Ben Tafau on Bboying in South Korea | Asia NZ Foundation

Ben Tafau | Picture credit Ben Tafau

In 2010, one of our local bboys, Ben Tafau, visited South Korea on behalf of the Asian New Zealand Foundation and underwent what must have been the meanest research project that has ever existed - researching the South Korean bboy culture. I would take a job like that any day. Jealous.

Military Service in the South Korean Army | Bboys

Imagine seeing a phenomenal bboy out-performing and out-classing everyone on the international stage. With that kind of skill, you'd want to see more of them, see what other moves they can execute, see them grow and witness their trophy cabinet fill up; to be inspired and to be taught by them.

Then out of the blue, they disappear, only to return two years later to find they have either retired from competitions or have lost a lot of their impressive abilities. It's quite a sinking feeling not being able to see them execute those same moves again or be at the top of their game like before. But this is the reality for most South Korean bboys.

Death Of What Bboying Was? | Commercial Culture

It’s been claimed perhaps every day that bboying is dying, that hip hop is dying – that everything that was, is dying. I can see why a lot of idealists and purists think this way, but for me, I see all this change eventually as part of the evolution of a culture.

Surely there will be bboys or hip hop artists out there who will stray too far and still claim it as part of the culture; but at the same time, there will also always be those who stick true to traditions and keep it alive, and therefore I’m not too fazed. Change is inevitable – let’s just not forget the roots.