Diddy Said “We Just Want To Make You Dance”

Sometimes I take a few steps back and just look at the seeming majority of opinions in hip-hop and it gets kind of disturbing. On one hand we want hip-hop to be about peace, standing up for civil rights and being something for everyone from every walk of life to enjoy. Then I see a lot of those same people totally degrade, disrespect and think less of the people that create or participate in dancing in hip-hop.

I don’t know about all of you, but the majority of time when I hear music that has a good feeling, I want to dance to it. On the not so low, music is created so that people can let go, be free and have a good. For some, that is the art of dance. Even if you really can’t dance, you should dance just because it makes you happy.

Someone, somewhere has put into the minds of many of you, that dancing has no place in hip-hop or it’s not “real rap music” if there is a dance to a song. Not sure how or why that happened, but it’s completely false. Ice grilling and head nodding are not the only ways to “enjoy rap music”. I also wouldn’t recommend consuming a large amount of drugs and just sitting there, while music plays. After thinking about those options, it would be hard to tell if anybody really enjoys rap music if they are doing one or both of those at the same time.

I know what you’re about to say. “The real emcees don’t be dancing. Dancing is for kids.” Oh word?

The above video is of Big Daddy Kane. In my humble opinion, he is the number 1 emcee of the 1980’s. He danced and he had bars.

Just from the cameos in the video alone, you can’t say that Hammer didn’t have the entire world of all ages and backgrounds dancing. You would be lying to yourself if you said you never tried to do any of the dances in this video.

Think of the days of Puff Daddy and Jermaine Dupri. They were all about “the dance”. Even Beanie Sigel was “Two stepping with the weapon on me”. It’s cool to have a good time and be happy and cut a step.

Now, I will concede that in 2015, a lot of the dances don’t appear to be as masculine as they use to be. My question is; Is it the dance or is it the person that’s doing the dance? The Nae Nae looks different when Chris Brown does it vs the dude outside of the Ice Cream truck. In Atlanta, a lot of gangstas were leaning and rocking to snap music without the use of their hips and poking their a$$ out. In summary, it’s a certain way to do everything. I personally wouldn’t recommend everybody’s choreography lesson or demonstration and would say, use discretion when choosing.

What we can’t deny is all these “dance songs” are saving the mainstream rap face. Silento and IHeartMemphis songs are enjoyed by kids, news anchors and a lot of other people who probably think rap music is made by “Thugs” who do drugs and disrespect women. Future may have the streets but he’s not quite in enough homes for middle America. Cam Newton hitting the Dab, made popular by the Migos, has got old white men in the Bible Belt going HAM. Migos would be foolish to not capitalize off that look and make a “Billboard Friendly Record” called “Cam Newton” and reap the benefits financially and under the act of Public Relations, especially with one of their members being locked up this year.

I get it. You didn’t want to hit the Superman. You can’t follow along with the D-Lo Shuffle, but don’t lie to me and say Drake didn’t make you want to dance like nobody’s watching after you seen that Hotline Bling video.

I’ll close this out with simply paying homage to one of the core elements of hip-hop. Something that came before the emcee; The B-Boy/B-Girl. Lot of us forget that the actual rapper came last in the culture. The DJ’s and The Breakers ran things in the beginning. It appears that as we listen and appreciate rap music and the hip-hop culture, we forget the other arts that helped create it.

Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo is one of the hardest movies ever! Y’all seen the broom scene enough already, so I’m sharing this one.

Dancing isn’t just for kids or for “dudes that can’t rap”. Dancing is art, entertainment and based on the very limber and toned young white women from Fraules, who create back to back viral videos, a great way to stay in shape.