Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest Update - December 10, 2023
This pancocojams post presents a time line of "Wop" Hip Hop dance records.
This post also presents my theory on the origin of the word "Wop" for these dances.
In addition, this pancocojams post showcases selected line dance videos that feature J. Dash's 2007 song "The Wop" and 2012 Lil Chuckee's song "Da Wop".
This post also provides a general description of African American line dancing (which is also referred to as "soul line dancing).
The content of this post is provided for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
This is part of an ongoing pancocojams post on African American dances with the name "Wop". Click the tags below for other pancocojams posts in this series.
****
TIME LINE OF "WOP" (HIP HOP DANCE RECORDS)
(added to this post on Dec. 4, 2023)
(Additions and corrections are welcome.)
1956: Do Wop group El Capris recorded the song "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Wop". In 1960 Anthony & The Imperials has a huge hit with their re-tweaked R&B version of that song entitled "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop
1986: B Flat - "Woopit)
2007/2011: J Dash - :"Wop"
2012: Lil Chuckee - "Da Wop" (explicit lyrics)
2023: Lil Vada- "Wop It" (explicit lyrics)
-snip-
OTHER SIGNIFICANT TIME STAMPS FOR "WOP" DANCES
(Additions and corrections are welcome.)
2013 - Miley Cyrus's social media video in which she dances the "Wop" and twerks to J Dash's "Wop" record
2013-? -J. Dash's "Wop" record is informally referred to as "Vine's official song" because of the large number of people dancing the Wop to that record on that short form video clip looping ap that was discontinued in January 2017. (Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vine_(service) for information about "Vine")
May 2022 [earliest date? through 2023)- a clip of J Dash's "Wop" record was used for TikTok dance challenges. These compilation videos are also published on YouTube, instagram, and other social media. This dance is also referred to as "Drop It ToThe Floor" and "Wap".
****
WHERE DID THE WORD "WOP" COME FROM FOR THESE DANCES?
The term "Wop" in the 1980s/1990s dance "The Wop", the song 2007 titled "The Wop" and the 2012 song titled "Da Wop" probably all come from the syllable "wop" that is used to as a referent for and lyrics in the ub-section of Rhythm & Blues music called "Doo-Wop". In that music the syllables "doo wop" are used to imitate the sound of bass instrumental music.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doo-wop#Origins_of_name
...["Doo Wop" is] "both a description and category for R&B vocal group harmony.
From the outset, singers gathered on street corners, and in subways, generally in groups of three to six. They sang a cappella arrangements, and used wordless onomatopeia to mimic instruments since instruments were little used: the bass singing "bom-bom-bom", a guitar rendered as "shang-a-lang" and brass riffs as "dooooo -wop-wop".
-snip-
Little Richard's now classic song "Tutti Frutti" is among other 1950s Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll songs that include the syllable "wop". The refrain to that song is "Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam boom!" although in earlier versions of that song Little Richard sang it as "Wop bop a loo bop a lop bam bam!" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kM1khne_sg)
That said, the syllable "wop" may have been used then and may be used now simply because of its percussive sound, and the images it can evoke of forcefully flinging something (such as your hips and butt) from side to side.
It should be noted that the use of the syllable "wop" as a referent to a form of R&B music and as titles to R&B dances or songs have nothing whatsoever to do with the pejorative term "Wops".
****
LINE DANCES TO J. DASH'S "THE WOP"
Line dances" are choreographed dances that are performed by groups of people who stand in horizontal lines. African Americans usually perform line dances to slow or fast R&B music and to R&B/Hip-Hop musicHip-Hop music. African American line dances are also performed to Rock & Roll music and to Gospel music. One characteristic feature of line dances is that females and males and people of all ages can & often do perform those dances together. In addition to line dance classes, these types of dances are frequently performed at wedding receptions, adult birthday parties, high school and college graduation parties, nightclubs, at exercise classes, at social gatherings devoted to line dancing, and at other types of social events. Non-African Americans also perform R&B/Hip-Hop line dances and other types of line dances (for instance, to Country & Western music) at the same types of venues.
****
These videos are posted in chronological order with the videos with the oldest dates posted first.
Example #1: How To Do The Wop (Official Version) *****WOP & NEW ALBUM now on iTunes & Amazon!!!
Stereofame, Uploaded on Jun 25, 2009
****
Example #2: J. Dash - WOP Official Video
BeatKiller98, Published on May 3, 2012
WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP WOP
****
Example #3: 5 Star May Workshop - W.O.P.
Tempestt Boone, Published on May 29, 2012
5 Star Instructions Line Dance Group monthly workshop held in Hampton Va
Wop Line Dance created by Benita Stewart-Rucker
Music by J Dash- Wop
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/nine-soul-line-dances.html for another version of a line dance that is performed to this record.
****
LINE DANCES TO J. DASH'S "DA WOP"
These videos are posted in chronological order with the videos with the oldest dates posted first.
Example #1: Little Richard Line Dance
Wendy Jones, Published on May 8, 2013
Stepabovetherest [Omaha, Nebraska]
Lil Chuckee's Da Wop
****
Example #2: Line Dance Da wop/Drop
Dawn Avery, Published on Jul 14, 2013
Dancin Deeva's doing "Da wop/Drop" at the Phoenix 70s party
****
Example #3: Stand routines - Choreographer Dee Perkins [cheerleading "stand" routine]
HBCUDance, Published on Mar 19, 2013
-snip-
This video is from a cheerleading workshop that preceded the 2013 try-outs that were held the following day for the Albany State University's cheerleading (dance) squad.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/04/dance-stand-routines-from-hbcu-dance.html for additional examples of these stand routines
****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
It occurs to me that the lyrics to J. Dash's "The Wop" put that song in the category of an instructional song. The singer directs dancers to do various movements such as "make it rain", "make money", "play dead" and "strike a pose". He also directs dancers to "speed it up" and "(go) "slow motion."
ReplyDeleteA number of line dance songs are made up of lyrics that tell people what to do and how to do it . Examples of such instructions are "right foot stomp", "left foot stomp", "kick", "back it up", "turn around", "speed it up", and "freeze."
Here's some information about a 1956 song entitled "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Wop" that was recorded by a White American Doo Wop group from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and how that song was re-tweaked and became the 1960 hit R&B record "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Bop":
ReplyDeletefrom https://www.songfacts.com/facts/little-anthony-the-imperials/shimmy-shimmy-ko-ko-bop [retrieved December 10, 2023]
“This seemingly innocuous song became one of the first great earworms, with the chorus of "Shimmy, shimmy, ko-ko-bop, shimmy, shimmy, bop" burrowing into our brains and refusing to let go.
Like many hits of this era aimed at teenagers, it's about a dance: the "ko-ko-bop."
[...]
This is based on a song called "(Shimmy Shimmy) Ko Ko Wop," which was released by a Pittsburgh group called the El Capris in 1956."...
-snip-
Two meanings for the word "bop" are "a general term for dancing" and "a particular type of dance." The later definition is probably what that word was supposed to mean in Anthony & The Imperials' hit 1960 R&B song "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop". However, the "Ko Ko Bop" didn't become a trend anywhere.
The word "wop" in the title "(Shimmy Shimmy) Ko Ko Wop," by the El Capris also means "dance" or a particular type of dance. As was the case with the "Co Co Bop" dance, the "Ko Ko Wop" also didn't become a dance trend anywhere.
The titles "Shimmy Shimmy Co Co Pop", "Shimmy Shimmy Cocoa Puffs" and others for recreational rhymes that were created after Anthony & The Imperial's hit song "Shimmy Shimmy Ko Ko Bop" were probably the result of folk processing-when people mishear, misremember, or unknowingly replace an unfamiliar word with a familiar word. In this case "bop" (and "wop") replaced the much more familiar words "pop" or "puff".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-timeline-of-sorts-with-information.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "A Partial Timeline For "Bop" As A Referent For Music (with information & comments)".