Edited by Azizi Powell
This post provides information about the latest viral Hip Hop dance record "Juju On The Beat" (also known as TZ Anthem), with special emphasis on what the term "juju on the beat" means.
The content of this post is presented for etymological, cultural, and entertainment purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall, the creators of the song "Juju On The Beat". Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and those who are featured in these embedded videos. Thanks also to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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INFORMATION ABOUT THE RECORD "JUJU ON THE BEAT"
"Juju On That Beat" (TZ Anthem) is the currently viral Hip Hop dance routine (from August 2016 to date). Like "Hit The Quan", dancers pantomime what the rapper says and perform certain Hip Hop dance moves that the rapper calls out. (In this post, I refer to these dance moves as "calls"). For example, when the rapper says "walked in this party", the dancers imitate walking and when the rapper says "you know my hair nappy", the dancers gesture to their hair -regardless of whether their hair is nappy or not.* Also, for example, the dancers do their version of the old school (1986/1987) Hip Hop dance "The Running Man" when the rapper calls out that dance in that record.
-snip-
*The lyrics "you know my hair nappy" are part of the rapper's "getting his swag on" (bragging about how good he looks) at a party. That comment inspired me to do some online research about African Americans 9and other Black people's) changing attitudes about the word "nappy". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/10/changing-attitudes-among-african.html for Part I of a four part pancocojams post about this subject. The other links to those posts will be included in each post in that series.
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WHAT DOES "JUJU ON THE BEAT" MEAN? [Revised July 10, 2017]
In the context of this Hip Hop record, I believe that there are two possible definitions for the term "juju on the beat":
1. "Juju on the beat" means to do a certain Hip Hop dance move (or do certain Hip Hop dance moves) on the beat (to the record's beat)
I'm not sure whether there's any firm agreement on what dance move or moves are called "the juju" (or "juju on the beat").
Just as there's a specific dance that is done when the rapper says "Do the Running Man" - there may be a specific dance move or series of dance moves that dancers are supposed to do when the rapper says "juju on the beat".
2. Juju on the beat means to "be or act "turnt up" (i.e. to really give something all you’ve got, to go “all in”, to really go all out, to really get down, to "go wild" with just a few or with no inhibitions).
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EXPLANATIONS FOR DEFINITION #1 AND DEFINITION #2
From watching a number of those videos and from reading many of the comments in those video's discussion threads, it seems to me that many of the dancers who post challenge dance videos for "Juju On The Beat (TZ Anthem) base their dance moves on those performed by the Fresh The Clown duo*. But those dancers and others still tend to substitute their own pantomime and dance moves for some of those that the Fresh The Clown duo perform. In the beginning of the routine for the command" (call to) "juju on the beat", the duo leaned forward and then leaned back while moving their shoulders up and down to the beat.
However, Zay Hilfiger's comment (given in Excerpt #3 below) indicates that he "started saying “JuJu” in 2014. Also read my transcription of Zay Hilfiger's response to television host Kelly Ripa's question "What does Juju On The Beat mean?". Zay said that ["juju on the beat" is] "my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height... turned up...I don’t care." That transcription is found after the video given as Example #5.
I believe those comments support the second definition that is given in this post for the term "juju on the beat". However, I think that this is an earlier meaning that Zay Hilfiger had for "juju" and not most often used definition for that word in the context of that Hip Hop record.
-snip-
If Fresh The Clown's video actually is the prototype for "juju on the beat" routines, the way that dance move appears to be performed isn't the say way that Zay Hilfiger, the primary creator of this record, performed it in a video that he published on YouTube on August 15, 2016. That video shows him and a female friend performing a dance routine to his record.
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More comments about Definition #2
Here are two definitions for the African American Vernacular English term "turnt up" ("turned up):
WARNING: urbandictionary.com pages often include profanity, sexually explicit content, forms of the n word, and racist content.
From http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Turnt+Up&page=2
"Turnt Up
ADJ.
1. A state of euphoria brought about by having an extremely good time
2. the act of dancing excitedly to popular music
3. an energetic feeling brought on by upbeat music, highly felt emotions, or positive events
When Young Thug's new song came on, the crowd became turnt up!
by Writeordiechick May 07, 2016
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"turnt up
phrase coined by Juicy J and Wiz Khalifa that basically means to go HAM at a party, usually while intoxicated.
Brian: "What's up? Did you go to Dave's party last night?"
Zack: "Hell yeah, man I was so turnt up!"
#turnt #up #turn #party #go #ham"
by mr1o3 June 23, 2013
-snip-
Note that there are other-much older meanings- for the word "juju". Here's a brief excerpt of that Wikipedia article:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B9j%C3%BA_music
"Jùjú is a style of Nigerian popular music, derived from traditional Yoruba percussion. The name comes from a Yoruba word "juju" or "jiju" meaning "throwing" or "something being thrown." Juju music did not derive its name from juju, which "is a form of magic and the use of magic objects or witchcraft common in West Africa, Haiti, Cuba and other South American nations."....
-snip-
It's possible that Zay Hilfiger came up with the term "juju" to refer to being "turnt on" or having a heighten sense of himself from the definition that "juju" means a fetish, or an amulet for magic.
*Read the transcription for the portion of the video of Zay and Zayion on the American television show Live With Kelly (given as Example #5 below).
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WHAT DOES "TZ ANTHEM" MEAN?
My guess is that "TZ Anthem" means two Z's ("Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall)'s anthem. Or "t" might stand for "the" Z's (Zay and Zayion) anthem.
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ARTICLE EXCERPTS ABOUT "JUJU ON THE BEAT" (TZ ANTHEM)
These two excerpts are given in no particular order. The excerpts are numbered for referencing purposes only.
Excerpt #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juju_on_that_Beat_(TZ_Anthem)
" "Juju on that Beat (TZ Anthem)" (also known simply as "Juju on that Beat",[1] "Juju on the Beat"[2] and "Juju on dat Beat"[3]) is a song by American rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall. The song and the music video on McCall's YouTube channel* went viral and has attracted more than 17 million views and resulted in a number of fan-made versions of the music video.[2][3] The song is a freestyle over the beat of the song "Knuck If You Buck" by American hip hop group Crime Mob featuring Lil' Scrappy.[4]
The single charted on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 11.[5]
The duo appeared on Live with Kelly on October 19, 2016, performing the song and giving an instruction of its dance moves.[2]...
Single by Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall from the album Why So Serious? Released September 30, 2016"...
-snip-
The "Juju on the Beat" sound file was posted to Zayion McCall's YouTube channel on August 11, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSMpXARQYbg. That sound file has 21,203,173 total views as of 10/25/2016 at 2:41 PM.
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Excerpt #2:
From http://nymag.com/selectall/2016/09/what-is-the-tz-anthem-dance-challenge.html
"Everything You Need to Know About the TZ Anthem Challenge and the 15-Year-Old Who Created the Viral Dance That Took Over the Teenage Internet" by Madison Malone Kircher, September 12, 2016 6:31 p.m.
"Zay Hilfiger....[is the] 15-year-old .... behind the #TZAnthemChallenge, in which participants undertake the entire sequence of dance moves performed by Hilfiger in the official video. Dance challenges are the frequent and popular subject of YouTube videos, but TZ Anthem seems to have some particularly limber legs: It’s currently taking over living rooms, cafeterias, locker rooms, high-school parking lots — which means it’s also taken over Vine, Snapchat, and Twitter. Just ask the nearest teenager you can find.”...
Hilfiger’s song has taken off online over the past month, but the Detroit teen explains the song’s origins date back a few years. “I made the song during summer 2014, but it wasn’t even a real song then,” Hilfiger told me. “I was just with my friends playing around, you know. This is when dances like the Nae Nae and the Whip were hot, so we just started saying ‘juju,’” (The Juju is one of several moves in the corresponding dance to “TZ Anthem.”) “As the summer [2016] went over, I came up and was like, I want to make this a real song,” Hilfiger said. “I didn’t really expect it to do what it did.”
He posted the track to SoundCloud, but says since he didn’t promote the song, he wasn’t anticipating a wide audience. “I just made it, put it out there, and it was alright,” Hilfiger explained. “People would say, This is a good song, and take it to their friends.” But when a performing group he belongs to, called Fresh the Clowns, shared a choreographed dance to the song to their over 100,000 Instagram followers, the viral lift began.”....
-snip-
Italics are added here to highlight this sentence.
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Excerpt #3:
From http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics verified Commentary by Zay Hilfiger and Zayion McCall
"About Juju On That Beat - Created by WriteNProppa September 2016
A breakout hit for Detroit rappers Zay Hilfigerrr and Zayion McCall, “TZ Anthem” is a viral song in the same vein of previous tracks like “Hit The Quan,” with lyrics centering around various dance moves.
Zay and Zayion rap over the beat to Crime Mob’s 2004 classic “Knuck If You Buck,” and interpolate a portion of that record.
“TZ Anthem,” or “JuJu on That Beat,” went viral after the dance troupe Fresh the Clowns posted their #TZAnthemChallenge video. That led others to make their own clips, and the dance craze blew up.
Why is this song popular?
The success of “TZ Anthem” is largely a product of social media. Dance videos synced to the song were virally shared on Twitter, causing the song to sky-rocket in popularity.
What inspired them to make the song
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
It actually started when I came to Zayion’s house and I was just playing around. I kind of made the song in 2014, I started saying “JuJu” in 2014. I didn’t have no lyrics, it was just a thing.
And then I just wanted to do it and I went to Zayion house and told him to turn on the “Knuck If You Buck” beat and I just freestyled.
All of this was random.”…
How did the #TZAnthemChallenge take off?
ZAY HILFIGERRR :
The Co-CEO of Fresh the Clowns called me like “Zay your track hot, I saw the dance and I want to start a trend.”
At the moment the song wasn’t poppin’, but we shot a video and the next day it blew up. It had like 18,000 views in one day and then it hit 100,000 and it was on all these dance pages. After a week it was popular.
As far as the #TZAnthemChallenge that came from everybody doing it, Fresh the Clowns, little kids.
The main three people were Fresh the Clowns, Hannah and then this 9-year-old little caucasian girl.
Then we started seeing cheerleaders doing it, then IG celebrities and then actors. After LeBron’s son did it, we knew we had something."
-snip-
"Hannah" may be the young woman who is dancing with Zay Hilfiger in the video given as Example #2 below.
"The 9 year old Caucasian girl" may be the girl that is dancing in the video given as Example #3 below.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
These videos are given in chronological order based on their publishing date on YouTube, with the oldest dated video given first.
Example #1: Fresh the clowns tzanthem 🔥🔥🔥
DAEDAY Fresh Published on Aug 7, 2016
Follow our ig pages @freshboyira
@daedayfresh_ @zayhilfigerrr
-snip-
The flames icon means that the video publisher considers this video to be "fire" ("on fire", "hot", "very very good".)
-snip-
Here's the portion of this record's lyrics that is usually used for the dance challenges:
...
"[Verse 1: Zay Hilfiger]
Walked in this party
And these girls lookin' at me
Skinny jeans on and you know my hair nappy
Hey, hey, hey
Okay, okay
I want y'all do it, do this dance now
[Hook: Zay Hilfiger]
JuJu on the beat
JuJu on that beat
JuJu on that, JuJu on that, JuJu on that beat
Now slide, drop
Hit dem folks, don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Don't stop, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat, aye
Running man on that beat
Now do your dance, do your dance, do your dance, aye
You ugly
You your daddy's son"...
Source: http://genius.com/Zay-hilfigerrr-juju-on-that-beat-tz-anthem-lyrics Zay Hilfigerrr, Featuring Zayion McCall, Produced By Lil Jay (Crime Mob), Album Why So Serious?
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Example #2: The Creator : JuJu On Dat Beat : #TZAnthemChallenge ( Official Dance Video ) @ZayHillfigerrr
Zay Hilfiger, Published on Aug 15, 2016
Download JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/DownloadJuJu
Stream JuJu On That Beat - http://smarturl.it/StreamJuJu
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Example #3: little white Girl dances on juju on that beat song, black dance moves :D
3896841, views Published on Aug 23, 2016
amazing
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Example #4: Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem
One Challenge, Published on Sep 24, 2016
Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge [TZ Athem] #jujuonthatbeat #tzathem #tzathemchallenge
Best musical.ly, dubsmash, instagram and flipagram Juju On That Beat Dance Challenge Compilation or TZ Athem, urban dance, hip hop dance and lit dance.
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Example #5: "Juju on That Beat" Dance Lesson
LIVE with Kelly Published on Oct 19, 2016
Hip hop duo Zay teach Kelly and Ciara how to do the "Juju on The Beat" dance.
-snip-
Here's the transcription when Kelly asks Zay Hilfiger what "juju on the beat" means: (.045-.054 of this video)
Kelly- “What does it mean? Is it dirty? Are we…[Zay interrupts her and she says] okay…
Zay- No Juju is like me.
Kelly – Okay
Zay -It’s my....it’s my arch ego. It’s like I’m the height (said while repeatedly mimicking lifting something up with both hands], turned up...I don’t care...
Kelly – Oh okay.
Zay – That’s the type. It’s like my beads. That’s me.
-snip-
I wrote these words in italic font to indicated that I’m not sure of this transcription. “It’s like my beads” refers to the fact that Zay is wearing his short natural hair in a hairstyle that isn’t worn by other males – i.e. braids with pink beads at the end. This hairstyle signifies (represents) his uniqueness.
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