The poor suburb of Compton in Los Angeles, often mentioned in rap
lyrics, was notorious for its rapper gangs. It is also the place where
the Crip walk
originated. In those days, there were the rapper rival gangs, Crip and
the Bloods. The crip walk or blood bounce, as it is sometimes called by
the Crips or the Bloods, was initially used as feet communication
signals between gang members.
It was the crip walk, which managed to enter the mainstream mainly
because the dance was featured in a number of MTV videos by mostly
popular Crip gang rapper members such as Snoop Dogg. As the dance was
accepted by the general public, it later came to be known as the clown
walk to differentiate it from its gangster origins. To further separate
the dance from its gang origins, it evolved into many variations such as
the V, the Heel-Toe, the Shuffle, and the Snake and was generally
classified under hip hop dances. Presently, there are signs that crip
walk is becoming popular globally as music videos from Europe displayed crip walk dance steps
.
People might be doing the crip walk without their knowledge. Being
generally a hip hop dance, the crip walk also has its explosive
movements and rhythm, which makes it a perfect calorie burner. Fitness
and health experts now have their eyes on hip hop dances to make their
clients lose weight or keep their body fit. The Celebrity Fitness
exercise studio, for example, blends old and new school hip hop dances
for their clients. The repertoire can include snap dance, gangsta walk
and the latest dance craze, crip walk or clown walk. The next time you hit the gym, try to ask what steps are you
doing and you may be surprised to know that you are actually doing the
crip walk.
America Ferrera
has a number of notable movies and television shows under
her belt including “Real Women Have Curves,” and “The Sisterhood of the
Traveling Pants”. She is the latest talk-of-the-town because of her
Betty Suarez character in the drama-comedy “Ugly Betty.” This is adapted
from the hit television soap in Colombia entitled, “Betty La Fea.”
The hit drama-comedy shows America Ferrera portraying an unattractive girl,
complete with fake teeth braces, thick eyebrows, and a wig. All of these
preparations were set-up just to downplay the girl whose smile was
actually insured by Lloyd’s of London for a staggering 10 million
dollars. America Ferrera was coy about the part and even nicked the term
“Bettification” every time she has to undergo the transformation
process.
Joining the drama comedy TV show proved to be a winner for America
Ferrera when she won the “Best Performance by an Actress” award from
Golden Globe, and the “Award for Best Female Actor” from the Screen
Actors Guild. The show, Ugly Betty, went on to be nominated at the Emmy
awards 11 times. Only recently, America Ferrera also won the “Best Actress Award”
and the “Creative Achievement Award” during the 22nd Annual Imagen
Awards.
After the Golden Globe award, America Ferrera was praised by the US
House of Representatives as a positive influence to young Latinas.
Another honor she received is becoming one of the 100 most influential
people in the world by Time magazine.
On top of all of this, America Ferrera is about to finish her double
major in theatre and International Relations at the University of
Southern California. The school was also where she met her rumored beau,
Ryan Piers Williams, though she consistently denied them getting
engaged. With about 15 movies made since 2002,
America Ferrera is set to continue her counting with a new movie titled
“Forever in Blue” for 2008.
