In your interview with HOTSTEPPER you talked about cyphering and its importance in discovering yourself. Can you expand on that concept why it’s important to learn to cypher?

I do think that cyphers are a core essential in breaking. I remember saying in that interview - compared to big stages, one applies pressure and the other applies character. You should use that pressure to develop your character.

Cyphering is more like street basketball. There is no regulation, no rules, or stuff like that. You just need to be able to maintain and defend yourself, and stand by the person that you are. In cyphers, you'll see stuff that you'll never see on the big stages ever. Ever. Most people get really good and can handle themselves because they learned how to stay composed during [atmospheres like that of] a cypher.

The pressure is on in the cypher - everybody is there because they want to get their rounds in. If you just stand in the cypher, minding your business and don't move, you won’t get to throw down. Then the music stops and they're like, “OK, guys, we've got to take a 10 minute break.” Which obviously turns out to be 35 minutes because you know, bboy shit.

The pressure of a cypher is where you need to test yourself. Like you need to demand your spot in the cypher. You need to take it because nobody is going to do a cypher and look at you and go like, “you wanna go? you want to you want to swap places, so you can dance and I can stand where you stood.” And things get rough there - you can get called out, that can happen. And then, you know, you need to learn how to defend yourself. It’s like if somebody said yo mama was fat and you call out his mama back. You know, you keep going back and forth like in school terms like this. It's just a different way of building your character, which you eventually want to apply to the big stage.

There are two winners at every jam, in my perspective - there's the actual winner and then there's the people's champ. Everyone wants to be the people’s champ - it means that everyone agrees that you were the dopest of the night, no discussion - you were the shit. Whereas if you were the trained competitor that wins, it means that you out-strategized everybody, came better prepared with solos and sets, and it paid off. However, the downside is that some people don’t appreciate it or find you genuine. I think that being the people’s champ means that everybody agrees you’re the shit. Of course, the people’s champ might also win the jam, and then there’s no argument there.

That’s the first mile when you’re building your legacy - and then you keep doing it, again and again. People will start analyzing what you’re doing: they’ll be like “his foundation is on point, he’s light, he’s really creative, he don’t give a fuck. Motherfucker got money, hella hoes,” hahaha.

That’s why I think cyphering is essential. It builds character.

What do you think about the Hong 10 vs Harricane format of battle?

Oh, the bullying. I rewatched this with Skychief not too long ago and we both were just like “what is going on?”

There is no such thing as the best bboy. And if you ask me, like, who's my personal best, it would be Luigi and Stripes. But that day [Hong10] was like the best bboy that ever was.

Hong10 just smoked up - that was it. Harricane came out and tried to imitate the same style and show that he has creativity in that area, but sometimes moves are just too high of a level. Respect to both of them for going that many rounds - that’s incredible - but Hong10 slapped him around, he bullied him. It was like bullying your little brother in school, that’s what it looked like.

How did you get into breaking?

I started breaking because a friend of mine from school - my best friend at the time, actually. He took break classes at HotStepper Dance Studio that was owned by Karen Galsgaard and Joel De Andrade, also known as Bgirl Tuff Cookie and Bboy Surprise.

They had classes on Monday back then, so every Tuesday, my friend would show up and show me moves he learned, like flares and stuff. I was like yo...what was that? And then he would teach me and then I would do it. This happened on every Tuesday for a while, and eventually he said that I should come with him to free practice on Sundays.

I was like, bet. I went straight home, and told my mom that I was going breakdancing on Sunday. She didn't give a fuck. She was just tired of me jumping around at the house breaking shit, so she said it was a blessing and just to not stay out too late.

So I went to the studio - I was like 11 years old at this time - and obviously everything looked amazing to me, since I was 11. People were spinning on their head, doing airflares and shit. It is the closest thing you can get to being like the Ninja Turtles. So I started breaking.

My parents couldn’t really pay for the classes, since we weren't really the wealthiest family growing up. Karen and Joel though… they saw that I learned literally every move they gave me. I was actually a powermover before I became anything else, and I learned like every powermove on the same day.

They took me aside one day and Karen’s brother, who was the receptionist, told me that I hadn’t paid for this month's classes. It was like the fairy tale had ended. But Karen and Joel took me to the side and told me that I was a good kid and obviously somewhat of a prodigy at this... so they told me that I could take all the classes for free, under the condition that I practiced. Like, I had to practice and become a complete dancer.

Then when I got a bit older, like when I was 13, 14, the interest and curiosity in women came out. So I started taking hip hop classes, and I also did contemporary for a period of time, without having any idea that it would benefit me. That was weird, but it was fun. I also did a bunch of other shit, like I did a one year dance program, but at that point, when I did all the other stuff, my breaking was trash.

I was so whack. Incredibly whack. Like if you see the footage from now and then you look at the footage back then you think this is somebody completely else. I just woke up one day, realized that I needed to fix my breaking, and I just started focusing more and more on it. Then Street Star (where I met SkyChief) happened, and then came the Ruggeds, and then came traveling abroad and just, you know, meeting other people.

Did you watch a lot of American bboys starting out?

Funny enough I actually watched a lot of Scandinavian at first. A lot of Flow Mo, a lot of Octagon and Ghost crew. Like Ata - this guy was different. He was that white boy fly, he was so dope. Flacko, crazy. King Foolish. This guy Foolish had ground power on a whole different level, it looked so crazy when he did it. And then Winther. Winther... I talk about him now and lots of people really don't understand. It’s always kind of hard to believe if you’ve never seen some of the stuff he’s done. But I swear if he really wanted to he would have been the first one to win BC One twice.

Karen and Joel also had infinite DVDs and VHS tapes, so I got to see like, Circle Prinz, R16, Freestyle Session.

It just started progressing from there. I also used to watch a lot of Rivers Crew tapes with a friend from my old crew, and I personally saw a lot of Skill Methodz and Flipside Kings.

What are your goals for breaking?

I was trying to be one of the freshest that’s ever done it. There are not that many consistently dope people coming out from where I came from, so I take a lot pride in putting Copenhagen, Denmark, back on the map. It’s been a long time and most other regions have been more dominant. I used to want to be the best, but I really don't want to be the best anymore at all. I just want people to be like “ooh shit” when they hear “OK, Zoopreme versus ____” at jams.

I want to be so content and comfortable in what I do, and I want people who see my style and use that as a main source for motivation and inspiration, to develop themselves on the same level or even better, to surpass my level. Doesn’t need to be breaking - could be painting, but it’d be sick to know that whatever I did, I did it so well and so authentically that people referenced me as an inspirational source.

Like “this guy.. he did, so I can do it.” Because in reality, if I can do it, so can you. It's about will and how you get there, and also about the time you put in. Everybody is like “I wanna get there now,” but I've been dancing for 17 years and I was whack the first 15. I've had good moments and I’ve always had potential, but I was fucking about a lot. It wasn’t until 2017 that I got the hang of it and I found my real identity. Now I know what I want to do with my breaking, I know how I want my breaking to look, I have bomb ass crew to get inspiration from, and I have good friends.

So yeah, lots of the bucket list items that I had for breaking are slowly getting achieved. A lot of the people I still look up to, I have a genuine relationship with. I’m in the crews that I want to be: I’m part of the Ruggeds, and I’m in another crew with people from my hometown, Lack of Crowns. Our currency in Denmark is Kronur, which is crown in Danish. And this year, I also joined the Capsule Corp, which I’m proud of - that’s with Pnut, Phil, Luigi, Keebz.


Do you have any advice for those looking up to you?

This is kind of a theory that I've been dabbling for the last couple of months.

You need to understand what it is about breaking that you value, and first of all, you need to do this for yourself. All this competition stuff, that’s nice, but that came along for me later. This should purely be something that you just love to do. If you want to be a world class battler, then try to do that. If you just want a break for yourself, do that. Breaking is not supposed to be on anybody else’s term.

For active people in the scene that want to reach the top tier, I think you need to know two things. For me, I think you should try not to care too much when you lose. I really do not care. I've said it so many times and for some reason people laugh when I say it, because, you know, it's not common to say so. It's funny, but I really don't care. I didn’t start breaking to be the best - I started it because this is the shit. If I lose a battle - and again, I’ve lost more than I’ve won - it’s fine.

“Yeah, but this is a major event and you came all the way to lose!”

True, but I'm well aware that everybody has good days and bad days. Some are more consistent than others. But you don't know what else they have going on. They might be very good at breaking, but struggle to make ends meet. So being able to enjoy competition obviously is easier said than done.

Another thing: if you get called out, you can either accept the call out or not - you don't have to prove nothing to nobody. If anything you have to prove to yourself that you can stand up for yourself. For me, even if I get beat up, it’s worth it because it means that I respect myself so much that I think I’m worth the attempt. For me, “what if” is the worst - I’d rather lose than wonder how I would have done. So what I’m trying to say is that you need to respect yourself enough to try the things you want to do.

Also, don't just constantly hang out with people that do the same things as you. If you're around people that constantly strive to develop themselves as human beings, understand themselves better and as they understand themselves better, that’s awesome. People who know themselves well can articulate themselves better, which can help you gain perspective on yourself, too. So yeah, hang around people that make you reflect on yourself and help you grow. It’s a big ass flex when you learn new things.

Hanging out with different people also really helps you learn more. Like, many things can translate into breaking… martial arts is a common one, but it isn’t the only one. I skateboard, I’ve been skateboarding since I was a kid, so I draw inspiration from that. It gives me motivation, just like music does, just like basketball does, just like architecture does. If you want to be good at something just start doing it. 

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