(UPDATE: The folks at NoDa Brewing Company, Kiss 95.1 and Mellow Mushroom have offered their own versions.)
Maybe it was the onset of boredom after Northerners were snowed in by Nemo last week. Maybe it’s just fun. Whatever it is, the viral video craze called the “Harlem Shake” is taking over.
Following in the footsteps of homemade “Gangnam Style” videos and planking photos, the “Harlem Shake” takes music by electronic musician Baauer and combines it with a simple formula: A lone person, usually wearing a helmet or mask, dances to their own beat for 15 seconds while the rest of the room goes about their business as if nothing is happening. When the full beat drops, the entire room explodes into an all-out dance party.
Sugar Society, the people behind the local EDM event Drop it Hard, are planning a “Harlem Shake” video shoot of their own during their event on Feb. 22 at the Neighborhood Theatre.
The original Harlem Shake dance started in N.Y.C. back in 1981 and hit mainstream in 2001. Meanwhile, the latest renditions are going viral worldwide. Here are some of our favorites:
Matt & Kim get an entire arena involved:
NoDa Brewing Company:
Kiss 95.1:
Mellow Mushroom:
Family style:
Scuba style:
T-Pain style:
Bikini style:
Hater style:
This article appears in Feb 13-19, 2013.
Must be enjoyed along with this sobering analysis from Deadspin:
“Dear Internet: You are not doing the Harlem Shake.”
They’re not doing the Harlem Shake dance, but the EDM song by Baauer is called “Harlem Shake.”
Yep. Very true, Jeff. Here’s an even better analysis of the sensation, at Spin:
“The gentrification of the song is important, even if it just seems like more “SMH white people” craziness… Try searching “Harlem Shake,” even with a telling, early 2000s-related second term and the result will be overwhelmingly skewed towards Baauer. Even “original Harlem Shake” yields videos from the early days of this campaign. This is not the co-opting of a style or dance the way that say, New Orleans bounce, Baltimore club, or even trap-as-EDM (which retains the elements of trap-rap and just rearranges them) have penetrated hipster enclaves. What’s happening here is one kind of thing being turned into another thing entirely.”
It’s just for fun. Noboby cares about the history of either the dance or the song. Get a life dorks.
Ha! This, from someone who goes by the creative name “Shitballs.”