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Two nights a week, many Long Beach youth come together at the Mac Arthur Park Homeland Cultural Center to krump. You can usually tell it’s krump night by the number of people huddled in a circle dancing with legs kicking and arms swinging in the air. “Krumping, in terms of the number of people, is one of our most successful programs here at Homeland,” says Zoot Velasco, the Cultural Programs at Homeland.
Krumping evolved from another dance called clowning. Clowning was started by an ex-drug dealer and children’s party clown, Tommy the Clown, after the Rodney King riots. He combined a variety of styles such as break dancing and stripper dancing, while wearing full clown regalia. The dance caught on, with several dance crews forming and competing. It created a forum for youth to channel their energy into something productive rather than joining a gang. Krumping evolved out of clowning when some people thought it wasn’t serious enough as a form of self expression. Krumping retains the freestyle elements of clowning but loses the makeup and adds more of harder edge.
After a few hours of practicing at Homeland, things get serious. A battle circle is formed in the middle of the room and slowly pairs of dancers compete against each other, pulling out all the stops and letting go of all their emotions. When a dancer lets loose you can feel the energy in the room. People that aren’t dancing get up and move closer screaming “get buck!” It becomes a frenzy of moving bodies, blaring music and the screams of people urging you on -- it borders on something like religious ecstasy.
Krump is an acronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise. There is a strong religious base in krumping that is sometimes missed by the uninitiated. “The movements may seem violent, but it is about expressing our anger in the form of dancing,” says D’Michael one of the krumpers at Homeland. “It’s a way of balancing ourselves.” D’Michael says that although they may yell or shove, it is meant more as a challenge to “push yourself a notch.”
Several of the top dancers at Homeland formed a group called Millennium Krump Time, each have their own krump names like Beast, Buccwild, Jr. Buccwild, Solow, Ryat, Savage, Milk, Queen B, Studdabox and Lady Zion. Each dancer has their own individual “character” or krump persona that dictates their style. Styles can range from a rugged style that is chest pops, arms swings and wild kicks to a smooth style that is more fluid and visually hypnotic.
On December 9th, 2005, Millennium Krump Time battled Hall of Fame in the main event at Battle Zone VI (the Super Bowl of krumping) ,an annual event hosted by Tommy the Clown. Millennium had a rough start in the competition, losing the first few rounds. They had been practicing battling another dancer, while Hall of Fame had obviously been working on their theatrics like climbing the ropes of the boxing ring or jumping off the stage. It wasn’t long before the Millennium dancers caught on and began playing to the crowd and started winning rounds.
In the end, despite their rally Millennium fell short and lost the battle. Backstage there was a look of disbelief on many of the faces of the dancers. They had prepared for the traditional battle format, krumper vs. krumper and had not anticipated having to play to the crowd.
Since Battlezone VI, Millenium Krump Time has disbanded. Some members have left for other dance crews, but many of them still go to the weekly sessions at Homeland. D’ Michael says, “we’re forming a new group called Homeland Foundation,” that will be made up of some old members from Millennium and some new talent. “It’s not a fad or a phase. It’s a way of life. We’re not going away so be ready.”
