Lil Wayne Has Fans Bringing Back The Harlem Shake In #UproarChallenge
Source: Dave Kotinsky / Getty
After years of frustration and anticipation, Lil Wayne finally dropped Tha Carter V on Friday. Of course, fans made their opinions known on Twitter, but one song in particular is bringing the nostalgia and I’m not talking about 2008 “A Milli” feels.
I’m talking way back to 2002 when G. Dep dropped his Bad Boy Records banger “Special Delivery.” Wayne sampled the song on the third track from The Carter V called “Uproar.”
“Special Delivery” was released as a single from G. Dep’s debut album Child of the Ghetto. The music video was notable for featuring the popular dance The Harlem Shake. Kids from the clip showed off their shoulder action and soon a dance that was once known as a New York style was spread across the world.
When listeners heard Lil Wayne’s “Uproar” they couldn’t help but take it back to the early 2000s. An #UproarChallenge even started gaining traction on social media. Just take it from @based_soc on Instagram.
G. Dep had previously featured the dance in the music video for his debut single “Let’s Get It,” but with “Special Delivery” the moves were cemented in music culture. Artists were using the dance left and right for their music videos or performances, including Bow Wow for his 2002 music video “Take Ya Home.”
Years later, The Harlem Shake would surge in popularity again, but unfortunately it was due to the electronic music producer Baauer, and the dance that came from his song had nothing to do with the moves from Harlem.
The backlash from Harlem and people familiar with the original dance caused the media to revisit the history of the moves. According to DNAinfo.com, The Harlem Shake was created back in the 1980s by a Harlem resident named Albert Leopold Boyce a.k.a. “Al B.” According to his mom, Al B. would perform the dance at the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic tournament in Harlem’s Rucker Park. Ironically, Al B. had an alcohol problem, so his gyrating moves that would become known as The Harlem Shake probably had something to do with his public intoxication.
But no matter how the dance came about, the community took hold of the moves dubbing it the “Al B.”
Decades later, shakers around the world are re-inspired thanks to Wayne’s “Uproar.” Hit the next pages to check out more dancers showing off their revived Harlem Shake!
Lil Wayne Has Fans Bringing Back The Harlem Shake In #UproarChallenge was originally published on globalgrind.com