Chicago Dance Crew The Era Raps Over Footwork On Debut Mixtape

This past summer, Chicago footwork crew The Era debuted a unique stage show to "give a voice to the dancers." Today, they take that idea ten steps forward with In The Wurkz FM, a mixtape that finds Litebulb and co laying bars over incisive footwork tracks by DJ Spinn, DJ Earl, DJ Manny, DJ Taye, DJ Clent, and DJ Heavee. The goal? "There's decades of history in terms of footwork concepts that haven't been expressed in words lyrically," writes Litebulb in the press release. "We have a lot to draw from." The whole mixtape sounds next-level fresh — the dancers' voices land between the kicks, their words finding those new angles like their feet. But a real standout is "Thoughts" featuring Crystal James (aka Queen Crystal) who shouts out all the women in the footwork scene: We stay burnin' motherfuckas for the hell of it.

"We developed this entire project all while working on and debuting our stage show In The Wurkz this summer at Hamilton park in Chicago, so a few of us our still shocked we even did this but it felt right though," Litebulb told The FADER over email. "This new project means a great deal for us, especially knowing where we started to how far we've come. It also means another step forward for Chicago footwork, what our brothers Jeremiah and DJ Rashad envisioned and what's to come — only up from here as we see it, more videos coming soon!"

Hit play below.

1. Run Up (Intro) Ft. The Remedy
2. Run Up Ft. The Remedy (Prod. DJ Manny)
3. Labbin (Prod. DJ Manny / DJ Taye)
4. In The Wurkz (Prod. DJ Manny)
5. The Testament Ft. B Rael (Prod. DJ Earl)
6. Thoughts (Interlude) Ft. Queen Crystal (Prod. DJ Earl / DJ Heavee)
7. Burning N....Z (Prod. DJ Manny)
8. Good Shit (Prod. DJ Clent)
9. Headlining (Prod. DJ Spinn)