Rize
Creators: David LaChapelle
David LaChapelle directs an electric radioscopy of krump, an urban dance between hip-hop and capoeira, born in the slums of Los Angeles. This cult documentary popularized the phenomenon when it was released in 2005. In the mid-1990s, in the South Central district of Los Angeles, against a backdrop of gang warfare, drug trafficking and the haunting memory of the 1992 race riots, Thomas Johnson, an ex-dealer turned educator after his release from prison, created the character of Tommy the Clown. To entertain inner-city children at birthday parties, he dons a rainbow wig, sculpts his face and instinctively develops a jerky dance. As the years went by, small groups of youngsters appropriated the movements and developed them into a more aggressive style. This was the birth of krump, which became, sometimes to the point of trance, the preferred mode of expression for neglected youth. To capture the phenomenon, which was then exploding in Los Angeles and spreading to the East Coast, photographer David LaChapelle, a connoisseur of alternative circles and street culture, set out in the footsteps of its creators. Camera in hand, he roamed the streets of South Central to gather testimonies from leading krumpers and capture the crazy energy of their bodies, to the rhythm of heavy hip-hop beats. Between a politico-social exploration of the movement and spectacular dance scenes, a frenetic plunge into an urban genre long considered the unloved child of hip-hop.