Knuck If You Buck Party

Nov. 25

In March of 2016 at University of Chicago, protesters successfully shut down a Donald Trump rally—this was when he was still some kind of hatemongering underdog and not yet the nominee, mind you. Protesters inside the UIC pavilion chanted the inspiring words of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Alright,’ while outside many more protesters also chanted “fuck Donald Trump” to the tune of Crime Mob’s ‘Knuck If You Buck,’ a 2004 crunk-era fight-rap song featuring an almost industrial kind of beat and the group’s four rappers (especially the group’s brilliant Diamond and Princess) plus Lil Scrappy talking tough. It’s unbelievably great, lots of fun, hard-as-nails, and a bit avant-garde all at once, and its presence at a minor victory over The Donald was proof that 2004—the year crunk broke—is as iconic as 1988, 1992, 1994, or 1998 in terms of sound-shifting moments in rap (the song was also sampled and, some have quipped, essentially gentrified recently by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall in ‘Juju on that Beat’). So come to the Crown to remember 2004 and the years around it when crunk, snap, early trap music, New Orleans bounce-tinged rap, and Memphis buck music ruled the charts. And make sure you float a few “fuck Donald Trump” chants into the Crime Mob classic when it drops. 9 p.m, The Crown, 1910 N. Charles St., (410) 625-4848, facebook.com/TheCrownBaltimore, free.