Krumping

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Krumping is an urban African American street dance form that developed on the streets of South Central Los Angeles, around 2001 - 2002^{[citation needed]}. It is characterized by free, expressive, and highly energetic moves and is a major part of the hip hop dance culture, alongside other techniques, such as: breakdance, locking, popping and freestyling. Krump is often represented as K.R.U.M.P., an acronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise, presenting krumping as a faith-based artform.

1 History
2 Face paint
3 Music
4 Fams
5 Global success
6 Krumping in popular culture
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] History

Krumping originated from Tight Eyez, Big Mijo, and J-Smoove of Tha J-Squad. However, Krumpers also acknowledge clowning as a point of origin. Clowning, is a form of hip hop developed by Tommy the Clown whose real name is Thomas Johnson in 1992.

As others in the area picked up the clowning moves, the style changed into something more aggressive. Krumping crews sprang up throughout South Central, and Johnson realized a bigger purpose for the dance style he started. He opened the Tommy the Clown Academy, a recreation room where kids could study and dance after school, and he created the idea of the "battlezone" dance, which features dance-contests often billed as "Krumpers versus Clowns."

Krumping is a more aggressive clowning and is intended to be a release of pent-up emotion "Dissing” or jokes are often involved in the dance form when different crews battle. Krumping also includes moments of heightened aggression called "buck" moves. There is now a new part of Krumping called labbing which is just practicing on your own or against members of your crew.

The originators and leading early proponents of Krump were the dancers Tight Eyez and Big Mijo. They trace their innovations to 2000, when they decided that they wanted to do more than just entertain and that they could use their new form more freely^{[citation needed]}.

Tight Eyez, who teaches Krump and has produced instructional videos on the subject, regularly speaks of Christian healing and gives praise to Jesus when asked about Krump. He distinguishes Krump from clowning and from "the stripper dance" by its seriousness of purpose: Among the "don'ts" of krump, as he explains it, are the exaggerated wobble-walks of clowning and the buttocks-bouncing of the stripper dance. He also distinguishes Krump from Pop-Locking and from Hyphy (Turf) dance styles because it is less precise and more freestyle. In one instructional video, Tight Eyez speaks of the three levels of Krump, those being "bucking" (making aggressive-looking movements), "amping" (becoming genuinely filled with the emotions one is portraying through choreography), and "spirit" dancing (in which the dancer moves beyond choreography and is lifted into a religious dance "in the spirit").

Though developed in Los Angeles, the art of krumping was perfected in the streets of downtown Austin Texas, by a fellow named Gilbert.

[edit] Face paint

Face-painting is common in clowning, but less so in modern krumping. The belief that krump dancers regularly engage in face-painting is a misconception based on the introduction of krumping to the public through music videos by artists such as Missy Elliott. this could be a result of the movie Rize The style of the Clowns face painting came as an acknowledgement to the simple white-face worn in gospel mime, a form of Christian praise dance initiated by the Edmonds brothers, Karl and Keith, through their K & K Gospel Mime Ministries in the 1990s. Krumpers do however use face paint but it is more of a reflection of Krumpings connections to African war dances Tommy the Clown's Battlezone dances that feature "krumpers versus clowns" provide a structured way to express this dichotomy.

[edit] Music

Krump music is an essential factor in Krump dancing. Krumpers base their movement and dance moves on the music that is played. Music sets the tone, tempo and mood of the battle. The beat, tune and lyrics of the song all play a vital part in effective Krumping. However, due to the nature of the dance, the music is usually upbeat and quick paced. The traditional “Krump” music is hip-hop and rap, however the music has often been changed to instrumentals or "tracks". For example, other types of music that have been used include classical music, Celtic bagpipe music, and even Japanese pop music. This however has turned out to be quite controversial, as some believe that krumping should not move away from its original roots. Krump producers such as traxamus, juice, roxxdamus, maximus, soulfamus, traxanoid and j-squad had made krump beats for dancers that need something made just for they way they feel like dancing, even sometimes a dancer might even have his own anthem made specially for the way he/she moves.

[edit] Fams

The dancers form groups known as "families" or "fams," reminiscent of B-boy crews. Each of the families is organized around a krump dancer 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, with rank based on the expertise or respect of each dancer.

The families also function in mentor/apprentice arrangements. The Big Homies take "Lil' Homies", or younger, less experienced and/or beginner practitioners of krump under their wing, allowing them to learn from them, and represent them in battle. Both titles are terms of respect. The relationship may actually resemble a surrogate sibling arrangement.

The Lil’ Homies often take on the name of their Big Homie. For instance, Lil’ Homies dancing under Tight Eyez include j Tight, Lil Tight, Souljah Tight, Young Tight, etc. Although a general hierarchy exists in terms of how the names are given out (for instance, the title "twin" goes to the dancer on par with his or her Big Homie's abilities), the naming is at the discretion of the Big Homie. Some will move all their dancers up by rank at once, or others will simply replace one "junior" with another if the first one leaves the family or loses the name in a battle. The ranks are: twin,jr., lil, young, boy, kid, baby, child, tiny, infant, , prince, souljah, general. These ranks are usually ranked differently in each fam, but usually jr. is right after the Big Homie^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Global success

A competition structure has developed as dancers vie for status and respect. Contests within the world of krumping are called "battles".

Dancers in Europe form groups called "Kommunity Krump." The "Monster of Krump" series has provided a forum in Europe for competitions between these groups.

A nationwide krump dance tournament was conducted in Japan. The prize was a battle against Lil' C and Miss Prissy. The event was hosted by Masaki Sumitani, better known as Razor Ramon Hard Gay.

On a promotional tour of France, dancers Lil' C and Miss Prissy were allowed to krump in front of the Eiffel tower.

Lil' C is featured in the David Michalek Exhibit Slow dancing, which is described as “a series of 43 larger-than-life, hyper-slow-motion video portraits of dancers and choreographers from around the world, displayed on multiple screens. Each subject's movement (approximately 5 seconds long) was shot on a specially constructed set using a high-speed, high-definition camera recording at 1,000 frames per second (standard film captures 24 frames per second). The result is approximately 10 minutes of extreme slow motion." The exhibit was featured in New York City, Los Angeles, California, and London. It has been profiled by Apple, and radio station KCRW.

[edit] Krumping in popular culture

David LaChapelle's documentary Rize, an intimate portrayal of the clown dancing subculture, was featured at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. He says of the movement: "What Nirvana was to rock-and-roll in early '90s is what these kids are to hip hop. It's the alternative to the bling-bling, tie-in-with-a-designer corporate hip-hop thing. Krumping has also risen in popularity in cities such as Brazil, Detroit and Houston. 'Krumpers' such as Willie the Kid, Hot-Lanta and Cray-G have propelled krumping into the dancing mainstream."^[1] 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.
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.
The movie Stomp the Yard features Krumping in the beginning scene.
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.^[2] 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.