I wanted at this moment was a crew.
Chapter 10
If You Can Think It Surely You Can Do It
At this stage in my breaking i really felt all the practice and mission for self achievement was worth while because now i realized what i wanted to do in my life. That week i remember asking my good homey Bazil if I could meet his brother who was in this breaking crew. He had so much interesting stuff to say bout them and i was just mad intrigued to learn and get involved no matter what it took. The one day after school we went to his house which was on the way to mine to go meet his brother. But as we got there he was sleeping so i chilled a bit and then left without meeting him. In the first year we had a Talent show and me and the two other guys took part in the show. The one good guy who could flair a bit had to leave before the show was on. So just me and Falco did our bboy bit for the school. During the rehearsals of this i remember Thulani and Eric played me Rhazel for the first time. Because during that year i started trying out all the elements there was in hip hop and Beat-boxing was one of my favorites. In that month i went out of my way to buy an original disk of him. Man and i would play that CD for years to come. I used to be one of the beat boxers at break when Mc's where out battling while I wasn't training. There used to be three major kings in rap at my school like no one could step up to their level at the time. It was awesome hearing them bust a fresh freestyle for the day. This is also where i met my good friend Tumba one of the best graffiti cartoonists i know. He inspired me to begin drawing. My handbook in grade 8 was filled from cover to back with drawings i felt were good. The end of that Year i went back to Harrysmith where my inspiration for breaking started. The whole family would meet up this time of the year for the festive season. My family would always ask me to do something for them, they found it an amazingly new thing. My cousins would laugh at me when i used to do my thing which was understandable i wasn't the best.
Everything that i have done up to this point has been dedicated mainly to my biggest inspiration. My grandfather who what this amazing energy and love for the arts. He is my hero.
Here is photos of us training taken by ma aunt out in the back during winter season
