4 MORE Things I’ve Learned from HipHop Music

Posted on by Jenny Posted in music, Pilates, things that make me screamTagged

4 MORE things I have learned from hip-hop dance music

It’s been over a year now that I’ve been teaching Lagree fitness classes to music at 140bpm or above, where I listen to far too much hip-hop dance music than is good for me. So it is time for another installment of Things I Have Learned From Hip-Hop Dance Music, you can find Part 1 here. This is Part 2, which is composed mostly of observations and speculation.

1. Where are the girls/boys at?

The person “singing” this song seems to have one of a few possible issues:

a) Is such a thorough third wave feminist that they do not see gender at all (much like some people “do not see color”) and is having to ask everyone around them for their specific gender identification in order to address them by the correct pronoun.

b) Is in a club setting so dark that they cannot find or distinguish between girls and boys. This could understandably be further complicated by androgynous dress and hairstyle, see “a”, above.

c) Is blind.

2. Party! Party! Party!

Again, a few possibilities exist:

a) Noun. We are being warned about a spontaneously occurring, unforeseen, incoming party. Look out! PARTY COMING!

b) Verb. The implied “you”. (You) party! Hey you, over there: Party! No, really, DO IT! Right now! YOU HAVE TO! YOU MUST! PARTY!

3. “Over there” or “Over here”

Now that I think about it, this is probably the answer to #1. Where is everyone? Over there. Over there on the dance floor. There she is, over there. Where we at? We over here! Where do you need to be? You need to be over here. Why? Because you’re over there right now and we over here. Obviously.

4. Put your hands in the air.

I’m pretty sure this one was heavily influenced by the deodorant/antiperspirant lobby. According to the lyrics of most songs, you are not really having a good time until your hands are in the air. One song that I am thinking of, in particular, just repeats it over and over: Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air! (Bonus if you do it even though “you just don’t care”). If you are just “gettin’ down”, your good time is not complete. You need to both get down AND put your hands in the air. I need someone to draw me a picture of this one so I can fully understand how these two things work together. Or have I just described twerking?