Subculture Notes: History of Krumping
The History of Krump - Krumping Dance
Krumping is relatively new urban street dance-form that began in South Central Los Angeles and is
characterized by free, expressive, and highly energetic moves involving the arms and chest. It has
become a major part of hip hop dance culture.
History
Krump came out of the earlier "clowning" style of Tommy the Clown begun in the early 1990s and his
"Battle Zone" dance competition.
Krump is an emotional and aggressive dance. It is similar in form and practice to traditional weapon
dances, and for this reason is considered by many African-American krumpers to be symbolic of, or
referential to, their tribal roots. Dance "battling," a form of dance where competitors face-off in a direct and
aggressive competition, is an integral component of krump in a similar way to the earlier
breakdance#Battles breakdancing, with "dissing" (mocking), and heightened moments of frantic,
aggressive arm and chest movements (known as "buck" moves) being common.
Christian Element
For many participants there is a strong Christian spiritual element to the dance.
"Tight Eyez", a key early figure and now krump teacher, regularly speaks of Christian healing and gives
praise to Jesus for the upbringing of this movement. The acronym "Kingdom Radically Uplifting Mighty
Praise" is now often used by him, and this usage has spread widely.
Face Paint
Face-painting was an intergral part of the clowning style, and was also common in early krumping, such
as music videos by the artist Missy Elliott, and the feature film Rize. It is less common now, and when
modern krumpers do use face paint, it is more likely to be in reference or homage to African war dancers,
rather than clown-style.
Music
Like all forms of street dance, hip hop music is the predominant type used for krump. Although
many[who?]credit the originator of buck music to a group called Tha J-Squad, who continue to Produce
"tracks" that have influenced how Krump has turned out to be. The orginator of Krump, Tight Eyez, also
produced a few albums that promotes the spirituality of the dance. The style of hip hop is an essential
factor in krump dancingmusic sets the tone, tempo and mood of the dance "battle." The music is usually
upbeat and aggressively lyricized, although music is often modified to remove lyrics creating
"instrumentals."
Fams
Some krump groups are known as "families" or "fams," reminiscent of B-boy crews, with families
organized around a senior member known as the Big Homie, who serves as both a dance instructor and
a spiritual mentor of sorts. The internal structure of a family is hierarchical, within fams each person is
given a rank based on thier skill. Names in fams range
from:Twin,Jr,lil,young,kid,boi,girl,baby,princess,prince,j dot, j dash, soulja, mama,tiny,infant,mz,lady,sista
etc. Twins are individuals who feed off of another person's style and equal to the big homie. Anyone can
have a twin. The ones who follow or have Big Homies are known as Lil Homies or "Lils", they are taught
the big homie's style and create their very own styles in the process. Big Homies are a big help to lils
because many comes from different situations so it is the big homies job to also play a role as a father
figure to some.
Feuds between Fams
In late October 2008 a feud between two major Hialeah, Florida Krumping Families began. It was
instigated by a family that is named DKK (Dominican Krumping Kings), they stated hurtful comments
about a prominent family named Crisis. It is disputed as to what was said about Crisis, but it is known that
the general idea stated was that DKK was a more talented family than Crisis. Crisis members have
repeatedly challenged many, if not all, members of DKK to an all-or-nothing battle, but time after time
DKK has refused to show up. On October 21, 2008 it is expected that 2 major figures from each family
will battle at their school. It will be the first DKK V. Crisis battle since that same major DKK Krumper was
beaten twice in late-August. It is not yet known what direction the feud will take after the 21st, but many
expect for the younger & less experienced DKK to slowly disintegrate due to an ongoing power struggle.
Many members have stated discontempt due to the fact that DKK has drifted away from its original goal
of becoming a legendary Krump Family, and now seems like many over-confident rookie dancers.
Global Success
Dancers in Europe form groups called "Kommunity Krump." The "Monster of Krump" series has provided
a forum in Europe for competitions between these groups.
In Japan a nationwide krump dance tournament was conducted, with first prize being a battle against Lil'
C and Miss Prissy. The event was hosted by Masaki Sumitani (Razor Ramon Hard Gay).
Lil' C is featured in the David Michalek Exhibit Slow dancing, which was exhibited in New York City, Los
Angeles, California, and London. It has been profiled by Apple, and radio station KCRW.
Krumping in Popular Culture
David LaChapelle's 2005 documentary Rize, is an intimate portrayal of the clown dancing subculture, and
was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He says of the movement: "What Nirvana was to rockand-roll in early '90s is what these kids are to hip hop. It's the alternative to the bling-bling, tie-in-with-adesigner corporate hip-hop thing. Krumping has also risen in popularity in places such as Brazil,
Detroit,Houston,Clanton and Boston. 'Krumpers' such as Royal, Loyal, Phanatik, Gutta, Skust, and
Knockout Kid have propelled krumping into the dancing mainstream."[7] This has given Krump plenty of
exposure and since then it has risen in popularity in the hip hop dance community.
Clowning was featured in the second episode of the eleventh season of MADtv. Also, Alyson Hannigan
guest-starred on an episode of MADtv where she took clowning lessons from the same two clowns and
they now appear in many episodes of the show. She guest-starred to promote Date Movie, in which her
character, Julia Jones starts krumping (with face paint) in front of Hitch, played by Tony Cox.
Clowning was featured on episode 7 of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 6.
There is a small segment on krumping in the movie Bring It On: All or Nothing. Britney (Hayden
Panettiere) wants to add the style to a dance routine for the squad to give them more diversity in their
performance.
Krumping was a featured style of dance on the Fox reality show So You Think You Can Dance in episode
#311 (originally aired June 27, 2007). Dancers Sara and Jesus performed a krumping routine
choreographed by Lil' C.[8] Additionally, on an episode that originally aired August 1, 2007, Dominic
Sandoval and Lauren Gottlieb also performed a krumping routine choreographed by Lil' C who was a
choreographer for Bring It On: All or Nothing.[citation needed]
The Simpsons featured Krumping in Little Orphan Millie: Bart attempted dance moves to win back his
classmates' love. When that failed to work, Marge joined in with him.
The movie Stomp the Yard features Krumping in the beginning of the film.