By: iPadfanzz staff on February 21, 2013
It's called the Harlem Shake. The video, named after a popular dance that gained widespread popularity more than a decade ago, has gone viral on YouTube.
The video, which involves the shaking of upper torso and shoulders, has inspired tens of thousands of Internet copycat clips. The fivesome, from Australia’s Sunshine Coast, rose to popularity with their 31-second clip “The Harlem Shake v1 (TSCS original),” which has been viewed more than 12 million times since being uploaded to YouTube on February 2.
The Harlem Shake viral-video dance meme has racked over 170 million views across 40,000 different Youtube uploads from around the world.
The Harlem Shake is a style of dance introduced in 1981 by a Harlem, New York City resident named “Al Bm.” Earlier it was called “albee” but later became known as the Harlem Shake as its prominence grew beyond the neighborhood. The popularity of the dance reached its peak around 2001, when it was featured or referenced in songs by several New York-based hip hop artists such as Jadakiss, Cam’ron and P. Diddy.
Usually the videos begin with a shot of a single person, sometimes wearing a helmet, mildly grooving/gyrating to the sound of Harlem Shake in a room or a space full of people going about their business. But then cuts to the entire room or group flailing around after the song’s bass drop, with everyone acting crazy and/or wearing costumes.
On February 2, 2013, several parodies of DizastaMusic’s video were uploaded by TheSunnyCoastSkate and PHL_On_NAN, which went viral, amassing 300,000 views within 24 hours and prompting further parodies from other YouTubers shortly after.
The trend has been copied by athletes, TV news anchors and even animals.
Walter Steele had some suggestions for a new name: “Call it the ‘Get Crazy’ or the ‘Act Stupid.’”
“We didn’t start the dance... But we put our own input into it which is why I think it went viral,” TheSunnyCoastSkate said on their Facebook page.
Some of the prominent names joining the Harlem Shake craze include Jimmy Fallon, Anderson Cooper and Usain Bolt.
It's called the Harlem Shake. The video, named after a popular dance that gained widespread popularity more than a decade ago, has gone viral on YouTube.
The video, which involves the shaking of upper torso and shoulders, has inspired tens of thousands of Internet copycat clips. The fivesome, from Australia’s Sunshine Coast, rose to popularity with their 31-second clip “The Harlem Shake v1 (TSCS original),” which has been viewed more than 12 million times since being uploaded to YouTube on February 2.
The Harlem Shake viral-video dance meme has racked over 170 million views across 40,000 different Youtube uploads from around the world.
The Harlem Shake is a style of dance introduced in 1981 by a Harlem, New York City resident named “Al Bm.” Earlier it was called “albee” but later became known as the Harlem Shake as its prominence grew beyond the neighborhood. The popularity of the dance reached its peak around 2001, when it was featured or referenced in songs by several New York-based hip hop artists such as Jadakiss, Cam’ron and P. Diddy.
Usually the videos begin with a shot of a single person, sometimes wearing a helmet, mildly grooving/gyrating to the sound of Harlem Shake in a room or a space full of people going about their business. But then cuts to the entire room or group flailing around after the song’s bass drop, with everyone acting crazy and/or wearing costumes.
On February 2, 2013, several parodies of DizastaMusic’s video were uploaded by TheSunnyCoastSkate and PHL_On_NAN, which went viral, amassing 300,000 views within 24 hours and prompting further parodies from other YouTubers shortly after.
The trend has been copied by athletes, TV news anchors and even animals.
Walter Steele had some suggestions for a new name: “Call it the ‘Get Crazy’ or the ‘Act Stupid.’”
“We didn’t start the dance... But we put our own input into it which is why I think it went viral,” TheSunnyCoastSkate said on their Facebook page.
Some of the prominent names joining the Harlem Shake craze include Jimmy Fallon, Anderson Cooper and Usain Bolt.
