Crunkcore

Last updated

Crunkcore (also known as crunk punk [2] and scrunk [3] ) is a musical fusion genre characterized by the combination of musical elements from crunk, post-hardcore, heavy metal, pop, electronic and dance music. [4] [5] The genre often features screamed vocals, hip hop beats, and sexually provocative lyrics. [4] [5] [6] [7] The genre developed from members of the scene subculture during the mid 2000s. [8] Notable crunkcore artists include Brokencyde, Millionaires, Dot Dot Curve, pizzamachine, and Blood on the Dance Floor.

Contents

History and characteristics

According to MasterClass, crunkcore originated by fusing "post-hardcore punk and hip hop into an aggressive, party-hearty sound in the mid-2000s." The genre took influence from various subgenres related to post-hardcore (screamo and emo) and heavy metal (metalcore and nu metal). Other genres to influence crunkcore acts include rap rock, electropop, dance-pop, techno, and funk. [8] 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. [4] While crunkcore is typically characterized by the use of screamed vocals, some crunkcore artists do not scream. For instance, Warped Tour co-creator and CEO Kevin Lyman calls the group 3OH!3 "the real tipping point for scrunk", and said that "though 3OH!3 doesn't incorporate the blood-curdling screams of many scrunk acts, 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. [4] The Millionaires, who do not use screamed vocals, are also crunkcore. [4]

The Phoenix described crunkcore as "a combination of minimalist Southern hip-hop, auto-tune croons, techno breakdowns, barked vocals, and party-till-you-puke poetics". [4] Inland Empire Magazine described the genre as combining " post-hardcore and heavy metal licks with crunk." [9]

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". [4] Amy Sciarretto of Noisecreep noted that crunkcore is "oft maligned as the nu metal of this generation." [10] The group Brokencyde in particular has been singled out, with John McDonnell of The Guardian reviewing their music unfavorably. [3] AbsolutePunk founder Jason Tate said that the level of backlash against Brokencyde is more than he has seen for any single act in the ten years. According to Tate, "they're just that bad, and they epitomize everything that music (and human beings) should not be." [4] 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." [4] 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." [4] 3OH!3 drew similar controversy in 2015 by releasing a single titled "My Dick". [11]

Related Research Articles

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">Music of Washington (state)</span>

The U.S. state of Washington has been home to many popular musicians and several major hotbeds of musical innovation throughout its history. The largest city in the state, Seattle, is known for being the birthplace of grunge as well as a major contributor to the evolution of punk rock, indie music, folk, and hip hop. Nearby Tacoma and Olympia have also been centers of influence on popular music.

Digital hardcore is a fusion genre that combines hardcore punk with electronic dance music genres such as breakbeat, techno, and drum and bass while also drawing on heavy metal and noise music. It typically features fast tempos and aggressive sound samples. The style was pioneered by Alec Empire of the German band Atari Teenage Riot during the early 1990s, and often has sociological or leftist lyrical themes.

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

Screamo is an aggressive 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.

Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. Like the term "post-punk", the term "post-hardcore" has been applied to a broad constellation of groups. Initially taking inspiration from post-punk and noise rock, post-hardcore began in the 1980s with bands like Hüsker Dü and Minutemen. The genre expanded in the 1980s and 1990s with releases by bands from cities that had established hardcore scenes, such as Fugazi from Washington, D.C. as well as groups such as Big Black, Jawbox, Quicksand, and Shellac that stuck closer to post-hardcore's noise rock roots. Dischord Records became a major nexus of post-hardcore during this period.

<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>Will Never Die</i> 2010 studio album by brokeNCYDE

Will Never Die is the second studio album by American crunkcore band brokeNCYDE, released on November 9, 2010, through BreakSilence Recordings.

<i>Celestial Completion</i> 2011 studio album by Becoming the Archetype

Celestial Completion is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Becoming the Archetype, released on March 29, 2011 through Solid State Records.

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

The emo revival, or fourth wave emo, was an underground emo movement which began in the late 2000s and flourished until the mid-to-late 2010s. The movement began towards the end of the 2000s third-wave emo, with Pennsylvania-based groups such as Tigers Jaw, Algernon Cadwallader and Snowing eschewing that era's mainstream sensibilities in favor of influence from 1990s Midwest emo. Acts like Touché Amoré, La Dispute and Defeater drew from 1990s emo and especially its heavier counterparts, such as screamo and post-hardcore.

<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.

Electronic rock is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock bands began incorporating electronic instrumentation into their music. Electronic rock acts usually fuse elements from other music styles, including punk rock, industrial rock, hip hop, techno and synth-pop, which has helped spur subgenres such as indietronica, dance-punk and electroclash.

Beatdown hardcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk with prominent elements of heavy metal. Beatdown hardcore features aggressive vocals, gang vocals, heavy guitar riffs and breakdowns and lyrics discussing unity, brotherhood, volatile interpersonal relationships and machismo. The genre has its origins in late 1980s New York hardcore bands such as Breakdown, Killing Time and Madball, and was pioneered in the mid-1990s by bands like Bulldoze, Terror Zone and Neglect. The definition of the genre has expanded over time to incorporate artists increasingly indebted to metal, notably Xibalba, Sunami and Knocked Loose.

Emo rap is a fusion genre of hip hop and emo music. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as beats and rapping, with the lyrical themes, instrumentals, and vocals commonly found in emo music. Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Juice Wrld are some of the most notable musicians in the genre.

References

  1. 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.
  2. Jeffries, David. "Brokencyde biography". AllMusic . Retrieved 29 October 2009.
  3. 1 2 McDonnell, John (22 July 2008). "Screamo meets crunk? Welcome to Scrunk!". The Guardian . Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  4. 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 . Retrieved 8 October 2009.
  5. 1 2 Cooper, Ryan. "Crunkcore". About.com . The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  6. Coquillette, Cici (27 April 2009). "In Defense of Screamo crunk". Student Life . Washington University Student Media. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  7. Lampiris, Steve (14 April 2009). "Latest music genre unlikely to get many listeners 'crunk'". The Badger Herald . Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  8. 1 2 "Crunkcore Music Guide: A Brief History of Crunkcore - 2021 - MasterClass". Archived from the original on 17 October 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
  9. "Collapse the wavelength, embrace the new reality". Sputnikmusic. mx. 21 April 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
  10. Sciarretto, Amy (8 November 2010). "Brokencyde's Mikl Thinks Crunkcore Will Be Around in Five Years". Noisecreep . Townsquare Media . Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  11. "3OH!3 Are Back to Revive Crunkcore to Horror of Everyone on Planet | I Probably Hate Your Band". Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.