Hip Hop Dance - Derivative Street Styles

Derivative Street Styles

Main articles: Turfing, Jerkin', and Krumping See also: Memphis Jookin'

Decades after breaking, locking, and popping became established, three new dance styles appeared. All of these styles are hip-hop because of the music driving the dances but some regions in the United States have their own hip-hop sound which contributes to the differences in these sub-styles. For example, the San Francisco Bay Area's hip-hop sound is referred to as "Hyphy" music and Hyphy led to the creation of turfing. Turfing, an acronym for Taking Up Room on the Floor, was created in 2002 by street dancer Jeriel Bey in Oakland, California. Turfing is a fusion of miming and gliding that places heavy emphasis on storytelling (through movement) and illusion. Other than San Francisco Bay Area pride, turfing avoided becoming a fad due to local turf dance competitions and local youth programs that promote turfing as a form of physical activity.

On the heels of its exposure, another dance style came out of Los Angeles called jerkin'. Jerkin' was popularized in 2009 by the New Boyz rap song "You're a Jerk" which went viral via their YouTube and MySpace pages before they had a manager or were signed to a record label. After hearing about the song, Los Angeles radio station Power 106 hired the New Boyz to perform at local high schools. These shows led to the song entering the radio's playlist. Later that year, rap duo Audio Push released the song and video "Teach Me How to Jerk" which showcased the different dance moves within jerkin' including the reject—the Running Man done in reverse. Dancers who perform jerking typically wear bright colors, skinny jeans, Mohawks, and Vans sneakers. This trend echos locking dancers in the 1970s who traditionally wore suspenders and black and white striped socks. Of the dance, journalist Jeff Weiss from LA Weekly stated "For a youth culture weaned on the cult of individualism, jerkin’ is its apotheosis." Similar to breaking, locking, and popping, jerkin's popularity spread through dance crews. For example, The Rej3ctz (crew) created both the cat daddy and the reject dance moves.

Although these styles have generated regional support and media attention, both turfing and jerkin' have not reached the same zenith as krumping. Ceasare "Tight Eyez" Willis and Jo'Artis "Big Mijo" Ratti created krumping in the early 2000s in South Central, Los Angeles. It was only practiced in Los Angeles until it gained mainstream exposure by being featured in several music videos and showcased in the krumping documentary Rize. Rize was screened at several film festivals before being commercially released in the summer of 2005. Clowning, the less aggressive predecessor to krumping, was created in 1992 by Thomas "Tommy the Clown" Johnson. Johnson and his dancers would paint their faces and perform clowning for children at birthday parties or for the general public at other functions as a form of entertainment. In contrast, krumping focuses on highly energetic battles and movements which Johnson describes as intense, fast-paced, and sharp. "If movement were words, would be a poetry slam." Compared to breaking and the funk styles, turfing, jerkin', and krumping are relatively new. The cultural similarities between these street dance styles, the funk styles, and breaking have brought them together under the same subculture of hip-hop.