In August of 2010, Echo Park krump dancer Manny Fernandez was on his way home from work when a Ford F-250 truck hit him from behind, knocking him off his bike and smashing the frame. He was rushed to the hospital. When he came to, doctors told him he had a concussion and a broken leg. He went home with screws and a metal rod in his left leg, and couldn't hear out of his left ear for weeks.

"I never saw it coming," says Fernandez.

[Editor's Note: Writer Jessica A. Koslow is a USC master's student writing her thesis on krumping. Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances explores some of the most popular street dances in our city.]

Popping
Popping is harder than it looks: Like a robot, or even a mime, your body is stiff and you move slower than usual. The trick is contracting your muscles to create a "pop," or jerking motion.

Background: Boogaloo Sam of The Electric Boogaloos from Fresno is credited with inventing and naming popping in the late '70s. The dance has its roots in funk and was inspired by popular late '60s dances like the robot and James Brown's "Popcorn". One style of popping is called "tutting," after Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, in which dancers interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics.

[Editor's Note: Writer Jessica A. Koslow is a USC master's student writing her thesis on krumping. Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances explores some of the most popular street dances in our city.]

Locking

Not to be confused with popping, locking is the signature move of Rerun from What's Happening!! The funky dance style is characterized by bending knees and elbows, rotating forearms, hops, and pointing fingers.

Background: In Los Angeles in the late 1960s, while attempting the Funky Chicken, Don "Campbellock" Campbell inadvertently created what is now known as the "locking" motion, or freezing to the beat. After folks seemed to like it, he named the style Campbellocking, after himself, though it was soon shortened to Locking. Campbell joined Soul Train as a regular dancer in 1971, but left after two years to found the world-famous Lockers. According to a source, he was asked to leave "Soul Train" because he requested the performers receive payment.

[Editor's Note: Writer Jessica A. Koslow is a USC master's student writing her thesis on krumping. Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances explores some of the most popular street dances in our city.]

Crip Walk

"I'm C-Walkin' on the mutherfuckin' concrete," raps Ice Cube on "Go To Church." Other Crip Walkers include Xzibit, Kurupt, and Snoop, who does it in the "Drop It Like It's Hot" video, above. Indeed, while West Coast gangster rappers usually don't dance, they quite often C-Walk.

Background: The dance has its roots in 1970s Compton. As its name suggests, it was created and popularized by the Crips gang, and is characterized by hopping and twisting your feet in a V-shape. The C-Walker creates signs, gang symbols or letters that spell out a word. Crip-Walking can mark a major event, like a gang initiation. It's not exclusively used by the Crips -- in fact, many gangs use it to create their own vocabulary. The Bloods even have their own version, called the B-Walk.

[Editor's Note: Writer Jessica A. Koslow is a USC master's student writing her thesis on krumping. Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances explores some of the most popular street dances in our city.]

Cat Daddy

Background: Filmed on Venice Beach and featuring Chris Brown, the Rej3ctz's "Cat Daddy" video has over 55 million YouTube hits. The dance itself is rather odd looking: You circle your hands like you're pushing your own wheelchair, while bending your legs. The second part resembles the arms and side-to-side motion of The Dougie.

Dave LaChapelle's "Rize"

Krumping

Background: Krumper Lil' C holds court on So You Think You Can Dance, and krumping can be seen in music videos by Missy Elliott and Madonna. Developed in South Central in the early 2000s, it is a style of street dance characterized by emotive, often grand, spontaneous movements of the whole body.

Dave LaChapelle's 2005 documentary Rize brought krumping to the mainstream. Known for his slick videos for stars like Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, LaChapelle's work screened at Sundance, and largely focused on a character called Tommy the Clown. In the late '90s, Tommy pioneered a dance called clowning, performing with his clown crew at kids' birthday parties.

Editor's Note: Writer Jessica A. Koslow is a USC master's student writing her thesis on krumping. Know Your L.A. Hip-Hop Dances explores some of the most popular street dances in our city.

The Dougie

Background: Supermodel Kate Upton does the Dougie. Michelle Obama does the Dougie. Even Justin Bieber does the Dougie.

The craze sprang from Inglewood group Cali Swag District's track "Teach Me How to Dougie," which became an instant hit last year, going double platinum and getting ridiculous YouTube hits. Like a funky variation of the classic step-touch -- with more attitude -- the song's beat is lazy and catchy.

Though May of this year saw the tragic murder of the group's dancer M-Bone, it's fair to say that 2010 was the year of the Dougie. In America, at least. "We just got back from the Philippines and the club was packed and everyone knew how to do it," says group member Smoove. "We had a Dougie contest. I was blown away by how good these people on the other side of the world knew how to do this dance."

Still, its origin story is a bit complicated.