Madison’s streets and sidewalks always seem to be littered with people performing or showing off some skill. Walking up Bascom, math professor Uri Andrews might roll by you on his unicycle. Or you might hear street musicians’ tunes wafting through the air while walking down State Street.

Papakobina Brewoo, or Kobby (pronounced the same as Kobe Bryant) as his friends call him, might blend right into this sea of singers, jugglers and fire-twirlers. His hip-hop dance videos have been shot in locations like Library Mall and the Red Gym. But Kobby doesn’t just make dance videos. He and his crew are swiftly connecting to a network of hip-hop artists in Madison and around the country.

Brewoo immigrated to the United States from Ghana at a young age. Transferring between multiple schools, he struggled to find his place and still recalls how he “had no friends until seventh or eighth grade.” Entering West High as a freshman, he started a hip-hop club at school with a few other people. 

Thus began his training as a hip-hop dancer. Brewoo and his friends taught themselves how to dance, picking up moves from YouTube videos. To him, dancing filled a void in his life, allowing him to express himself in ways previously impossible.

Before entering West High, Brewoo was blown away by a new show on television: “America’s Best Dance Crew.” After a semester, Brewoo decided to step up his efforts to achieve a modest goal.

“I just wanted to audition for America’s Best Dance Crew, to maybe get close to the level of those dancers,” he said.

Within a year, Brewoo and his crew surpassed even their greatest expectations. The MTV show “MADE” came to their school and the crew was given the part after auditioning, along with an opportunity to audition for “America’s Best Dance Crew.” Brewoo couldn’t perform since he wasn’t a citizen, but his crew performed and even received a call back. His exposure on “MADE” also connected him to RAW: Natural Born Artists. He worked his way up to his current position as Street Team Manager and recruited people for RAW, making him their youngest employee. Witnessing RAW, an art collective, planted the seed for Brewoo’s current venture, Fr3sh Trilogy. As Brewoo put it, the group “bring[s] artists together [and] helps bring out everyone’s inner color, who they truly are.”

During his junior year of high school, Brewoo refined his technique and focused on his schoolwork. Before Fr3sh Trilogy started in earnest, the growing crew competed in World of Dance in Chicago, where they were among the youngest competitors there. He placed second in his battle, with two of his crew members also placing sixth and eighth. 

“Competing around people who had been doing it for so long was so inspirational,” Brewoo said.

Fr3sh Trilogy is a conglomeration of dancers, videographers, fashion designers, models and even a comedian. The group came together in Brewoo’s freshman year. They’ve performed in a variety of settings, from world-class dance competitions to birthday parties and quincea?eras. While everyone in Fr3sh is constantly trying to elevate their reputation, having the opportunity to express themselves is all that really matters. 

“We all love to perform,” Brewoo said, “and if we get the opportunity to, we take it.”

And there will be many opportunities for all of Fr3sh Trilogy to perform next week. The dance competition Breakin’ the Law is this weekend, running May 3 and 4 from 4-10 p.m. at The Sett. Starting Wednesday, there will be free dance workshops taught by professional dancers, movie showings and discussions and a host of other events. Naturally, Brewoo is excited to represent Madison on his home turf, but he’s also excited for hip-hop dance taking center stage for a week in Madison as well.

Brewoo is currently taking a gap year to sketch out a detailed life plan. In addition to working for RAW, he also teaches high school dance. He hopes he can continue to teach hip-hop dance and to take advantage of hip-hop’s growing legitimacy to both find new students and earn a decent salary. His goal isn’t to train elite dancers and propel them to an international stage. Instead, he wants to use dance as a method of introducing hip-hop into people’s lives. 

As he puts it, “hip-hop is a lifestyle, it’s a way of expressing yourself. And expressing yourself through hip-hop is beautiful.”