This post also includes a partial excerpt from that Moxy Approved YouTube video.
The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Moxy Approved for sharing his research on this subject and thanks to Kendrick Lamar, Whitney Alford and all others who are featured in this video. Thanks to Kendrick Lamar for his "Not Like Us" Hip Hop track and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT FROM THIS VIDEO
This is my unofficial excerpt of this auto-generated transcript of this embedded video. This transcript's excerpt includes some additions of punctuation, capitalization, and corrected spelling. I also included a few words in brackets for explanatory purpose.
Corrections to this transcript excerpt are very welcome.
[This excerpt is from 0.00 to 10:34, not including some portions of the transcript in that time frame]
[Mox Approved speaks]
In the record-breaking video “Not Like Us” one of the most
artistic portions of the video was a scene in the living room where Whitney
Alford, Kendrick Lamar's fiancé, looks into the camera with her kids and K dot
right by her side. By now it should be known that she trolled Drake by wearing
a wife beater in the scene. It's speculated that it was worn in response to the
numerous times where Whitney Alford was mentioned by Drake with accusations of
harm at the hands of Kendrick Crisis C.
Keep that in mind alongside the fact she looked directly into the camera
with her kids and K dot. And that signifies a family that is, at the least,
well intact, But what might have been the most interesting part of this moment
was when Whitney begins to perform a dance from a culture whose popularity
would span over six decades. What is now to this day one of the most
popularized urban street dances came from a origin of symbolism which
implications are the furthest you can be from peace: the Crip Walk and the Blood Walk.
The History
There is no way to talk about the Blood Walk and its history unless you talk about where it came from. The Crip Walk, whose popularity has continued to rise, has become the unofficial dance of “Not Like Us” with fans taking to social media C-walking to the classic diss track. But where did this dance come from and how did it make it from LA crime scenes all the way to daytime talk shows? In the late 60s off the heels of the Black Panthers two organizations that were formed in southern La that were later on become the primary face of crime were the Crips and the Bloods. They were initially created to protect their neighborhoods. The same organizations who were formed to protect the neighborhood then turned the same neighborhoods into war zones. Both the Crips and the Bloods were formed as counterparts toward each other. And part of the ongoing war between the two was no different than McDonald's and Burger King- it was a branding war. This branding war evolved into gang signs, colors team logos, and even a dance.
[MoxyApproved interviews a man]
“Do you remember the origin of it or where it comes from or
anything like that?”
[man being interviewed speaks]
“Yeah. The Crips.”
[Moxy Approved speaks]
“I figured that but I'm saying do you remember who the first
person was that you saw Crip Walk?”
[MoxyApproved speaks]
The Crips in the early 70s- Robert Sugar Bear Jackson
created a dance whose origins are a far cry from today's mainstream pop
enjoyment of the dance. It was primarily
created to establish that whatever was going on at the moment-whether it was a
a a robbery, a fight, or even just a group gathering, that you were definitely
in the presence of Crips. It ran
adjacent to flat out gang signs and were part of what was called “banging”
which is simply establishing dominance of a person's set either by throwing up
the sign, asking any particular person where they're from or by Blood or Crip
walking. If you were caught doing it and
were not affiliated, there would be consequences to pay-which leads me to say-
Don't do this dance Crip Walk or the Blood Walk unless you [are] affiliated
because you never never know. They feel the C- Walk is not a dance and have no
respect for those they see walking such as a gang of girls walking this
sh-t*. It’s going to get black hot cuz
ni—as* is banging again out here, banging again going to get black hot.
The Crips grew. The dance also grew prompting the Bloods to create one of their own [dances] that emulates certain aspects of the Crip Walk. Though it carried similar meanings as the Crip Walk, its popularity would never match [it]. DJ Quick, a pioneer in both West Coast rap and the Blood Walk explains the differences.
[DJ Quick speaks]
“It started with my nephew Lil Rodney. He was playing around
dancing. And everybody seen him doing it and they liked it. They called me like “Check it out, Dad. You
need to see this”. He came in the house
and he started doing it. And I was like
“Oh, that's fly. You know let's tailor
make it. Let's add some things to it, turn it into a routine. Maybe people will like it.” So we busted it out at the, um, at the show
where you see us in the yellow shirts when [?] was there at -uh- see the
country club, people got a kick out of it.
So we started doing it more and more. It was actually called “The Skip
Walk” first but evolved into “The Blood Walk” when people start[ed] Crip
walking against us. And so it became a, it became a negative/positive thing
like it always does naturally. It's not
like the Crip Walk where you know it's like a gang bang dance in a sense even
though we call it ”The Blood Walk” because we, you know, being Blood or what
no. It’s , it’s just a dance.To us [we] know it's the C- walk. Snoop, he take
it a little more, take it a little more serious. As far as you know a
neighborhood dance."
[MoxyApproved speaks]
Throughout the years in the 90s there were many songs that
would not only cater to but were created for the sole purpose of Crip walking.
There would be one anthem that will rise above them all as the chosen
melody-[Snoop's] song “C- Walk”.
[Music]
But, as far as today, the Crip Walk has evolved not only in its execution but also in the street politics it once represented itself, a rolling 60s Crip would take this dance to the main stage and it would catch on like wildfire. DubC, Dub really was the one that put it on front page. You know, he was one that did it in all the videos and you know he got his own little style where he hop side to side, keep his knees together, and moves it and stuff. Not only throughout Southern California but across America from house parties to club events civilians would begin to Crip Walk amongst each other, even [have] C-walk battles ensuing to the point where there were more civilians doing the dance than Crips themselves.
[man speaking]
“I saw Bowwow dance on the [Grammy] Awards and he was pretty nice with it. You know, he was pretty nice with it, but I don't know nothing about no cripping. You know what I'm saying. But it's just a dance you know it's a dance to him”
[…]
[This transcript excerpt begins again around 6:46]
The Message
A lot of y'all pretend to be to in the 2003 track “In the
name of the streets”. Snoop would pass along this message. He would question the entire HipHop community
on Crip walking.
[lyrics]
“What you doing C-walking?
Explain that it's not just a dance. It's a way of living.
Iit's not just a dance. It's a way of living”
[MoxyApproved speaks]
And -flat out- you should not be Crip walking if you are not a Crip. … and that even applies to celebrities too. And that go for kids - Don’t Crip walk if you ain't a G. And I'll be very honest with you. I remember when Snoop made this song I was in college I had just learned to Crip Walk. And, yes, I had to stop Crip walking I was in LA it was too dangerous.
But years later, the Crip Walk movement has become what some would debate as big as the Crip movement itself to where it could be seen anywhere from Middle America to White suburban dance classes to even Asia and Africa. Today there are even tutorials on this dance.
[…]
Even Snoop himself has now Taken part in the commercialization of the dance, showcasing it with other celebrities. I mean you can't get mad at some sh-t* for growing you know what I'm saying. You got to respect the game, you know, cuz you didn't create it. So it grew too. So you got to respect the game and be happy that it's passing on and it's getting universal exposure. And people actually want to know what the meaning of it is.
Since the 2000s the Blood Walk has seen a surge from newer artists doing the walk-rappers such as Little Wayne, Chris Brown, and YG have been seen doing the dance which brings back older days when artists would battle with this dance
[…]
Through the years The Blood walk has incredibly aligned with
the Crip Walk to where people begin to go online to argue which one was done by
Whitney [in the video for Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us“. But the answer was in the steps. It should be
pointed out that [in] most of today's version both dances has not only departed
from its [these dances] brutal backgrounds but also the execution has
changed. You seeing, you seeing like basically the hybrid of
Dubc’s Crip Walk going across country. But if you look at some cats prior of
Dubc, they walk different and stuff.
Done in its purest form, other enemy gang’s names could be seen crossed
out on the ground whereas today you rarely see this form. Whitney's version contains no crossing out of
enemy names which gives it less bravado. But the reasons behind the scene is
known to the masses”…
-snip-
*These words are fully spelled out in that auto-generated transcript.
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