Dance
How quick-witted krumper Akamz pranked his way to world fame
Jojo Akamz is a krump phenomenon with a following of over 650,000 people on Instagram. We met him to talk about pranks, battles and elevating the French krump scene.
Amid the madness of 2020, street dance culture, fiercely raw genres such as krumping and the freedom of expression have never felt more vital.
On the dance scene, the level of talent and creativity is at meteoric heights and, thanks to Instagram and Tik Tok, the art form is more visible than ever. That's visible, for example, in Red Bull Dance Your Style Challenge that has Akamz competing online.
But, behind every dancer with a blue tick and every underground subculture now consumed by the mainstream masses is a story about the battles that had to be won in order to be seen.
One particular dancer kicking down doors and commanding attention is rising Parisian krumper Akamz.
"Krumping for me is like a God rule. I feel it inside me. God gave me the talent. God gave me the attitude. It's been my passion since I was born and I'm going to do it the best that I can," Akamz says, behind a mega-watt smile.
Krumping for me is like a God rule, I feel it inside me. God gave me the talent, God gave me the attitude
His ferocious spirit radiates beyond the screen, as he reminisces over his early hip-hop and soul inspirations, wanting to learn how to dance like Michael Jackson and Omarian, and how his dream person to prank would be Kylie Jenner.
Akamz is known for his unique wit as much as his moves. One trip through his social media and you'll find everything from the krumper doing performances dressed as a frog in McDonald's, contorting his body into crab-like shapes while popping out in subway stations and even drawing in heaving crowds in central Paris by dancing in a giant inflatable suit and screaming at the top of his lungs.
Revealing the method behind his madness, Akamz says: "I began pranks as a way to get more visibility for my dancing. The first time I ever screamed in a public space, and the way that all started, was supernatural."
I began pranks as a way to get more visibility for my dancing.
Having forgotten his costume and props, Akamz needed a gimmick to grab people's attention: "I needed to think of something strange and unique fast, so I screamed."
Off the back of his outspoken gesture and plenty of others that would follow, Akamz began to clock up a fanbase from all around the globe. Soon people from Africa, Japan, India, America and wider afield were tuning in to watch his newest antics on a daily basis, but Akamz is quick to clarify that while he might have a great sense of humour, his art isn't all a laughing matter.
As a young boy, Akamz's first-ever dance performance took place in a school contest around the same time a film called Rize hit cinemas. One of the rawest and most culturally significant films in dance history, Rize introduced the world to the ferocious spirits of clowning and krumping – two startling new hip-hop subcultures.
More than that, Rize showed how krumping offered an alternative to gang life for disenfranchised youth in the Watts and South Central districts of Los Angeles and how dance could be used as a tool to communicate political unrest and release frustration.
When you first see krumping, maybe it looks like some kind of joke, but actually it's very difficult
The moves were unlike anything anyone had seen and critics questioned whether or not they'd been sped up or modified, even to the point that they speculated the film might be a mockumentary.
Mention the film and Akamz's mood electrifies: "When you first see krumping, maybe it looks like some kind of joke, but actually it's very difficult. It's intense physically, emotionally and mentally. You need to learn several techniques and elements. You need to be focused on how to express all the emotions that come from krumping, not just the spectacular skills.
"I became a dancer first and then pranking came into it. My message combining the two is to spread love and happiness around the world. When you're in a battle, you spread love to only your opponent, but when you're on the streets, you spread love to everybody. We live in complicated times and people need some kind of entertainment that lightens the mood and makes them live better and be happier," Akamz says, beaming with pride.
Today, performing in the streets has become his mission and the driving force that keeps him pursuing his passion. Akamz swaps the studio for public space whenever he gets the chance and perfects his craft with mates in a secret crew. "I'm in a crew, but for the moment, unlike my own dance, we don't want to be visible. We haven't done any battles or contests yet because we're preparing our skills and show, but stay tuned," he says with a wink.
Akamz might be taking his time with his crew, but when it comes to battling solo and racking up wins, he's quickly gaining traction. As he excitedly gears up for Red Bull Dance Your Style Challenge, he looks back on his first and biggest contest to date.
"When I started to dance, I never thought I could do it as a profession. I was just dancing for pure pleasure. It wasn't until after I began to hit up all the contests and 1vs1 battles that I started to view it like maybe it could become something," he says. "The EBS Krump World Championship was really amazing for me, because it was the first dance challenge in my life. I was 19-years-old, and I lost out in the final."
Off the back of finishing second in his first-ever battle, the krumper admits that it's not easy trying to sum up exactly what it takes to win: "In a hip-hop and breaking battle, maybe you have more specific skills you can use to win – there are fundamental and technical elements of the dance – but krump is complex. Krumping, for me, is instinctive. It's primal. Pure. Spontaneous."
Akamz's spur-of-the-moment pranks and ability to make people laugh, jump, scream and be filled with joy have brought him fame, while his deep emotional connection to dance has brought him a longer list of battles. All that combined, he confesses he's keen to find a balance: "Now, my goal is to be acknowledged as a legit dancer worldwide, integrate other cultures into my dance while I share krump with the world, and build my professional career more."
When it comes to krump, the explosive energy and colossal hype has proved the power that dance has to uplift people's spirits, bridge gaps and unify even the most dramatically different communities on a global scale.
Pressed to comment on how he's impacted the French krump scene himself, Akamz says: "Krumping still comes with a really strong American culture. I'm spreading knowledge about the genre when I perform, and by teaching, but it won't be until we have this kind of interview in France where we properly talk about the roots of this discipline that krumping will become as strong as I'd like it to be."
He may think he has a long way to go, but by fusing his jokes with his phenomenal dance skills, original flow and technique, Akamz is blazing down his own path.
"The most important lesson I've learnt is to be authentic and let go of yourself. After a competition or performance, I'm not exhausted – I feel free. It's like therapy. There are so many emotions going through my body and I hope people watching are catching what I'm trying to communicate," he says. "You throw out your bad energy and leave it on the floor. It's a release. Dance is like medication. When it comes to people who are stressed, anxious people, depressed, people who are frustrated and struggling, I think we can propose dance as the solution."
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