Crips, Strapped'n Strong

CRIPS Strapped ‘n Strong is a documentary about the violent lives of the Crips, a group of Dutch gangsters, involved in drugs, rip deals and gangsta rap. The filmmakers were given unrestricted access to ‘Gangland Holland' and manage to give an insight, not only into a dark, separate reality but also into the workings of the criminal mind.

The gang Crips, Community Revolution In Progress in The Hague, is involved mainly in armed robbery, and drugs trafficking against a background of rap music; 'Rhyme and crime'. The Main Triad Crips have sworn everlasting loyalty to each other and they underline that devotion with tattoos such as 'Crips4Life'. They demarcate their territory with graffiti and dress from top to toe in blue, the colour of the Crips-gangs from Los Angeles.

It is the story of Keylow, who keeps the gang together, of Main C. who wants to get out of the set because of his children, and of Santos, who returns to Suriname to be 'somebody' again.

Keylow is the undisputed leader of the gang which started out very early as a hiphop-crew. They were into gangsta rap and breakdancing, but more and more they turned to a violent lifestyle. After they had renamed themselves Crips the gang started to be criminally active. The Crips are now mostly engaged in drugs trafficking. But for Keylow the Crips are also important for raising consciousness. He wants his people, black people, to form a unity again. With that in view, he organised a trip to Los Angeles to meet the founding fathers of the Crip movement.

Main C. has spent years in prison for murder. In jail he has been able to think and he has decided to bid the criminal life farewell so that he can look after his four children. He is the archetype of the hero pursued by the demons of his past and in search of salvation. Torn by his dilemma he lives with one leg in the straight world and the other leg still in the underworld. When Main C. has been out of prison for a few months, his daughter had an accident, which causes him to take up his old habits again.

Santos has been hiding for some time because he is wanted in the criminal circuit. The only way to give birthday presents to his young daughter is to throw them over the garden fence in the night. Santos wants to return to Suriname so that he can lead a normal life again. He wants to protect his little girl from the terrible childhood he had himself.

CRIPS shows that there is no idolisation of the bullshit the gang occupies itself with. Slipping and snitching is punished and quitting the gang is definitely no option. Yet there are always young homies ready to continue the gangbanging.