mixtape maestro (2.0)

Remember back in the day when hip hop dances used to be easy to master? When you can pull out a decent Wop, Cabbage Patch or Running Man and earn an onslaught of cheers from your peers? Nowadays, you can get tired just watching the way kids pull off over-complicated steps and contort their bodies in odd, almost in-human like fashions. Not to mention the fact that it seems like every other hour, a new dance craze is being birthed from some different corner of the nation.

Out of Cali arises the jerkin’ movement, an urban youth sub-culture that seemingly (if understood by the many You Tube posts revolving around it) consists of hyphy-esque beats, skinny jeans, knee bends, backwards Running Man moves and having a “geeked up” swagger.

Helping give it a push into the mainstream’s light is “You’re A Jerk”, a corny, though slightly catchy, cut by L.A. teen-rap duo/ future one-hit-wonders New Boyz (a sort of Cool Kids for the “Rugrats” set). Unsurprisingly, the track doesn’t carry much depth, but if you desire trunk-rattling sparse minimalism, goofy horny boy braggadocio (“Got your girl on my swag/ She lovin’ them jerkin’ songs/ Like the new iPod, just touch it and turn her on”) and a silly titular hook that will surely be echoing throughout your brain for hours after the track ends (whether you want it to or not), think of it as an early Christmas present (that you’ll likely forget all about come December).

“You’re A Jerk”: pure for-the-moment hotness, or the latest sign that hip hop is on the verge of dying…again? Discuss amongst yourself.

DL: “You’re A Jerk” (alt)