Walk This Way
July 27, 2008 6:34 AM Subscribe
The Clown Walk (also known as the C-Walk) refers to a modern dance style, usually done to hip hop music. It is a variation of the Crip walk, a gang related dance. Clown Walking, however, was created to distance the relationship between the dance style and the Crips gang. PimpMyWalk.com is a site where you can learn how to C-Walk. (language and lyrics NSFW). Step-by-step video instructions teach you how to do the V, the shuffle, and when you're really gangsta, the wiggle walk. More than a dozen tutorial videos plus expert samples.
Yeah, but once you lean to walk the walk, then you gotta talk the talk. After that, you gotta balk the balk, caulk the caulk, gawk the gawk, stalk the stalk... there's no end to it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:48 AM on July 27, 2008 [5 favorites]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:48 AM on July 27, 2008 [5 favorites]
usually done to hip hop music
Though surely it would make more sense to Clownwalk to Clownstep?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:50 AM on July 27, 2008
Though surely it would make more sense to Clownwalk to Clownstep?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 6:50 AM on July 27, 2008
I assume that the PimpMyWalk web site was put up by the British Ministry of Clown Walking.
posted by XMLicious at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by XMLicious at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2008
Thing is, too, you do the clown walk right, it's a great piece of buffoonery, but if you mess it up... you'll look like a fool.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2008 [2 favorites]
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:54 AM on July 27, 2008 [2 favorites]
I like how this one gets shut down by people walking through the frame. There's some amazing footwork there, but someone should overdub Yakety Sax.
Those nutty Crips.... sooooo many cultural contributions to the world.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 7:02 AM on July 27, 2008
Those nutty Crips.... sooooo many cultural contributions to the world.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 7:02 AM on July 27, 2008
The V is corny, a little too 23 skidoo, but the shuffle floats.
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:07 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:07 AM on July 27, 2008
I wonder if they have classes on this at my local community center? This could really endear me to my daughter and her friends when they come over to the house.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:07 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:07 AM on July 27, 2008
After that, you gotta balk the balk, caulk the caulk, gawk the gawk, stalk the stalk...
Fine. But after that link Miss Lynnster just posted, I'm drawing the line at porking the pork.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:12 AM on July 27, 2008
Fine. But after that link Miss Lynnster just posted, I'm drawing the line at porking the pork.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 7:12 AM on July 27, 2008
This reminded me of Krumping. I wish I was coordinated enough to dance like that!
posted by sunshinesky at 7:22 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by sunshinesky at 7:22 AM on July 27, 2008
sunshinesky, PimpMyWalk has a link to PimpMyKrump with instructional videos as well. You'll be doin' the chest pop in no time.
posted by netbros at 7:33 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by netbros at 7:33 AM on July 27, 2008
you gotta balk the balk, caulk the caulk, gawk the gawk, stalk the stalk
wave that flag, wave it wide and high
summertime done, come and gone, my oh my
posted by pyramid termite at 7:37 AM on July 27, 2008
wave that flag, wave it wide and high
summertime done, come and gone, my oh my
posted by pyramid termite at 7:37 AM on July 27, 2008
they should wear those big clown shoes...
posted by billybobtoo at 7:46 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by billybobtoo at 7:46 AM on July 27, 2008
This reminded me of Krumping.
I watched that video and while I blame MTV and their rapidfire editing, I had a hard time keeping the players straight even though it was great fun to watch.
Twelve dancers... they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the clowns. The creatures outside looked from clown to krumper, and from krumper to clown, and from clown to krumper again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
posted by jessamyn at 7:47 AM on July 27, 2008 [2 favorites]
I watched that video and while I blame MTV and their rapidfire editing, I had a hard time keeping the players straight even though it was great fun to watch.
Twelve dancers... they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the clowns. The creatures outside looked from clown to krumper, and from krumper to clown, and from clown to krumper again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
posted by jessamyn at 7:47 AM on July 27, 2008 [2 favorites]
I saw that KRUMP shit the other day. How sad. Why can't you just use regular breaking as a "witness tool" instead of having to make up your own, hypermasculine, chest-thumping dance?
That CWalk sure doesn't look like walkin' to me!
Instead of Clownstep, I propose dancing to clowncore (Ed Cox, represent!)
posted by symbioid at 7:55 AM on July 27, 2008
That CWalk sure doesn't look like walkin' to me!
Instead of Clownstep, I propose dancing to clowncore (Ed Cox, represent!)
posted by symbioid at 7:55 AM on July 27, 2008
Kinda like pimp my Charleston, amirite?
P.S. -- I'm old so I must say this. WILL YOU BOYS PLEASE PULL UP YOUR FUCKING PANTS & STOP WEARING THE WAIST AROUND YOUR THIGHS? Seriously. Not only do we not want to see your underwear, someday you're going to trip and fall. And your pants will be around your ankles. And I have a hard time believing that's gansta. Or maybe it is. What do I know?
posted by miss lynnster at 8:00 AM on July 27, 2008 [4 favorites]
P.S. -- I'm old so I must say this. WILL YOU BOYS PLEASE PULL UP YOUR FUCKING PANTS & STOP WEARING THE WAIST AROUND YOUR THIGHS? Seriously. Not only do we not want to see your underwear, someday you're going to trip and fall. And your pants will be around your ankles. And I have a hard time believing that's gansta. Or maybe it is. What do I know?
posted by miss lynnster at 8:00 AM on July 27, 2008 [4 favorites]
I saw that KRUMP shit the other day. How sad. Why can't you just use regular breaking as a "witness tool" instead of having to make up your own, hypermasculine, chest-thumping dance?
As with most things, if old farts understood it it wouldn't be cool. And krumping too, shall be an embarrassment to someone's kids some day, on the scale of that time my mom tried to teach us The Pony.
I for one get great satisfaction and a sense of security from that aspect of the circle of life.
posted by padraigin at 9:15 AM on July 27, 2008 [3 favorites]
As with most things, if old farts understood it it wouldn't be cool. And krumping too, shall be an embarrassment to someone's kids some day, on the scale of that time my mom tried to teach us The Pony.
I for one get great satisfaction and a sense of security from that aspect of the circle of life.
posted by padraigin at 9:15 AM on July 27, 2008 [3 favorites]
Allow me to state at this juncture that dancing does not now and has never made sense to me.
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:45 AM on July 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
posted by sonic meat machine at 9:45 AM on July 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
wow, that's sad, you're missing out on one of most primal and intense human experiences there is, smm. It's not always about how it makes you look, but how it makes you feel.
posted by empath at 11:02 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by empath at 11:02 AM on July 27, 2008
Its a Jig.
posted by verisimilitude at 11:18 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by verisimilitude at 11:18 AM on July 27, 2008
Great, cool dancing -- but the instructional videos are not in the least bit instructional. They're more taxonomistic or definitional -- here's what this move looks like and what it's called. But the captions (loosely, "do something that looks kinda like this when you feel like it") don't explain in any way how these things are done.
I'm suddenly struck by an overwhelming desire to put together an Arthur Murray themed technical writing syllabus.
posted by vitia at 11:30 AM on July 27, 2008
I'm suddenly struck by an overwhelming desire to put together an Arthur Murray themed technical writing syllabus.
posted by vitia at 11:30 AM on July 27, 2008
It's neat to see C-walking become something more like actual dance--it kinda parallels what happened with b-boying, lo these many years ago.
posted by box at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2008
posted by box at 11:33 AM on July 27, 2008
P.S. -- I'm old so I must say this. WILL YOU BOYS PLEASE PULL UP YOUR FUCKING PANTS & STOP WEARING THE WAIST AROUND YOUR THIGHS? Seriously. Not only do we not want to see your underwear, someday you're going to trip and fall. And your pants will be around your ankles. And I have a hard time believing that's gansta. Or maybe it is. What do I know?
This attitude annoys me. People in the Middle Ages wore shoes with foot-long tips. People in Elizabethan times wore giant fuckin' Piccadilly collars. People in the eighteenth century wore long jackets with extraneous buttons, not to mention culottes and enormous wigs. Civilization survived.
It's fashion. It's not meant to be functional.
posted by nasreddin at 11:56 AM on July 27, 2008 [3 favorites]
This attitude annoys me. People in the Middle Ages wore shoes with foot-long tips. People in Elizabethan times wore giant fuckin' Piccadilly collars. People in the eighteenth century wore long jackets with extraneous buttons, not to mention culottes and enormous wigs. Civilization survived.
It's fashion. It's not meant to be functional.
posted by nasreddin at 11:56 AM on July 27, 2008 [3 favorites]
Like you... others can have whatever opinions of fashion they want to have, no? Plus I'm old, thusly by being old I have the right to be crotchety and say, while shaking a fist in the air and scratching my ass, that I don't want to see whippersnappers staggering around showing me their buttcracks.
Although all of that said, it could well be because my father was a contractor so I was scarred by all of the buttcracks I was subject to in my youth. That's entirely possible. And it's also entirely possible that I'm not really all that old but that some people are just young and stupid. Which I also was once. And we dressed like crap at the time too. As people shook their fists at us.
It's the circle of life, dammit. Do not deny me.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:14 PM on July 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
Although all of that said, it could well be because my father was a contractor so I was scarred by all of the buttcracks I was subject to in my youth. That's entirely possible. And it's also entirely possible that I'm not really all that old but that some people are just young and stupid. Which I also was once. And we dressed like crap at the time too. As people shook their fists at us.
It's the circle of life, dammit. Do not deny me.
posted by miss lynnster at 1:14 PM on July 27, 2008 [1 favorite]
You can thank sagging pants to the prison system, so says Snopes.
I was told C-Walking actually started from (gangster) drug dealers on the street corner. It was a signal to show that he was dealing and in business.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:39 PM on July 27, 2008
I was told C-Walking actually started from (gangster) drug dealers on the street corner. It was a signal to show that he was dealing and in business.
posted by P.o.B. at 1:39 PM on July 27, 2008
From the Snopes link:
"One can walk in sagging pants. But one can't run in them."
Well no WONDER saggy fashionistas continue to be affiliated with the prison system... in a police footchase, guys in saggy pants must get pounced on like those doomed wounded antelopes in When Lions Attack.
Just sayin', the inability to run doesn't seem like the best "survival of the fittest" strategy.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:12 PM on July 27, 2008
"One can walk in sagging pants. But one can't run in them."
Well no WONDER saggy fashionistas continue to be affiliated with the prison system... in a police footchase, guys in saggy pants must get pounced on like those doomed wounded antelopes in When Lions Attack.
Just sayin', the inability to run doesn't seem like the best "survival of the fittest" strategy.
posted by miss lynnster at 2:12 PM on July 27, 2008
...and when you're really gangsta, the wiggle walk.
WTF? Wiggle walk = Mr. Wiggles. By definition, not "gangsta" [sic] but rather 100% pure hip-hopping.
posted by humannaire at 3:07 PM on July 27, 2008
WTF? Wiggle walk = Mr. Wiggles. By definition, not "gangsta" [sic] but rather 100% pure hip-hopping.
posted by humannaire at 3:07 PM on July 27, 2008
Just sayin', the inability to run doesn't seem like the best "survival of the fittest" strategy.
Police catch teen robbery suspect after his baggy pants fall down
posted by humannaire at 3:11 PM on July 27, 2008
Police catch teen robbery suspect after his baggy pants fall down
posted by humannaire at 3:11 PM on July 27, 2008
Must I remind you I'm only here to twist you
Pistol whip you, dip you then flip you
Then dance to this motherfucking music we crip to
posted by bwg at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2008
Pistol whip you, dip you then flip you
Then dance to this motherfucking music we crip to
posted by bwg at 4:09 PM on July 27, 2008
Awesome tutorials and links. Nice Charleston clip miss l. Also like Fred Astaire, no?
posted by binturong at 4:29 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by binturong at 4:29 PM on July 27, 2008
Well, for me Fred Astaire is on a whole. nother. level. 'Cuz tap was also an auditory art. He was dancing... and basically utilizing the various areas of his feet as rhythmical musical instruments at the same time. So when there's a clip of him without the original tap sounds, it's missing half of his performance, really.
posted by miss lynnster at 4:53 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by miss lynnster at 4:53 PM on July 27, 2008
Here's that clip with the tap. So you see what I mean.
Oh, and he sang too.
posted by miss lynnster at 4:54 PM on July 27, 2008
Oh, and he sang too.
posted by miss lynnster at 4:54 PM on July 27, 2008
Thanks for reminding me... man, Fred Astaire kicked ass.
posted by miss lynnster at 4:56 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by miss lynnster at 4:56 PM on July 27, 2008
Yeah, I know. Just had the pimped vid in keeping with the thread! His syncopation with taps is unsurpassed.
posted by binturong at 5:17 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by binturong at 5:17 PM on July 27, 2008
Isn't the droopy-pants thing related to being a prison bitch? Gotta give your "owner" quick and easy access to the loving.
I hope that's true, because the irony of all these wanna-be-toughsters walking around basically advertising "I'll take it up the poop chute for you!" is endlessly hilarious.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:59 PM on July 27, 2008
I hope that's true, because the irony of all these wanna-be-toughsters walking around basically advertising "I'll take it up the poop chute for you!" is endlessly hilarious.
posted by five fresh fish at 5:59 PM on July 27, 2008
if you're old enough to say that with a straight face, spend the time before you're wheeled off to your next meal reading the snopes link above.
posted by not sure this is a good idea at 6:29 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by not sure this is a good idea at 6:29 PM on July 27, 2008
Ah, bummer. I didn't expect it to be true, but I had hoped it was.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:48 PM on July 27, 2008
posted by five fresh fish at 7:48 PM on July 27, 2008
As with most things, if old farts understood it it wouldn't be cool.
And as with most things cool, it turns out it's ridiculous to begin with.
Not saying I don't find this fascinating to some degree, but let's be honest: most of what we considered "cool" growing up was kinda stupid.
posted by grubi at 6:34 AM on July 28, 2008
And as with most things cool, it turns out it's ridiculous to begin with.
Not saying I don't find this fascinating to some degree, but let's be honest: most of what we considered "cool" growing up was kinda stupid.
posted by grubi at 6:34 AM on July 28, 2008
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posted by netbros at 6:36 AM on July 27, 2008