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Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Examples Of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc's Bragging &Dissing Chant "King Tut"

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Update: April 28, 2022

This pancocojams post presents examples of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Chant "King Tut".

The content of this post is presented for cultural, folkloric, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post. Thanks also to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.
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Historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority chants and songs are part of African American culture that can be appreciated by people inside and outside of those organizations. Examples of these performances and compositions are cultural artifacts that should be collected, preserved, and studied along with information and comments about those performances/compositions.

However, in accordance with the cultural traditions, historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority chants and songs should only be recited and/or performed by those who are members or pledges of the specific organization that is affiliated with that particular chant.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT THE "KING TUT" CHANT
"King Tut" is an example of a group bragging/rival dissin (insulting) Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc, y chant. 

"King Tut" in these chants refers to Tutankhamun, an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled ca. 1332 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology).

Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun for more information about King Tut.

It's no accident that Egyptian pharoah "King Tut" is the central character in this chant. Ancient Egypt is regarded as the beginning of civilization and "Alpha Phi Alpha" is the first university based Black Greek lettered fraternity*, and its members are referred to as "Sphinxmen". That explains the line "King Tut was the very first Greek". The word "Greek" in that sentence means "a fraternal organization that uses letters from the Greek alphabet for its name". No reference to the Grrek nation (Greece) or the cultural of people from that nation/nationality is intended or alluded to.

Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Phi_Alpha for more information of the Alpha's use of Egyptian references and symbols. One quote from that page indicates that "In 1914, The Sphinx, named after the Egyptian landmark, began publication as the fraternity's journal. [The NAACP's publication'] The Crisis and The Sphinx are respectively the first and second oldest continuously published black journals in the United States."

*That quote from the above linked Wikipedia page also indicates that "Alpha Phi Alpha (ΑΦΑ) is the first Black, Inter-Collegiate Greek-Lettered fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York".

[The italics were added by me for emphasis].
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That said, "Sigma Phi Phi [the Boule] is the first African-American Greek-lettered organization. Sigma Pi Phi was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 15, 1904.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Pi_Phi

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The Fraternal Organizations That Are Mentioned In The Alpha's "King Tut" chant
The fraternal organizations that are mentioned in this chant are four of the historically Black Greek lettered fraternities "Ques" (Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc), "Kappas" (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity,Inc.), and "Sigmas" (Sigma Phi Beta Fraternity, Inc).

It's interesting that the other Black Greek lettered fraternity that is a member of the "Divine Nine" Pan Hellenic Council, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. (known as "the Iotas") isn't included in versions of "King Tut" that I have found. Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, founded 1963 is the newest member of the Pan Hellenic Council. Click http://www.blackgreek.com/divinenine/ for information about and a listing of the "Divine Nine" fraternities and sororities.

A lack of reference to the Iotas in versions of "King Tut" might point to a composition date for those chants that is on or before 1963. It might also point to the disinclination of Alpha chanters to add to that chant by including references to the Iotas. Another possibility for the lack of reference to the Iotas in this chant (and in many other dissin fraternity chants that I've read) is that the public persona [stereotype/s] for the Iotas hasn't been formed or hasn't been widely circulated yet. However, that seems unlikely given that its been a number of decades since the Iota Phi Theta, Fraternity Inc. was founded.

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FEATURED TEXT (WORD ONLY) EXAMPLES
(These examples are posted in chronological order based on the date of their initial posting or publication on the website or in the book from which I retrieved them.)

Example #1: KING TUT
All: My-y-y old King Tut
was the very first Greek,
a-a-h when he clapped his hands
he had the ladies at his feet.
A-a-h, Tut, Tut, Tut,
a-a-h, Tut, Tut, Tut.

One brother: I said

All: When he saw the Sigmas,
it made him mad.
When he saw the Kappas,
it made him mad.
A-a-h, when he saw the Ques,
it made him sick.
When he saw the frat,
then he had to pledge quick.
A-a-h, Tut, Tut, Tut,

He had a black and gold whip
nd a black and gold cane,
then he came up
a-a-h with this black and gold name.
A-ha-h A Phi A,
A Phi A,
A Phi A,
-Alpha Phi Alpha, East Tennessee State University, in Soulstepping: African American Step Shows by Elizabeth C. Fine; originally from Thompson, "Aesthetic of Cool", 95-96, transcription by Jane Woodside pf videotape of Dance Heritage Festival, 6 April 1991, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City
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UPDATE: May 31, 2014
The line "Old King Tut was the very first Greek" means that King Tut was the first person who was member of a historically Black Greek lettered fraternity.

I don't believe that this statement is meant to be taken historically. I think it alludes to the documented that the early Greeks are culturally indebted to the Egyptians.

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Example #2: KING TUT
King Tut went to Egypt the other day
To Check out the greeks that were coming his way
He saw the Ques, and he said thay acted like a fool
He saw the Kappas, and he said that they were not cute
He saw the Sigmas, and he said that they made him sick
Then he saw the A-PHI!, and he made his pick
-ENewton; http://www.stophazing.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=000243 ; 09-30-2005

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Example #3: KING TUT
Ol' King Tut he was the very first frat,
And when he clapped his hands he rocked the house
like that....ahhhh tut...tut...tut...King Tut
ahhh tut...tut...tuh...King Tut,

He looked at the Kappas and it made him mad,
He looked at the Sigmas and it made him sad,
He looked at the Ques and it made him sick,

But when he saw that ALPHA he had to pledge it quick
ahhhh tut.....ahhhh tut.....ahhhh tut!!!
-robelite, http://onolympus.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=life&action=print&thread=1471 E-Greek Chant Off, Mar 5, 2008
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Here's an excerpt from the comment that this blogger made that preceded this example [Commenting about chants taunting and putting down other frat and bragging about your own frat] "LOL! I was the chant-master in undergrad. :-)....I'm suprised I can remember some of these! :D

Good thing back then was...we could chant at each other all night and NOT have any conflicts! You'd usually see the same ones chanting back and forth at each other at a party later out in the parking lot drinking together."

WARNING: A number of examples on this website contain profanity, explicit sexual references, homophobic references, and a form of what is known as "the n word".

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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Note: These videos are posted in chronological order based on their publishing date with the oldest dated video given first.

Video #1: KING TUT at Fisk University 1993



Uploaded by GPPALPHAPOE on Mar 20, 2009

Alpha Phi Alpha stepping on the yard at Fisk University in 1993
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I've made no attempts to transcribe this video beyond the first few lines:

"King Tut was the very first Greek
When he clapped his hands
He had the ladies at his feet
Aah Tut Tut Tut
Aah Tut Tut Tut." ...

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Example #2: King Tut and Finale - Spring 2011 - Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.



Uploaded by Theophilus Woodley on May 17, 2011

Recorded on March 18, 2011 using a Flip Video camcorder.
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Notice that the style of steppin in the beginning of this video [.022 -023] mimics the movement of gorillas. Gorillas are a relatively recent symbol of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.*, and apparently have no negative connotation for this Black fraternity (unlike the very negative connotations of gorillas and monkeys as references to African Americans and other Black people.)
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*I don't know when the gorilla was adopted as the symbol for members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. But, for what it's worth, my daughter shared with me that she has no recollection of Alphas being associated with gorillas when she attended a Pennsylvania university and attended a number of step shows from 1991-1995. 

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UPDATE May 31, 2014
An example of the Alphas' King Tut chant is demonstrated at the end of the video given above [beginning at 3:11]. Here's my transcription of those words [with the words I'm not quite sure of given in italics]:

Group- Ah what?
One Alpha stepping & chanting - Ah Tut ah Tut ah Tut
I said Oh King Tut
He was the very first Greek
Ah and when he rocked the house
He brought the ladies to their feet.

All - Ah Tut Tut Tut ah King Tut.
Ah Tut Tut Tut ah King Tut.

He drove ah black
Group- [Ah what?]
Ah black
Group-[Ah what?]
He drove ah black and gold chair
With ah black and gold horse
And when he wanted to pledge
He had to charge his course

All - Ah Tut Tut Tut ah King Tut.
Ah Tut Tut Tut ah King Tut.
Ah
Ah
Ah Tut Tut Tut
Ah King Tut.

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Visitora comments are welcome.

3 comments:

  1. http://youtu.be/nVMbWbNvXfk

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anonymous for sharing that videeo.

      Here's the hyperlink to that video:

      #UofM Yardshow Fall '12 Kappa Eta Alphas
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVMbWbNvXfk
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      The "King Tut" in that video begins at 6:35.

      Btw, I also like the "I don't know why your girl keeps calling me" chant which begins around 3:58.

      That's the first time I heard that chant.

      Delete
    2. Unfortunately, that link is now private as of 9/30/2022.

      Delete