CRUNKCZAR

Reading about a dancecraze in Poland, Crunkczar, I am shocked, amazed, intrigued, losing my mind. Kids are taking crazy drugs and bugging out, and at times, dying in a dance frenzy. First it's a dose of carfentanil (the t-rex tranquilizer in Jurassic Park 3) so they're limbs go all numby and gummy. Next up is a hit of Dexedrine, a powerful amphetamine known to possibly cause the user to develop ADHD, to really rev the raver up into an arm flinging spin.

Excerpt courtesy of the Guardian.
The staunchly underground scene, known as Crunkczar, was founded by Ryszard "Crunk King" Kuklinski, the grandson of a renowned cold war spy for the CIA of the same name. Facing danger of discovery, his grandfather, who was instrumental in preventing a nuclear holocaust, was extracted from Poland with his family in 1984 and settled in Florida, where Ryszard Jr would be born. The "Crunk King", as he would come to label himself, moved to Warsaw, Poland with his parents when they believed it was safe, after the fall of Communism in the mid 90s. It is there he resides today – in a squatted bunker with his crew, Boom Boom Clik.

Squat living is an integral part of Crunkczar. Rival crews, such as Bass Boyz, also live together in illegally occupied spaces. There is intense rivalry between different crews, with extreme measures taken to gain control over prime squatting spots. Squat shoot-outs between opposing crunkczar crews are commonplace. In one gang fight, Ryszard was shot 10 times – a fact he is immensely proud of because this is more than his hero 50 Cent was sprayed with.


As crazy as that all is, the beats are even crazier. They seem to blend any and every style of house and techno they can think of and lay it over snail paced vocals of any US hip-hop single. You have Akon and Lil' Wayne sounding more like Big Moe and Eastern European kids are just fuckin' loving it.

Read the rest of the article here.

-K. Castro