Devlin Te Kani may not be well known in Tauranga but in his hometown Huntly, his small stature gets big attention from his peers.
And what he's not embarrassed to say is it's not the likes of celebrities 50 Cent or Jay-Z who have influenced his superior hip hop style -
it's his "Nan" from Te Puke.
Busting out some fast-paced moves on the stage at the QEII Youth Centre this week, Devlin clearly stole the show and it was his Nan, Kory Te Kani, dressed in black and pink, who was watching his moves the closest.
The 49-year-old mother of six and grandmother of 16, learnt hip hop five years ago while undertaking a performing arts course at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, specialising in dance.
She now teaches the dance genre at The Gym and at Merivale School where, in the school holidays, she gets Devlin and his sister Lyvaia, 14, to help.
"If I can do it, anyone can do it," she said after demonstrating to the Bay of Plenty Times her slick moves.
"It's the in-thing," she said, chuckling.
More than 150 children from local Bay of Plenty holiday programmes spent the day dancing to the music of Nesian Mystik at a hip hop event on Wednesday.
The event was the launch of Go Kids! Hip Hop, a DVD of fun, energetic and original dances choreographed to the unique sound of New Zealand group Nesian Mystik.
Wearing a white cap spun side-ways and his Nan's diamante encrusted black sunglasses, 11-year-old Devlin said he'd been dancing for "years" and didn't hesitate to say "yes" when asked if he was the best dancer at his school.
"I started watching all these hip hop movies like You Got Served and started switching moves. I just like it. It's really the only dance I do. That and krumping," the Huntly West Primary student said.
Go Kids! Hip Hop was developed by The OSCAR Foundation in response to the increasing number of overweight and inactive children in New Zealand.
It provides OSCAR programmes with a resource targeted at children aged 9-14 to offer them a fun, age-appropriate and positive opportunity to get physical.
