Crunkcore
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"Somewhere on the back of the Miley Cyrus tour bus the guys in Metro Station are thanking their lucky stars that bands like brokeNCYDE came along. The crunkcore wave is to dance pop what 9/11 was to Gary Condit and his missing intern." —YourSceneSucks.com on Crunkcore.
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Crunkcore (also known as screamo crunk, scrunk and crunk punk) is a fusion genre that combines second-wave Screamo with commercial Hip Hop and/or electropop. The blend of screamo/mallcore and hip hop/electropop comes in varying degrees; for example, Hollywood Undead utilize all traditional "core" instrumentation (guitars, bass and live drums), while BrokeNCYDE and Dot Dot Curve only use synthesizers and drum machines; the only overt "'core" element of their music is the screaming. In fact, some bands that are nigh universally associated with crunkcore aren't overtly crunk or core, like 3OH!3 and Millionaires. Others, like Breathe Carolina and Blood On the Dance Floor, are clearly 'core-influenced but not remotely hip hoppish. Regardless, the crunkcore trend and bands associated with it are characterized by hedonistic party lyrics, flamboyant clothing and vocals that range from rapping and screaming to autotuned clean vocals.
The stylistic origins of crunkcore are blurry; in the late 2000s, the trend came out of nowhere and took Myspace music culture by storm, seemingly overnight. In the mid 2000s, artists slowly but surely began to bridge the gap between hip hop/rap and "emocore", a curious mash-up—for example, rapper P.O.S. sampled Underoath and Jay Z collaborated with Fall Out Boy. Formed in 2005, Hollywood Undead are generally considered an early juggernaut for crunkcore; their major label debut Swan Songs, along with the compilation album Punk Goes Crunk and 3OH!3's single "Don't Trust Me", helped catapult crunkcore into mainstream attention.
The genre's name is somewhat of a misnomer, as the music's hip hop elements are usually more in the vein of Lil Wayne than Lil Jon. However, crunk artist E-40 has collaborated with brokeNCYDE and Lil Jon once performed with 3OH!3 during one of their concerts.
For the sake of this article, "screamo" will remain synonymous with "mid-00's post-hardcore/melodic metalcore" here and "emo" with "music associated with the emo/scene trend". Let's not contest how authentically emo or screamo any of the bands mentioned here are; it's just a hassle.
- 3OH!3
- Blood On the Dance Floor
- brokeNCYDE
- Dot Dot Curve
- Family Force 5
- Hollywood Undead
- Hyper Crush
- I Set My Friends On Fire
- Millionaires
- Scene Kidz
- Christian Rock: Family Force 5.
- Emo Teen: Members of crunkcore bands are often self-identified "scene kids", a youth subculture closely related to Emo. However, crunkcore kids tend to eschew the darkness and Wangst of emo in favor of flamboyant fashion and party-hardy hedonism.[1]
- Girl Group: Millionaires.
- Guilty Pleasure
- Intercourse with You: The subject of many if not most crunkcore songs.
- Neologism: Would you believe the word "Crunk" was coined by Conan O'Brien?
- Public Medium Ignorance: In most people's eyes, crunkcore is generally limited to 3OH!3, Brokencyde and Hollywood Undead.
- Trope Codifier: brokeNCYDE.
- ↑ The scene/crunkcore subculture is essentially to Emo what Perky Goth is to, well, Goth.