“You Too Can Do The Harlem Shake”

HarlemShake

By Nick Mojica

Move over “Gangnam Style”, there’s a new dance craze in town. The “Harlem Shake” is here and it has everyone masked and dancing wildly. If you frequent the Internet, maybe you’ve seen these 30-second clips, if not, the “Harlem Shake” is basically a dance with only one rule. For the first 15 seconds of the song, one person must be wearing something that covers their face and dance among a room of people who are oblivious to him or her and then once the beat drops, everyone can join in and dance like crazy.

The song, “Harlem Shake”, created by Brooklyn producer Baauer, actually came out last year but just now has it become viral.

The origins of this new meme can be traced to video blogger Filthy_Frank. Filthy_Frank uploaded the video of him and 3 others dancing in latex suits on January 30th, 2013.  A look at Google Trends for “Harlem Shake Dance” shows how search results shot up in just one month.

A YouTube search for “Harlem Shake” now returns tons of videos showing everyone getting in on the crazy antics. From the staff of College Humor doing it in their offices, to fire fighters doing it in their truck, everyone is doing the Harlem Shake.

While the dance itself has become a meme, the song itself is nothing to laugh it. “Harlem Shake” is part of a fairly new genre of music called “Trap”.

Baauer is currently working on an EP, which is scheduled to be released this year.

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