![]() ![]() When it originated in the California punk rock scene in the ‘80s, moshing was defined by its freeform “thrash dancing.” There were similar albeit less chaotic variations of freeform dance that were associated with rap around the same time, like crunk and Memphis Jookin. Mosh pits are not a new concept: Heavy metal rock and other genres have been moshing for decades. “Even though I would be in foreign places by myself, I felt connected to the people in those pits and the crowd.” “I see myself as an artist who’s trying to help curate the community,” Walé told me as we both struggle to hear each other waiting for the next artist to perform. From behind his lens, he documents the madness of mosh pits at rap shows, where everyone is committed to the rage-when the beat drops, a curtain of bodies swings open as me and hundreds of other concertgoers start jumping and pushing for our lives. It’s outside of one of these chaotic scenes, at a Sheck Wes performance, where I run into a digital camcorder-holding videographer named Walé, better known by his Instragram handle 175tv. All I can hear is, “Open that shit up!”Īs I look around, panicked at first, to try and find my place in the pit, it feels like I’m preparing for a theatrical performance.The teens take their places and begin to form massive black holes in the middle of the festival grounds. The people around me are screaming louder than any of the artists on stage. My ears are ringing, but it’s not because of the music booming from what has become a center for young moshers. In late September 2022, we brave the cold New York City air outside of Citi Field to travel into Rolling Loud’s pit’s orbit. ![]() You’re floating in a sea of colliding humans with a (typically) intense beat and song as the soundtrack, but there is more community to the madness than most people realize.
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