Crank Dat Cultural Unity

MLK's American Dream apparently involves Supermanning that ho.

So (don't ask why) I was watching Hairspray on the plane coming back from Lagos. During the racial discrimination scene placed in the movie for the sake of making it about more than dancing, An extra held up a sign that said "Do The Checkerboard," meaning, of course, let's integrate (gotta keep that dancing theme in there).

It was damn cheesy, yes, I am aware of that. But it got me thinking about Crank Dat Soulja Boy/Superman/Batman/Spiderman/Roosevelt/Captain Planet/McGruff the Crime Dog, and I realized that it's the only dance craze in recent times that has taken EVERYBODY over, probably since Michael Jackson busted out the Moonwalk in '83.

I mean, of the various dance crazes that have come out since then - dances such as the Macarena, the Tootsie Roll, Bankhead Bounce, Chicken Noodle Soup, Lean-and-Rock, etc. etc. - none have never caught on with everyone. Most dances stay within the musical culture in which they develop (urban dance crazes in urban culture, for example).

But anyone you know knows the Soulja Boy. Old people, young people, Black people, Japanese people, heretics, nurses, trash collectors, players, pimps, and priests.

I think this is part of a larger trend of the main cultural forces in popular music - Urban (generally African American and Latino) and Pop/Rock (generally everyone else) - coming together and realizing that people from both sides are cool. I mean, you have Puffy hanging out with Ashton Kutcher, Alicia Keys and Kanye working with John Mayer and Jon Brion, M.I.A. working (somewhat) with 3-6 Mafia, Jay-Z mashing it up with Linkin Park. It goes on and on, and it hasn't been this way since the 80's, when everyone listened to rap and everyone listened to Madonna (but no one listened to The Osmonds).

Soulja Boy's dance is more than idiotic popcorn thrown out there by Mr. Collipark. It's a representation of our nation's new unity (well, on the surface - but the surface is better than nothing, right?). It's like he's a new age MLK.

(pause)

Ok definitely not. But it's good to see thats everyone's doing it, no matter how annoyed people get with it.