B-Boy Meaty wins Red Bull BC One South Africa Cypher trophy
Amidst the sights and sounds of Cape Town's harbour, Hip Hop and dance enthusiasts from all over the country gathered for this year's Red Bull BC One South Africa Cypher held at the V&A Waterfront's Cruise Terminal on Saturday, 29 April 2017. Sixteen of the country's most prolific B-Boys went up against each other with the city's very own B-Boy Meaty (Dmitri Nell) taking the prestigious title.
On the judging panel was some of South Africa’s most respected B-Boys. Last year’s winner Brandon ‘The Curse’ Petersen, B-Boy Vouks, international Red Bull BC All Star Neguin, B-Boy Benny who has represented South Africa at the event’s World Finals on multiple occasions and local B-Boy legend, Ramone whittled down the B-Boy contestants.
Neguin was impressed with the local breaking scene on his first visit: “South Africa has such great talent. All the guys in tonight’s final have such good skills with great potential. The future of the local scene looks bright, especially if you look at talent like B-Boy Toufeeq who made it to the semi-final round.”
In the final, the atmosphere was electric as B-Boy Bashi from Johannesburg and B-Boy Meaty, who hails from Eerste River, went one-on-one, break by break. Ultimately Meaty brought out his best moves to win the battle.
World final in Amsterdam on November
Commenting on Meaty’s win Neguin said: “Meaty is very confident in himself and very connected to the music. A lot of the other B-Boys tonight focused on their opponent but Meaty focused on himself. That’s what gave him the edge. I see a lot of myself in Meaty.”
The Red Bull BC One South Africa Cypher was the culmination of a host of festivities to nurture and support local breaking talent. Seventy B-Boys and B-Girls tried out for the last few spots in the main event on Thursday and spent time learning from Neguin who won the international event in 2010 on Friday.
B-Boy Meaty will head to Amsterdam in November where he has a chance at winning a spot in the Red Bull BC One World Final.
