Hip Hop in Climbing: Part III

Part III: “Counterculture”

  In the early 2000’s, around the time of the first Black ascents of Too-tok-ah-noo-lah, a climber named Chris Sharma was on the rise. He had started climbing around 1983: only 16 years after the last edition of the Negroe Travellers Green Book published. His parents most likely witnessed and/or participated in the hippie movement.

   With 2005 came a video of Chris Sharma sporting locs, climbing a boulder roof problem dubbed Witness the Fitness, rated V15¹⁵. As he climbs, the song for which the climb is named blars an electronic shockwave, diving into Roots Manuva’s hilarious rap about going back to his elementary school as an adult to win a physical fitness contest against children.

   Appropriation? Outside of Sharma sporting dreadlocks, the use of music was simply a backdrop for his impressive climbing. This had been the standard in climbing videos: Hip Hop music was a backdrop for the most part, most notably in the Dosage series films of the early 2000’s. With the exception of Obe Carrion¹⁶, it was white bodies climbing to Black music. Hip Hop was simply background music to hard climbing in films. Outside of the inappropriate use of the N word from Daniel Woods¹⁷ while singing along to a Hip Hop song, this would not appear to be gross misuse of the genre. Outside of the strange phenomenon that there were no Black folks in the videos it begs the question: did anyone climb and perform Hip Hop?

   There is a history of Hip Hop in climbing many may not be aware of. It starts with Kris Hampton…

Read or watch on my Substack

17 Dec 2020

Author: Crystal Rose H.

Cited Sources:

15. “Chris Sharma – Witness The Fitness, V15” YouTube, uploaded by bigupproductions, 6 Jan 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PP1AK1Aqis.

16. Note: Obe Carrion has not self identified as any type of BIPOC, this is based off skin color and features. It has been rumored he once referred to himself as a “minority” in the sport of climbing. https://us.ivoox.com/en/obe-carrion-returns-ep-003-audios-mp3_rf_18081177_1.html 11/3/2020

17. Hampton, Kris. “Daniel Woods Used the N-Word in a Video and We’re All Complicit” The Power Company, 27 Jun 2020, https://www.powercompanyclimbing.com/blog/n-word, 8 Dec 2020.