Entry · catalog no. 1084
crank
/ /kræŋk/ /krank
noun · Washington, DC · 1990s
✓ Verified
1.
In DC go-go, the pocket where the beat hits hardest and the crowd locks in — the heart of the set. As a verb, to play go-go at its peak. A whole aggressive subgenre took the name.
“Once the band hit the crank, nobody in the room was standing still.”
Origin & Attribution
From Washington, DC go-go, the percussion-driven funk Chuck Brown built in the 1970s. The harder, faster "crank" style was pushed in the 1990s by bands like Northeast Groovers and Backyard Band. A DMV word, tied to a DC music found nowhere else.
1970s
Chuck Brown builds the go-go beat in DC
1990s
The 'crank' style pushed by Northeast Groovers and Backyard Band
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
Washington, DC · 1990s
Spoken by
DC go-go bands and crowds; the DMV
$CRANKThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady36 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
60/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1990
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Rare Essence & Backyard Band, 'You Can't Run From the Crank'
song · documented
■
+ Cite a sourceCarnegie Hall, Timeline of African American Music: Go-Go
reference
See also