Bordeaux to Paris, no stopover: Cambodian hip-hop is just getting started

On 3 July, at Bien Public in Bordeaux, a venue came alive to the rhythm of breaking and a Khmer DJ set for the launch of Hip Hope Community for Cambodia. It was only the opening move: on 8 July, the momentum carries on to Paris with the Tiny Jam. The shared goal, driven by the Bordeaux-based association Le Grand Crew, is to use dance to build a lasting bridge between the French hip-hop scene and two Cambodian organisations working on the ground, Tiny Toones and the Rombak Battle.

Bordeaux, the spark of a movement

It took a city where breaking has real pedigree to open the ball. At Bien Public, a cultural venue in the Belvédère district, the evening was conceived as a full experience: a screening of the documentary “Welcome to Phnom Penh” by Kevin Fillet for Radikal Magazine, a talk with guests of honour flown in from Cambodia, a photo exhibition, a 1-vs-1 breaking battle serving as a qualifier for the Rombak Battle in Phnom Penh, and a DJ set running late into the night. Memory sat alongside celebration, and every euro raised went straight to two organisations working thousands of kilometres away.

Bordeaux was no accident of geography: it's the hometown of Davy Ung, aka DJ Davy Jones, founding member of the Le Grand Crew collective and the project's initiator. A French-Cambodian break DJ recognised across the national scene, he carries Hip Hope Community as both an artistic and deeply personal project — one aimed at connecting the French hip-hop scene with the youth of a country he himself comes from.

Kay Kay and Vibol Lim, two life paths in the service of youth

Alongside Davy Ung, two Cambodian figures made the trip to France for the occasion. First, Tuy “Kay Kay” Sobil, founder of Tiny Toones: born in a refugee camp in Thailand after the Khmer Rouge period, he grew up in the United States before returning to settle in Phnom Penh, where he began teaching breakdance in the street to children with little else. Twenty years on, what started in his living room has grown into a cultural centre welcoming more than a hundred children and teenagers every day, offering language classes, computer workshops, breakdance, DJing and music production.

Beside him, Vibol Lim, co-founder of the Rombak Battle thirteen years ago, at a time when Cambodia's breaking scene sorely lacked structure. Now one of the major breaking events in Southeast Asia, it has helped generations of Cambodian dancers gain international visibility. In Bordeaux, it was Vibol Lim who oversaw the official qualifier, sending its winner off with an invitation to the next Rombak Battle edition in Phnom Penh.

« These days, every time I come home, there are about twenty kids at my place watching cartoons on that big TV. And I told them: I'm going to call you the Tiny Toones. »

Paris takes over: the Tiny Jam on 8 July

The momentum built in Bordeaux doesn't stop there. On 8 July, from 9:30 am to 1 am, the Mairie du 13e arrondissement and the Digital Village will host the Tiny Jam, co-organised with the Yuvachun association, a worldwide network of young people and enthusiasts of Khmer culture. The day is designed as a natural continuation of Bordeaux, built around the same thread: bringing generations and territories together through hip-hop culture.

On the programme: an interview with Kay Kay and Vibol Lim by Banh Mi Média as the day opens, a free breakdance workshop open to all ages, an opening cypher, a live performance blending dance and visual art with the artist Jakman, a battle exhibition pitting a Khmer crew against the rest of the world, and a session of exchanges and testimonies with Cambodian artists. The day will close at the Digital Village with a jam and a DJ set, a nod to the legacy of Soul Train.

On site, a stand at the entrance to the Maison du Cambodge will welcome the public, introduce the two organisations being supported and sell t-shirts, while another stand will offer a taste of Khmer culture, from iced tea to lemongrass skewers. As in Bordeaux, every cent raised will go directly to Tiny Toones and the Rombak Battle.

An ambition that outlasts the date

Hip Hope Community doesn't see itself as a one-off event, but as the starting point of an initiative meant to last. The organisers already speak of artist residencies, workshops, university exchanges and documentary collaborations between France and Cambodia in the years ahead — a way, they say, of reminding people that breaking and Asian urban cultures form a contemporary cultural heritage in their own right, still under-represented in traditional cultural spaces.

For Tiny Toones and the Rombak Battle alike, the stakes are also very concrete: both organisations depend almost entirely on donations to fund their day-to-day operations, from children's meals and teaching materials to, for Tiny Toones, the completion of a new building currently under construction in Phnom Penh. A solidarity fund remains open on HelloAsso to support this Franco-Cambodian mobilisation, whose story, between Bordeaux and Paris, is likely only just beginning.

Instagram: @hiphopecommunity — Donate: https://www.helloasso.com/associations/le-grand-crew/formulaires/1