Today In Black History: The Origin of the "Crip Walk"

"Crip" is short for "Cripple"

Feb 17, 2025

Issue #808 Today In Black History, Monday, February 17, 2025

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Photo Credit: NY Times

At Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on February 9, 2025, as part of the halftime show by Kendrick Lamar, tennis G.OA.T. Serena Williams danced the “Crip Walk” (or “C-Walk”), which is linked to Compton, California, her hometown and the hometown of Kendrick.

Serena also did a short Crip Walk dance in 2012 after winning the Gold Medal at the Olympics, and it was widely denounced by many.

Although the Crip Walk is now closely related to the now street gang the “Crips,” the actual dance was developed in the 1930s by a Black professional dancer who was a cripple due to losing his right arm and leg in a car accident.

Henry "Crip" Heard (November 11, 1924 – September 11, 1991) was an American professional dancer who appeared mostly in Black vaudeville theaters and nightclubs during the late 1940s and 50s. Heard was a double amputee, dancing with only one leg and one arm. And lacking a sufficient stump for wearing an artificial leg, he walked using a crutch that he danced both with and without.

In the 1970s, as the Crips gang was established, members began using the dance as a form of identification and demonstration of their gang affiliation. It became part of their culture, marking territory or celebrations among members.

The Crip Walk gained mainstream attention in the 1990s and 2000s, largely through hip-hop music videos and performances, bringing both interest and controversy due to its gang associations.

The basic steps and movements of the Crip Walk:

Heel-Toe: One of the fundamental movements, where the dancer pivots on the heel of one foot and the toe of the other, creating a sliding or gliding motion.
V Pattern: The dancer moves their feet to trace a 'V' shape on the ground, often with smooth, fluid movements that can vary in speed.
Shuffle: Involves quick, small steps that give the impression of floating across the ground.

As hip-hop culture permeated mainstream media, the Crip Walk was adopted, adapted, and reimagined by artists and dancers around the world.

This mainstream adoption of the Crip Walk sparked debates about cultural appropriation and the sanitization of its violent origins. Critics argue that detaching the dance from its historical context minimizes the struggles faced by those in gang-afflicted areas. Conversely, others see its evolution as a testament to the resilience and creativity of marginalized communities, who have transformed a symbol of resistance into one of artistic expression.

As with almost everything with a Black origin, racists denigrate the Crip Walk by associating it only with the Crips from Compton.

However, the Crip Walk has a long and deep history in Black American culture that has now gone mainstream, as most elements of our culture have done, whether white racists like it or not.

The Crip Walk's history is a poignant reminder of the socio-economic challenges and the vibrant cultural movements that have shaped urban America.