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out here in Holly-Watts.

Most of my family is, like,

on this block, city of Watts.

Man, we... we right here

in the... in the lion's den...

the pit of snakes.

What's up, Little George?

This is my little brother

Little George.

Come here, George.

We have all the gangs

on one side...

and then you have the Clowns

on the other side.

They gonna ask you,

"Who do you dance with?"

Or they gonna be, like,

"What set you from?"

So that's why it's either

a gang or a clown group.

Dance with a clown group,

they go on about their business.

They go about their business,

don't bother you too much.

Larry is over here

with the clowns.

I thank God for that.

George, when you gonna

start dancin'?

You know it's like

a family tradition.

Granny used to be a clown, too.

I'm so glad they came out

with this clown thing...

'cause ain't no tellin' where

the kids would really be...

or what would they be doing.

What else is there to do?

The clown thing

is a big part of L.A.

Everybody want to be a clown.

Everybody... everybody's

into the clownin'.

What is a clown group?

A clown group is...

Birthday parties.

How do I put it?

A clown group is...

Makin' people happy.

Is a group of people

entertaining...

Makin' smiles where

there were no smiles...

laughter where

there was no laughter.

See, a lot of clown groups

don't have the entertainment.

You can't just go out there

and just dance, dance, dance.

People don't wanna see that.

They wanna see a show.

You have to, like,

love doin' it.

You can't just say...

"Uh, I'm gonna do it

'cause I know how to dance."

It's, like, something

you have to have love for.

It's like a getaway.

You know what I mean?

You get to travel

from here to there...

see, meet different people.

And some people don't even

get out their own neighborhood.

People say, "Why you still

dancin' with Tommy the Clown?"

You know what I'm sayin'?

Because I want to.

I like to do this.

I been doin' this

since I was 12.

I'm 18 now, you know?

So I'm gettin' older,

and I like entertaining.

You know what I'm saying?

This is one of my dreams

I wanna pursue...

is to be an entertainer.

I can do my dance thing.

I can be funny.

I can make people laugh.

I can meet new people.

I can...

make myself a name

to where people know who I am...

and give me my respect for just

doing something positive...

and not going negative.

'Cause if I wasn't doin'

this clown sh*t...

I honestly think

I'd have probably been...

a very, very, very bad person.

Yo, Tommy.

Would you happen

to remember Celestine?

No. Who is this?

I told you he don't remember.

No. How you doin'?

I remember you.

- What you been up to, girl?

- Nothin'.

When they let you out of jail?

Oh, this ain't...

Oh, my bad. I thought...

Ain't this the one?

Well, she look like her.

I wanna see you...

Go, shorty

It's your birthday

We gonna party

like it's your birthday

We gonna sip Bacardi like...

Hold on, baby. Hold on.

No. No, baby. We not gonna

sip no Bacardi, sweetheart.

- Blow it out.

- I know it hurts.

That's all right.

That's all right.

And we gonna sing it for you...

Let it out.

Right here, right now.

And it goes

a little somethin' like this.

Happy birthday

dear Liza

Oh, yes, indeed

I don't need y'all to clap

'Cause we know we can sing, yeah

I'm not talkin' to you... ou... ou

Y'all better clap.

That's the end of the song.

How many clown groups are there?

You have House of Clowns.

This is Homeboy the Clown

Entertainment right here.

Cartoonz Clowns.

This is

Hard 'N' the Paint Clowns.

Check it out.

This is that one and only...

Rocco the Clown

representin' True Clowns.

World Wide Clowns.

Y-K Clowns.

Get Em Up Clowns.

We were Get Em Up Clowns.

Now it's Get Em Up Soldiers.

Just Clownin'. Platinum Clowns.

What's up?

There's No Comparison.

We're Nan Nutta.

Big X, you know what I'm sayin'?

A.k.a. Cereal Man,

you know, Froot Loop Man.

You know what I'm sayin'?

Rice Track Clowns.

Holler back.

Titanium Clowns.

I'd say about 50.

About 50 clown groups.

Different clown groups.

There's, like, over 50.

Basically,

it's a bunch of kids...

that do the stripper dance,

paint their faces like clowns...

and go put on a show

for a birthday party.

What's stripper dance?

What's the stripper dance?

What's the stripper dance?

I don't know where the stripper

dance just came from.

It just jumped into the air.

One day, I didn't even know.

Like, I went to a party...

and that was,

like, the new dance.

The stripper dance is like where

you open both of your legs...

and you bend like this.

And then you gotta be making

your butt bounce like that.

But it really be bouncin'.

It be like a lotta guys

be lookin', like...

"Oh, she's hot. She's bangin'."

So I do the stripper dance...

and I combined it

with a little clownin'...

so I do the stripper,

and I do it like this...

this just stripper plain.

But then I wobble with it,

like, wobble...

and that's the clownin'

and the stripper dance together.

'Cause I'm...

Anybody out in Los Angeles,

you have to be taught it.

Out here, it's a flow.

It's a vibe.

It's like a connection.

Everybody does it.

Everybody sees it.

We do everything.

We'll Harlem shake for you.

We'll bounce.

We'll do our little thing.

We'll do our little swingin'.

We'll put everything in it.

The bleach and

the little African clown walk.

We'll do it all.

The stripper dance

has everything in it.

I've seen some parents

see the little 4-year-olds...

out there poppin'

their booties...

and like, "I would never

let my daughter do that."

"Why? She's out there

having fun.

"She's not doing anything wrong.

She's not being sexual.

"There's nobody

out there with her.

"There's nobody touching her.

"She's out there poppin'.

What's wrong with poppin'?"

You have stripper dancing,

which we do not do.

Twerking.

You have... you have...

you have clown dancing...

and then you have

the krump dancing.

It's like hygiene.

Either you smell good,

or you don't.

Either you krump, or you not.

Basically,

we're from the inner city...

what you would call it

the ghetto...

you know, the lower parts

of Los Angeles...

Watts, east side of L.A.,

Compton, Long Beach.

We don't get the best

of everything.

So what we do, we come together,

and we dance.

We don't have

after-school programs.

When you don't wanna

do football...

because that's pretty much

the only thing...

that you can do

in the inner city.

There's always a football team.

Because in the inner city...

we're all thought of to be

sports players, you know.

Everyone is not a sports player.

Everyone

does not play basketball...

and everybody

does not play football.

There... Is there something

else for us to do?

So what we did is...

is a group of us got together...

and we invented this.

In better neighborhoods...

they have

performing arts schools.

You have ballet,

you have modern...

you have jazz,

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