Crunkcore

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Crunkcore (also known as crunk punk, screamo crunk, and scrunk) is a musical fusion genre characterized by the combination of musical elements from crunk, post-hardcore (particularly screamo), heavy metal, pop, electronic and dance music. The genre often features screamed vocals, hip hop beats, and sexually provocative lyrics. The genre developed from members of the scene subculture during the mid-2000s.

Contents

History and characteristics

Crunkcore combines the post-hardcore genres of screamo and emo with hip-hop, particularly the Southern hip-hop genre crunk, along with electronic music such as electropop, dance, pop, rock, and the metal genres of nu metal and metalcore. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Writer and musician Jessica Hopper claims that Panic! at the Disco's fusion of emo and electronic elements influenced the development of crunkcore in the mid-2000s. [1] Kerrang! noted retrospectively that a mostly online presence through mediums such as Myspace was a major feature of crunkcore. [3] The lyrics of the genres are mostly party-themed, hedonistic, and sexually explicit. [1] [2] [5] Family Force 5 is a lyrical exception, instead melding the sounds of the genre with Christian-themed lyrics. [2] [5]

Hollywood Undead, Brokencyde, and 3OH!3 are credited as the primary artists behind the creation and emergence of crunkcore. The roots of the genre are in the output of the rap rock group Hollywood Undead, but the genre achieved popularity through Brokencyde, who are considered the most responsible for crunkcore's rise. [2] [5] Warped Tour co-creator and CEO Kevin Lyman calls the group 3OH!3 "the real tipping point for scrunk" as "they were the first emo-influenced act to depart from traditional instruments in favor of pre-programmed beats", while still retaining many of the stylistic elements of emo. [1] That group achieved the genre's greatest success, the 2008 single "Don't Trust Me". [2]

The genre declined in the 2010s, although Brokencyde and 3OH!3 continued to record and tour, respectively, for the next few years. [2] Blood on the Dance Floor and Family Force 5 are the most prolific artists in the genre, with a respective eight studio albums and five studio album and nine EP s.

Crunkcore is typically characterized by the use of screamed vocals, although some crunkcore artists do not scream. [1] For example, 3OH!3 do not "incorporate the blood-curdling screams of many scrunk acts". [1] Millionaires likewise eschewed the screamed vocals typical for crunkcore but retained the sexually explicit lyrics and thus are still often considered part of the genre. [2] [5]

Influence

Aliya Chaudhury of Kerrang! cites crunkcore along with metalcore and nu metal as the three scenes that especially contributed to the emergence of the hyperpop genre. [3] She writes that Metro Station and Cobra Starship "created exaggerated pop songs that mixed in rock, hip-hop and dance influences", while Breathe Carolina "used heavy electronics to create catchy pop tunes". [3] However, she credits 3OH!3's "ability to parody pop and take it to bewildering extremes", blown-out synths, and modulated vocals, as creating "the main blueprint for hyperpop". [3]

Culture and criticism

The Boston Phoenix has mentioned criticism of the style, saying that "the idea that a handful of kids would remix lowest-common-denominator screamo with crunk beats, misappropriated gangsterisms, and the extreme garishness of emo fashion was sure to incite hate-filled diatribes". [1] Amy Sciarretto of Noisecreep noted that crunkcore is "oft maligned as the nu metal of this generation." [6] The group Brokencyde in particular has been singled out, with John McDonnell of The Guardian reviewing their music unfavorably. [4] AbsolutePunk founder Jason Tate said that the level of backlash against Brokencyde is more than he has seen for any single act in the last ten years. According to Tate, "they're just that bad, and they epitomize everything that music (and human beings) should not be." [1] Brokencyde member Mikl has acknowledged the criticism leveled at them, but stated, "We don't care what people say ... All these critics are trying to bring us down, and yet we're selling a lot of copies of our music and that's because of our dedicated fans." [1] Writer Jessica Hopper also has criticized the group, but acknowledged its appeal to teenagers, stating "brokeNCYDE just completely references anything that might be a contemporary pop culture reference, or anything that a teenage person is into.... You kind of get everything at once." [1] Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith and Anthony J. Fonseca in Hip Hop around the World: An Encyclopedia state that critics of crunkcore consider the style an example of appropriation of African-American culture by white people, especially because most of the prominent crunkcore artists are white. [5]

Related Research Articles

Nu metal is a subgenre of alternative metal that combines elements of heavy metal music with elements of other music genres such as hip hop, funk, industrial, and grunge. Nu metal rarely features guitar solos or other displays of musical technique, and emphasizes rhythm with instrumentation that is heavily syncopated. Nu metal guitarists typically use seven-string guitars that are down-tuned to produce a heavier sound. Vocal styles are often rhythmic and influenced by hip hop, and include singing, rapping, screaming and sometimes growling. DJs are occasionally featured to provide instrumentation such as sampling, turntable scratching and electronic background music. Nu metal is one of the key genres of the new wave of American heavy metal.

Emo is a music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and post-hardcore from the mid-1980s Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands Rites of Spring and Embrace, among others, pioneered the genre. In the early-to-mid 1990s, emo was adopted and reinvented by alternative rock, indie rock, punk rock, and pop-punk bands, including Sunny Day Real Estate, Jawbreaker, Cap'n Jazz, and Jimmy Eat World. By the mid-1990s, Braid, the Promise Ring, and the Get Up Kids emerged from Midwest emo, and several independent record labels began to specialize in the genre. Meanwhile, screamo, a more aggressive style of emo using screamed vocals, also emerged, pioneered by the San Diego bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Screamo achieved mainstream success in the 2000s with bands like Hawthorne Heights, Silverstein, Story of the Year, Thursday, the Used, and Underoath.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Screamo</span> Aggressive subgenre of emo

Screamo is a subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics". San Diego–based bands Heroin and Antioch Arrow pioneered the genre in the early 1990s, and it was developed in the late 1990s mainly by bands from the East Coast of the United States such as Pg. 99, Orchid, Saetia, and I Hate Myself. Screamo is strongly influenced by hardcore punk and characterized by the use of screamed vocals. Lyrical themes usually include emotional pain, death, romance, and human rights. The term "screamo" has frequently been mistaken as referring to any music with screaming.

Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual transgression".

Metalcore is a broadly defined fusion genre combining elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk, that originated in the late 1980s. Metalcore is noted for its use of breakdowns, which are slow, intense passages conducive to moshing, while other defining instrumentation includes heavy and percussive pedal point guitar riffs and double bass drumming. Vocalists in the genre typically perform screaming; more popular bands often combine this with the use of standard singing, usually during the bridge or chorus of a song. However, the death growl is also a popular technique within the genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scene (subculture)</span> Youth subculture

The scene subculture is a youth subculture that emerged during the early 2000s in the United States from the pre-existing emo subculture. The subculture became popular with adolescents from the mid 2000s to the early 2010s. Members of the scene subculture are referred to as scene kids, trendies, or scenesters. Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright-colored clothing, a signature hairstyle consisting of straight, flat hair with long fringes covering the forehead, and bright-colored hair dye. Music genres associated with the scene subculture include metalcore, crunkcore, deathcore, electronic music, and pop punk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brokencyde</span> American hip hop (?) group

Brokencyde is an American hip hop group from Albuquerque, New Mexico, founded in 2006. The group's lineup consists of Michael "Mikl" Shea and Julian "Phat J" McLellan, and musically are one of the founding groups in the crunkcore genre, which is crunk hip hop music with screamed vocals.

<i>Im Not a Fan, but the Kids Like It!</i> 2009 studio album by Brokencyde

I'm Not a Fan, but the Kids Like It! is the debut album by American crunkcore group Brokencyde.

Electronicore is a fusion genre of metalcore music with elements of various electronic music genres, often including trance, electronica, and dubstep.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vampires Everywhere!</span> American rock band

Vampires Everywhere! is an American metalcore band from Los Angeles, California, currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The last lineup consisted of vocalist Michael Vampire and guitarists Matti Hoffman and Grey Soto. In 2021, the lead singer Michael Vampire reformed the group, and the band signed with Cleopatra Records, releasing "Witch", a single from their second EP, The Awakening, released in October 2021.

<i>Beating a Dead Horse</i> (album) 2015 studio album by Jarrod Alonge

Beating a Dead Horse is the debut studio album by YouTube comedian Jarrod Alonge, self-released on May 26, 2015. The album features seven different fictitious bands created by Alonge to satirize the tropes and characteristics of alternative music genres such as metalcore, post-hardcore, pop punk, emo, progressive metal, hardcore punk and others.

Emo rap is a subgenre of hip hop with influence from emo. Originating from the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as trap-style beats with vocals that are usually sung. The most prominent artists in the genre were Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld.

Hyperpop is a loosely defined electronic music movement and microgenre that predominantly originated in the United Kingdom during the early 2010s. It is characterised by an exaggerated or maximalist take on popular music, and typically integrates pop and avant-garde sensibilities while drawing on elements commonly found in electronic, hip hop, and dance music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Static Dress</span> English rock band

Static Dress are an English rock band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. The band formed in 2018 and currently consists of vocalist Olli Appleyard, drummer Sam Ogden, bassist George Holding, and anonymous masked guitarist Contrast. They have released one full length studio album, three EPs and various standalone singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scene Queen</span> American singer

Hannah Rose Collins, professionally known as Scene Queen and formerly RØSÉ, is an American singer signed to Hopeless Records. She is known for coining the style "bimbocore", a subgenre of metalcore with feminist themes. She rose to fame on the social media platform TikTok, where she has garnered over 618,000 followers as of September 2023. Her debut EP Bimbocore was released in April 2022. A follow-up EP, Bimbocore Vol. 2, was released in November of that year.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gail, Leor (14 July 2009). "Scrunk happens: We're not fans, but the kids seem to like it". Boston Phoenix . Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 St. Vincent (24 September 2021). "Crunkcore Music Guide: A Brief History of Crunkcore - 2021 - MasterClass". MasterClass . Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Chaudhury, Aliya (14 April 2021). "Why hyperpop owes its existence to heavy metal". Kerrang!. Archived from the original on 14 October 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  4. 1 2 McDonnell, John (22 July 2008). "Screamo meets crunk? Welcome to Scrunk!". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Goldsmith, Melissa Ursula Dawn; Fonseca, Anthony J., eds. (1 December 2018). "Crunkcore". Hip Hop around the World: An Encyclopedia [2 volumes]. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 145–146. ISBN   978-0-313-35759-6.
  6. ↑ Sciarretto, Amy (8 November 2010). "Brokencyde's Mikl Thinks Crunkcore Will Be Around in Five Years". Noisecreep . Townsquare Media . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
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