The leader of renowned crew Ubuntu, this B-Boy lives and breathes hip-hop’s fundamental life philosophy.
“You weren’t born to be a preacher my son, but you were born to preach.” These are the prophetic words of Duane Lawrence’s father. Early on, Gregory Lawrence, an actual preacher, saw in his young son the ability to spread a different kind of gospel… that of hip-hop.
Growing up in the poor Cape Flats suburb of Mitchell’s Plain, Duane Lawrence had a decision to make: drugs and gangsterism, an option many of his peers had little choice but to adopt, or a more positive route upwards. So hip-hop, and more specifically B-Boying, became – to stick with the evangelical metaphor – his salvation and redemption.
“I remember seeing the Run DMC vs Jason Nevins It’s Like That video, which featured a B-Boy called Kujo,” says Lawrence. “He had this whack style and I was like, ‘Hey man, this is me! This is what I want to do.’ And I’ve been practising ever since.”
Fame and recognition came early for Lawrence. It’s timing, though, made for another tough decision. Near the end of his matric year came an invitation to take part in the Battle Of The Year in Germany. Basically the world champs of B-Boying, this could be his ticket. Time for more wise words from Lawrence senior: “I made you and I’ve given you all I could, but you have to make up your own mind now. You can make it all the way to the top or you can drop all the way to the bottom.”
Lawrence chose B-Boying and just weeks before he was due to write his final exams, he jetted off to Germany for the start of what would become a B-Boy career littered with titles, at first with legendary crew Black Noise and then, from 2004, with his own crew Ubuntu, recent finalists in the Red Bull Beat Battle held in Joburg (see redbull.co.za/beatbattle).
Read the full story in January's issue of The Red Bulletin.
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