Gettin Jiggy With It

Hip hop music has such an effect on pop culture it blows my mind! If you aren't constantly staying up to date with current hits then you will basically have no moves on the dance floor. Hip hop music has taken a turn to where the songs have a dance built in. The "John Wall", "the Dougie", "Crank that soulja boy" etc. I can enjoy a nice beat and some groovin as much as the next person but I have been caught multiple times unaware of the fact that this song I am jammin out to has distinct choreography built in to it.
This is due in large part to the ways that people view music videos. Music videos are not on TV anymore. They are on the web and they are going viral. It almost seems like if these hip hop songs don't have something memorable in their music videos, they won't be as popular. Music videos on youtube have upwards of 100 million views, which is absolutely INSANE! Crank That Soulja Boy has over 162 million views. It is absolutely brilliant to be repetitive in these songs and create dance moves that everyone can do because it creates an experience with your song, which makes it more memorable. When I am 90 years old I will probably still remember how to do the dougie (and I can teach my great grandchildren how fly their grams used to be.) Hip hop songs are easy to remember. They have distinct beats that stick with you and the fact that you can involve your whole body in the listening to it can ensure that you will never forget it, try as you might. These dance moves aren't even that spectacular. In the John Wall you literally just hold your arm up like you are flexing and change the direction of your hand. Super simple, yet every time that dang song comes on, you bet your life I know the moves and the words and boy do I jam out to it. Hip hop music feels like the genre for everyone. Anyone can pick out their favorite hip hop song, easy. Hip hop is mainstream culture. If you go to any dance on campus and one of those songs gets played, everyone will be singing and dancing to it. Hip hop is a culture. It is more than just music and art. It almost doesn't even matter what the content of the song is. Mackelmore can sing about thrift shopping, MC Hammar can't touch this, lil wayne can talk about lollipops, and oh my gosh Becky! Look at her butt, it is so big. Hip hop can still be popular in any race, gender, club, culture, etc.
I am a white, middle class, 23 year old, with a shorter leg and I love hip hop music (and trying to do that leg thing that no one really knows how to do.) I love doing (trying) the dougie, learning how to wop and wobble, and pop lockin droppin it. Fact of the matter is, hip hop IS pop culture. So next time you're at a club, school dance, or even a church dance, just lean back, walk it out, throw some D's on it and call it a night. Peace, I'm out.