Director Joe Sabia, who's been collaborating with us on the Boing Boing Video in-flight entertainment channel on Virgin America, found this crazy video of some 8-year-old dancers Krumping. What amazes me most isn't the phenomenal krumpin' the one kid does for such a long period of time in this video, but the sight of the two other 8-year-old boys next to him, standing still for more than 10 seconds.

Video Link: "Video Hella Tight Krumpin 8-Year-Old Kids Freestyle To Step On Stage!"

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Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: Entertainment • Kids • music • pop culture

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Anonymous

get those kids on the ellen degeneres show. they could get hooked up with some cool stuff, even money. haha
MrsBug

Ya know, kids aren’t given enough credit for what they are capable of at their current age.

Don’t ask me why this video made me think about this, but think back to when we were still hunter-gatherers or to even the nomadic tribes from the last 5-6,000 years. Kids were protected, but they were required to be productive members of the tribe/clan. Watch the younger babies, keep the sheep, etc, etc. In our day, we don’t seem to think that kids can keep their rooms picked up or do their own laundry.
- Anonymous
  
  What does this have to do with the kids dancing.
  lost me.
  - MrsBug
    
    What it had to do with kids dancing is that this kind of expertise is something we expect from someone much older and that kids get shortchanged by us having reduced expectations of them.
dolo54

Back when I was a boy we used to call that popping and locking. And we used to do it barefoot in 3 feet of snow, because we liked it! Now you little buggers better krump your butts off my lawn!
KateZeGreat

Very cool…but I find it sort of uncomfy to watch an 8-year-old grinding and grabbing his junk.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I find it sort of uncomfy to watch an 8-year-old grinding and grabbing his junk.
  
  I believe that he’s hiking up his pants to keep his heel from catching.
  - Anonymous
    
    That may be true but the whole thing is rather sexual, so I am definitely with Kate on this one. Nonetheless awesome body control and style.
Godfree

Imagine how cool it would be if they had actual music to dance –er, krump–to, instead of that industrial robot chicken-decapitating noise.
Anonymous

Those kids would be great at Shaolin Kung Fu or Tai Chi.
Anonymous

FANTASTIC!STUMBLE NOT OH KIDS!FOR THIS IS JUST THE BEGINING.
osmo

MrsBug: I’d like to see the study on that one and if you have proof that you’ve kept from the anthropogical society then you should publish and make a killing since we still dont know exactly in what way people lived during the bronze age (and how it differed from region to region) more than a few details.

So as interesting it is to hear about someones knowledge how children where raised back during the great migrations… its just nonsense to fit current opinion or at best speculation

Ontopic: those kids are great dancers.
- MrsBug
  
  Relax, friend. It’s speculation on my part. But look at even recent nomadic tribes where kids were put in responsible positions for animals, young children, etc.
  
  All I was trying to say is that kids can do more than we give them credit for.
- Anonymous
  
  Our knowledge of how children were raised within the last 2,000 years and how children are raised even in modern 3rd-world countries would seem to indicate a pattern of increased responsibilities at younger ages as required by their family unit or tribe (Yes! Small tribal societies still exist! Amazing!). Your derision of MrsBug doesn’t make any sense.
tsukiii

These kids are amazing! I love how each of them have their own style going on. If the 9-year-olds I teach ballet to had anywhere close to this much coordination, I’d be ecstatic…
Anonymous

@Zac: they taught themselves. This generation’s inventin’ that shit.

Dance, as it is with music, is hybridizing, borrowing from different styles. This is always in a state of morph, of flux, of combine-and-recreate.
Anonymous

.. 4 years younger than me. Dang, I still feel old. Dx Little kids have so much energy.
Quiet Wyatt

Can anyone tell me what genre of music they’re krumping to, so that I never accidentally listen to more like it?
- Rick.
  
  Off your lawn. Got it.
  - Jean-Luc Turbo
    
    Off your lawn. Got it.
    
    I’m calling it: Rick winz da’ thread (if you will)!
Anonymous

Freakin great. Are you SURE these kidz are only 8? Where will they be in 10 years?
Anonymous

yeah yeah its impressive and all… but does anyone do any other dance than krumping/body popping anymore?
MollyMaguire

wow, never actually seen krumping before. It’s kind of intimidating. Those kids scare me. geez I feel old.
- Rick.
  
  Check out a documentary called Rize, all about krumping. What these kids are doing seem to be more controlled, like a cross between krumping and up-rocking (a part of breaking). Either way, these kids rock.
  - Nicky G
    
    i agree — my brother has spent years teaching funk-dance to youths, and this is def. up-rock, with some popping and locking and such. Isn’t krumping much more — flailing?
stopwatch

Krumpets
- Anonymous
  
  hahaha genius
chgoliz

Excellent. Those boys are putting a lot of adults to shame. Imagine how good they’ll be when they’re fully grown.
Anonymous

Tight. And indeed, kids are QUITE capable. And hella flexible. If you can add coordination(which they have TONS of) to the mix, you get potent ‘ishhh like this.

Seen many kids rock before, and they’re up in that upper level with ‘it’. Loves it.
Anonymous

three stars and a sun.. that boy’s pinoy. :) yeah! awesome!
Anonymous

Wow, that’s awesome! seems like a really positive outlet for lil-dude energy
xian

That sounded a bit like MIA watching Psycho while getting run over by a donkey that’s getting run over by an elephant!
Anonymous

Krump shmump, face it they are just doing the robot
- Anonymous
  
  no no no. this is not the robot. this is insane dancing that takes A LOT of determination and practice (let alone natural talent) to perfect. and thats exactly what they just did.
DJBudSonic

Ahh.. the future of our civilization. I’m torn between offended and impressed. I like dancing and music and am a big supporter of the arts, and I think this almost counts in those categories.

I would like to get a look at the crowd on the other side of the camera who are yellin’ “Yeah Boyz!!”

I think what we are witnessing is a downward compression of youth culture. This kind of dancing used to be reserved for clubs, where you had to be at least 18 to get in. Now, I bet some of the parents of these 8-year old kids are not too far removed from that scene or age- young parents, and they are exposing their children to this “music” and dance scene; along with the exposure to the seemingly endless proliferation of dance and talent contest shows on television. Are they being shown any other aspects of the nightclub culture, the drinking, the dope smoking, the misogynist behavior? What will be the result of this? Are childhoods being lost, ala Michael Jackson? (speaking of junk-grabbing) … oh well, as long as they can get and keep jobs and keep putting into Social Security (yeah right) so I can retire someday with my nice lawn.
- Anonymous
  
  A small thought, but perhaps worth a mention…
  
  Perhaps it’s a good thing that they CAN dance like this, without it having to be associated with nightclubs, drug and alcohol abuse etc?
  
  It might even be possible(though admittedly chances are slim), that they will grow in their love for what they are doing… and when they realize there is another darker culture surrounding dancing a certain way, or listening to particular types of music, that they will be able to separate themselves from it.
  
  Like I said, just a thought.
Boondocker

That was almost hypnotic. Very cool.
MelSkunk

Oh for the love of mike…
Let me summarize half the comments
“Kids they days with their music, it sounds like noise to me”

I think a LOT of the issue on how bad it sounds is the fact the audio is coming from some inexpensive speakers into a loud, non-acoustically exceptional room.

It’s like whining about how kids these days don’t turn their damn lights up right because of how dark the video is.

(I like it anyways)
Anonymous

Sick moves, sick tune
What is the track they are dancing to?
frankieboy

Awesome! Kid’s bringin’ it. Nice choreography with all taking a part. The last kid looked like he was just hanging out until this time came around. Very dramatic for a bunch of young guys.
Murisan

I like that the kids appear to actually hear the beat (yes there is one, even if the rest is screechy and bad), and not just be emulating their peers 100%.

But the best part is the very last second, where you can hear the kids break down and laugh like kids, as they should, and not trying to be hard gangstas.
Nicky G

Kind of surprised electronic-infused hip-hop incites so many negative comments on Boing Boing of all places. Bah, sometimes I wish this was still a paper ‘zine that only cool people read…
kmoser

That was totally buck.

(That’s what the kids they say these days, isn’t it?)
pAULbOWEN

Well, now we know what Madonna’s next video will look like.
Anonymous

You go little dudes!
Anonymous

Did a little digging and found out that this group calls themselves “The ART of TEKNIQUE” and they’re from Sacramento. They are: Gavin (9 years), Kris (9 years) and Kida 8 (years). Here’s their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheARTofTeknique
- GauchoAmigo
  
  With that headline, I knew they had to be from Sacto. I might try to go check them out sometime.
mellowknees

These kids are truly amazing dancers! Such athletic moves and coordination! Nice choreography, too. I also really enjoyed seeing some glimpses of old school breakdance in there, too – nice to know it’s had its influence. I used to love watching kids break at school dances back in the day.
luftmensch

Get ON my lawn! – what is that song? Anyone know the artist? It’s rather good.
The Mudshark

Shit yeah!
Zac

Wow! As a physical actor who has spent a lot of time trying to get kids to use their bodies properly . . . shit, these little guys are amazing. They know their bodies, and are totally grounded. Who taught them? I want to take a class!
Anonymous

nice..
AdrenalineSleep

…FUCK YEAH…

Amazing kid dance video: 8-year-olds krumpin' hella tight

Read more in Music at Boing Boing

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