Interview by Jenkin Au & Alan Ng
Words by Kevin Williams
Photography by Patrick Leung

Unknown to many, Rob Rizk, co-owner of Fortune Sound Club, has his roots in break dancing. As a young boy, Rob had always been active and also has always been fascinated by the active component of the human body. In secondary school, he met a few key people and it led him into the whole hip hop community. Starting off with his own crew, that crew soon became Contents Under Pressure, a break crew that consisted of a few of Vancouver’s legends in street culture. As the justalilhype! Crew interviewed Rob, we also noticed that he considered b-boying, graffiti, DJing, and emceeing and art form of street culture, whereas most people would consider them as elements. With street culture and hip hop truly in his blood, Rob couldn’t possibly stick to art form. An unfortunate accident put him off his kicks for a long time and on his time off, Rob picked up DJing. From there, Rob ventured further into DJing by picking up things here and there from the various DJs that he brought in through his partnership, GMANandRIZK. The story is long but captivating, as it unveils a piece of Vancouver’s history in street culture. Read on.

People mostly know you as one half of GMANandRIZK, a DJ, and also as the owner of Fortune Sound Club- aside from all of that, you were first brought up as a b-boy, tell us a bit about your roots.

Well yeah, dancing has always been my first art form, or first love, for music for sure. That is something that I don’t know happened by accident or not, but I guess some are born to love music. I was lucky enough; after I moved here from Lebanon when I was eight years old, and from that age until about 14 or 15, I moved around to a lot of different schools and learned to make friends fast. I went to Gladstone Secondary School around grade eight and lasted there for about a year and a half. I didn’t really find my niche there. I was living in Burnaby at the time and I was taking the Skytrain back and forth to go to school. Halfway through grade nine, I moved to Moscrop and the first person I met and still know to this day, was Flipout, which you’ve done an interview with already. So I met Phil in drama class and I think it was his Nike Air Force 1 shoes that I had too, so it was kicks. From there, I started meeting more people in the school that were interested in dancing. There was an air band competition and Phil was more into the rap than the mainstream. He was into the Public Enemy and more of the East Coast. It was all the old school emcees and he always wanted to rap. We started to form a crew and it was called “GCK Posse” – there were six of us: Stewart, Mandeep, Jose G, myself, Salim, Barry and then Phil did a routine with a Public Enemy track that went on for 10 minutes. After that, we both knew that we had the same interests and love for music so we formed a dance crew called “GCK Posse”. From there, we kind of grew up into the scene – the story is huge! I could be here for hours telling you the story about how I met the Rascals and their dancers, and how they saw us competing at the PNE Collesium. At the time, there were 10 people involved and it was pretty much, we were in school and after school and at lunch, we’d go to the gym with mats and do flips. We weren’t necessarily break dancing; we were just watching videos and stuff like that.

From there, did you form the group “Contents Under Pressure”?

That came a while longer. After “GCK Posse” was “Six of Clubs”, and after that, it just sort of became “Contents Under Pressure” and different people started coming in. Phil was part of that, Zep-Rock, Dedos, Jose G, J Zar, Hesam, and me.

What was competition against “Wild Style” like?

You mean Jheric and them?

Yeah.

So you heard about those battles. Even before all that happened, there was a point of realizing what the whole b-boy culture was about and the whole culture with emceeing, DJing, and graffiti, and just really grasping that whole idea that it was a culture. Without one of those elements, it wouldn’t really be what it was. It was super important to understand that process. There is a guy by the name of Fever One, I got to give him a little bit of recognition because he gave me the knowledge of the b-boy culture and taught me the basic foundation moves of break dancing which is very important. Before, we were just doing whatever and not really focusing on the foundation. Then you start watching more videos and Storm from Germany and we’d go to b-boy summits to listen to Kenny Swift from the Rock Steady Crew and Crazy Legs. They started to speak to you and they were the elders in the culture and the creators of the culture. I had a lot of respect for them because they were basically passing down knowledge to a younger generation and it made you a little more responsible to pass on your knowledge to the younger generations. You accumulate all this knowledge from the elders and then you come back home and you’re excited. We did something at the Roundhouse Community Center, an open gym, and we would share what we knew with the other b-boys and we all would start building on it.

How do you think films like Planet B-boy help with spreading dance positively throughout our communities?

It is huge, as well as all the other videos before that, just other guys doing autobiographies and videos of their moves. I think it was a lead up, like you guys said, there’s always a history and it definitely exposed dance to a wider audience. I haven’t seen the latest stuff, but a couple months ago, they were doing crazy things. I could never have fathomed the human body could do stuff that they are doing now. It’s beyond me; sometimes, I think they aren’t even humans. It’s amazing to see the culture that b-boys are creating and making moves that have never before been attempted. I don’t know what it takes, but they got it, a lot of creativity I guess. It’s the essence of b-boy, never to duplicate, always to create. One thing I’ve picked up from b-boying was always to create. You can learn the foundation and have the foundation, but the more you practice, the more that becomes your own style and that’s important to always showcase.

What is it about hip hop and b-boying that has had you captivated for so many years?

Just the soul, the essence, the vibe and the culture. Hip hop, especially rappers, gets a lot of play and they get more attention than some of the other art forms. From what I understand, and I might be wrong, but from the history of b-boy culture, it was the DJ at the party that needed an emcee to HYPE up the crowd and the break dancers were a big part of the party because the DJ would play the breaks for the b-boys to go off. Then you had the break of the song and you would loop it and go back to back with the two records to create that break. That’s when the b-boy would go into the circle and do his thing. Like every culture, it has its own art form so that’s where the graffiti came in. Understanding that whole part of the culture, it was a rush. In our crew, there was DJ Kemo and Flipout and they were DJing. Then you had Dedos, Virus and Z Lock as the artists and then you had us as the b-boys. Then, Red1, Sol Guy and Misfit were the rappers. As a crew, we were all contributing to the culture that was called hip hop but I don’t think we did it because it was called hip hop, we did it because it was what we liked to do. There are a lot of things that people just put a label on and it is what it is. We were friends and we enjoyed what we did.

Your love for b-boying and street culture has led you to work on many different projects. Your love has also led you to another project in your life. How was it like handling all the advertising and working for Elements?

Elements of..?

No, Elements, the magazine.

You guys did your research! That was with DJ Jay Swing and he’s part of another crew and obviously, Virus and Dedos did the covers primarily. It was all hand written and drawn, before all the computers. My first flyer was all handwritten by Z Lock and it was in Yaletown before it was actually Yaletown at a billiards place called Yaletown Billiards. I did that on my own before meeting Garret. That’s a whole other story on its own! Back to your question, it was Jay Swing and Flipout and they called on me to help them out. They saw that I was a little bit more business savvy and liked to network with people. I started calling different retail shops and tried to get them to buy advertisement. I pretty much had a full list of all the pages and different ad sizes, just stuff that you’re trying to do now, just getting enough money, writing the articles, and getting the word out. By no means was it something that we were making money off of. It was strictly doing what we love and getting the word out. Phil would do the interviews and a lot of the writing and Jay Swing was the chief editor and there were a bunch of other people involved that I can’t recall. It wasn’t that many issues though. We never did anything that was money oriented but we knew how important it was.

What got you into dancing? Was there a particular event that inspired you to dance?

I was always acrobatic. I was active even as a kid, climbing trees, running around and doing cartwheels. I was always intrigued by that in Lebanon and my dad always took me to see martial arts shows. I remember watching Bruce Lee as a kid and I remember seeing another movie and this kid came up and the teacher having him do push ups on his fingers with eggs under his hands. If he crushed the egg, he’d have to eat the egg and the repetitiveness, I really enjoyed that whole element of seeing your body do crazy things. I was always super active and I thought that I had a natural gift with that stuff. As soon as I started to see the hip hop culture, I couldn’t resist trying to do it and I was so lucky to have the people I had to share it with. It kind of kept us in shape and out of trouble and most people that we meet are lovers of life and they are great people.

What types of music do you dance to? Furthermore, are there a any songs that you will always remember to as a dancer?

There are a whack load of tracks that a DJ would play and a lot of DJs that would put out mixtapes just for b-boying. Stuff like James Brown. Soul Power is one of the number one tracks. I also like “Nautilus” by Bob James, “Scorpio” by Dennis Coffey, “T Plays It Cool” by Marvin Gaye, “The Mexican” by Babe Ruth, “Yellow Sunshine” by Monie Love, “Ashly’s Roachclip” by Soul Searchers, “Cavern” by Grandmaster Flash and “Apache” by Incredible Bongo Band. They all had tracks that just wanted you to get down and party. All the funk and jazz and the upper break beats were good and I couldn’t list them all off because there are too many.

You have worked hard on the design and construction of Fortune Sound Club. How does the environment cater to dancers and DJs?

Well, finding the place, it wasn’t what it used to be. The whole building used to be the Royal Unicorn.

It was just a matter of finding the space. Garret and I have been promoting for so long and a large reason that I got into DJing was because I got into a motorcycle accident. The next day, I was supposed to take lessons on motorcycling and it was almost a sign that I wasn’t supposed to do it. I ended up breaking my ankle and it was at a time where I kind of got past the foundation and started learning power moves that were staples to b-boying, like the headspins, the flares, and the windmills. They were they eye candy moves because everyone wanted to see those moves and it was very important to have as part of your arsenal. With me, it was always about the soul and the flavour.

You were more footwork based, right?

Kind of. I wasn’t known for the power moves but I knew they were important. As soon as my ankle broke, I was out five or six months and in the meantime, I started thinking about my love for the culture. I wasn’t much of an artist so I thought that I would take up DJing but not in the essence of being a battle DJ or turntablist, but just to take on the art. That’s what got me into DJing and the skill of it. The art of mixing and when to mix.  I brought so many DJs into the city, I had the opportunity to be a student and watch DJs do their thing. Growing up in the DJ world and in the dancer world, I know what both want. Going back to what you were asking, from a dancer’s point of view, it is space, a hardwood floor, a comfortable environment, a good sounding system and good quality music. For a DJ, it is space, versatility, and cup holders. Everything is your imagination. Before this place was this place, I had to imagine what I wanted it to be. It was even similar to break dancing, there were things that I just had to imagine myself doing. You almost had to visualize and believe that you could do it because it gives you that kind of confidence. You can apply that recipe to anything, as long as you do the proper research and ask the right questions.

What is it about hardwood floors that b-boys look for?

It’s softer on skin and bones. It’s not always what we look for, though. Sometimes, when the club is closed and they kick us out, we would go outside and have concrete sessions. We did what we had to do.  I used to have scratches and bruises and scuff marks from just getting it. The hardwood floor, depending on what you wear, is a bit more slippery and gives them that whip that they’re looking for.

How does it feel like to dance and party on your own dance floor? What’s it different like than holding parties elsewhere?

It’s like taking a shit on your own toilet.

(Everyone laughs)

It’s a metaphor, you know what I mean. It’s just comfortable. I think everyone can relate to that term and it’s a great feeling, I don’t know how to explain it. Everyone has a dream and when they talk about their dream and they accomplish it; it’s so hard for them to sum it up because there is so much time and obstacles and challenges involved with the project. The feeling of having the group of us that I’ve asked to help out with the project, down to the person that cleans the place, it’s overwhelming to see how many people were involved. This place was a vision of mine and Garret’s, which I pretty much spearheaded with the demolition, the sound and the design.

What is up next?

There are so many mini projects that I am trying to do within this project. This is where I’ve dedicated most of my time and we want to start a few different creative nights; that’s more on the shorter term goals. Like anyone, I want to build and design my own home. I’ve always been big about the right time and place and definitely the club came at a right time and place in my life that I can actually dedicate to it. Before, with promoting, I had a lot more freedom but once I dedicate to something that I’ve asked to do, it’s now my responsibility to my staff and place; I’m a boss and I should be present.

You still host break dance battles, what’s the scene like now? Do you see a difference in the breaking community, compared to 20 years ago?

The essence is still the same. The drive and the passion is still the same, I don’t think that will ever change. That energy will always be at that same intensity and I think people are doing it for the right reasons. I only see some of the crazy stuff on video and YouTube. With technology, kids have so much access to training and anything they need to learn. What’s going to happen next with it, I have no idea. It’s still hip hop culture but it has almost become its own entity, in a sense, where emcees have just taken over the rap world, which is good because they’re making a living off of it. A b-boy, however, only has so much time. A DJ and an emcee can DJ and emcee when they’re 75, but a b-boy is physically limited. There is a prime, but after the prime, it’s over. You can look at the videos by Michael Jackson and the biggest performers in the world; they rely on the best dancers to present their art form. One thing about b-boying, and you see it on these TV dance shows, the b-boy goes out there and moves forward. The next round is traditional jazz or ballroom and the b-boy will do it and try it. Sure he isn’t going to pass on to the next level because he’s not in that mindset, but then you take the most professional dancers in the world and you get him to learn break dancing in that same amount of time, it is virtually impossible. There is no way that those dancers can possibly learn those moves, they need at least three to five months to pick up the basics and know what they’re doing. I hope it gets the respect that it deserves. Even to this day, I’m still disappointed that I didn’t get to learn the headspin. that’s one of the staple moves.

That, and the windmill.

Yeah. The windmill I can do, but that was a long time ago. I’m not doing it today either, so don’t ask!

How do you see dance affecting the youth that follow it? If you didn’t start up as a B-Boy, where do you think you would end up today?

The first part, with how it affects the youth and why they’re doing it, they are doing it because they love it or some guy is saying, “I’m doing it to get laid.” Young kids don’t say that they’re doing it to get in shape. You only say that when you’re out of shape and that’s probably what I would say now, is to get in shape. But, there’s nothing negative that you get from it. If it wasn’t in my life, I have no idea. I can imagine tons of things that I would have done, but I don’t know if I would have been as passionate about it as I am towards b-boying.

What is HYPE?

What is HYPE? You can say that in so many ways right? “Don’t believe the HYPE”, “HYPE it up”, “That move was HYPE”… I guess it’s all in the context that you use it in. It is like energy and it’s more an action word more than anything. It definitely has a positive ring to it. I’ve never been asked this question, so I don’t know, and English is my second language so I’m probably not even giving a proper definition for it. What does the dictionary say about it? I think the best part of that word is things that get you HYPEd. Seeing something, as a b-boy, if I see a move and that got me HYPEd, it’s motivating and it lets me dream. You would go, “Oh man, that was so HYPEd, I want to turn it off and go practice because this stuff really pumped me up and I’m jacked up right now.” It’s just like how Elements magazine got you guys HYPEd up. It’s an inspiring kind of word. Your guys energy today, doing something new and something you’ve never done before, it gets me HYPEd because I want to stay in tuned with that energy. I don’t want to go, “Oh, I’m old now and I got to do what old people do.” It makes me HYPEd to see someone follow a dream and work hard towards their goals.