Jeff Weiss of L.A. Weekly has written an interesting piece on the “jerkin'” dance movement, which is currently blowing up with the youth in many of southern California’s urban communities.
Everyone started jerkin’ last year. When the kids returned from summer vacation, it was like they’d contracted some rare virus. A tsetse-fly bite in reverse, but rather than sleeping sickness, teenagers from Long Beach to Lancaster started getting geeked up … a dancing dominoes of flailing limbs, skinny jeans and fluorescent accessorizing. Jerkin’ at talent shows and on top of lunchroom tabletops. Jerkin’ in parking lots and bus stops, underground teen clubs, every single function (party), and, of course, on YouTube. Much of Los Angeles’ 18-and-under population was jerkin’ — presumably because they were the only ones young enough not to snicker at the term’s historically self-flagellating connotation.
“Because they’re so entrenched in Internet technology, they have a different thought process toward fashion, music and social engagement. Their perspective of the world is very individualistic and entrepreneurial,” says Shariff Hasan, a 30-year-old entrepreneur and producer for the forthcoming “Jerkin” The Movie and Skinny Jeans: The Movement,a 20-webisode reality show airing on Hulu and other outlets.
I had never heard of this craze before reading this article. I asked my brother’s friend about it and he immediately broke into song and dance. At 23, I’m out of touch, though I’m not disappointed. While it would be easy to call this genre “stupid,” that would simply be a product of being from my generation. My generation, of course, was the birth of gangsta rap, the music these kids essentially are drawing from in their music but trying to reject in their culture. As far as I can tell, that’s the only upside. This music is apparently steering kids away from gangs and violence. There’s competitions and record deals — goals that make the artists practice towards that is so time-consuming the very idea of joining a gang is disintegrated. That’s wonderful.
Still, Weiss is so complimentary in his story that his age shines through. He praises the males for their ability to produce their own music, yet many of the songs they’re making have the word “pussy” or “bitch” in the title, which, as far as I can tell, is not progressive at all. Then he’ll write about his admiration for the “girl power” groups. Obviously, this is all contradictory. Later, he mentions that many of these kids are dropping out of school to pursue a career in the jerkin’ fad. Brighter than previous generations these kids are not.
Fads are fads and there’s no way around that. The rap and hip-hop genres go through so many transformations that it’s foolish to put all your eggs in one basket unless you’re willing to sell out and ride the next wave. The jerkin’ music is so undeniably bad it’s safe to assume these kids are using the equipment that’s at their disposal in a slapdash manner in order to create the next hit. In the 80s, when music suffered, it was synthesizers and dorky hair. Luckily, the 90s experienced a great period of music. Since then, the new millennium has suffered in terms of music quality, and I think I know why. It’s not about the music anymore, but the dances and products that accompany it. Of course, I’m talking about music dominates the charts — not the underground sensation you may covet. You could say the 60s was about making music for people to do drugs to and punk rock was about getting people to mosh, but that’s a bunch of bull and you know it. The jerkin’ movement is much like disco except with filthy language, and we all know what happened to disco.
I’m very pleased that these kids have found something active to keep them out of gangs. For them, it’s entertaining but also hard work. Still, it’s no reason to drop out of school. The way Weiss puts it, you think they’d be smart enough to realize that.
Click here to see the music video of movement’s anthem, “You’re A Jerk,” by The New Boyz.
You can watch a short documentary on the movement here.
