Some R&B And Hip Hop Record Sources For Foot Stomping Cheers

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest Revision- April 26, 2022

This pancocojams post documents the Rhythm & Blues records, Hip Hop records, and some other sources for various foot stomping cheers.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who composed, and/or performed foot stomping cheers. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Pancocojams posts about specific foot stomping cheers can be found by google searching the name of that cheer followed by the word "pancocojams" (for instance Shabooya Roll Call pancocojams).

This compilation is not a comprehensive listing of all foot stomping cheers that have ever been performed. 

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES
"Foot stomping cheers" is my term for a sub-category of children's cheerleader cheers that were composed by and mostly performed by African American girls from the 1970s to around 2010 throughout many of (if not all of) the African American urban communities in the United States (judging from my informal collection of these cheers. 

My editor's notes in Part I of that series include my general description of the distinctive textual structure and performance styles. To partially summarize that description, foot stomping cheers were performed in a circle or a (usually horizontal) line by two or more girls who performed choreographed, syncopated individual hand claps and bass sounding foot stomps to 4/4 time. This movement activity is very similar to African American originated Greek lettered fraternity & sorority stepping (steppin). 

Foot stomping cheers were performed without stopping throughout the entire time that a cheer was chanted. These cheers had a distinctive call and response textual structure that I refer to as "group/consecutive soloists". Usually the group voice (often without the first soloist) is heard first. The soloist then responds to the group. The entire cheer (sometimes with word changes and with the change in soloist's name or nickname) began from the beginning until everyone in the group had had an equal turn as the soloist.

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I coined the term "foot stomping cheers" in 2000 for this sub-set of children's cheerleader cheers.The term "foot stomping cheers" distinguishes examples of that category from other cheerleader cheers. However, these compositions appear to usually be referred to as "rhymes", "cheers". "chants", steps", "stomps", or "ciphers".

I collected these examples of foot stomping cheers is from direct observation (from the mid 1980s s to around 2009 in some African American communities in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area including through the performance of these cheers by my daughter and her friends in the mid 1980s/early 1990s; through my daughter's direct collection (from 1990-1991) at a Pittsburgh area summer camp where she facitlitated "foot stomping cheer" sessions for female campers (My daughter's name is given as "TMP" in these cheers' citations).

I also collected foot stomping cheers by hearing the Mother Hippletoe 1978 vinyl record and by reading its record notes.My other collection activities were reading various books on African American children's recreational play and through reading examples and comments on various online discussion threads and  websites which are cited in this post including my no longer active cocojams.com and this pancocojams blog.

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All the examples of foot stomping cheers that I have observed (in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area between 1980s through 2009/2010) were performed by Black girls between the ages of 5-12 years.This age range appears to conform with other information that I've gleaned online and offline.

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RECORD SOURCES  & OTHER SOURCES FOR FOOT STOMPING CHEERS 
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list.html for Part I of a five part alphabetical listing of foot stomping cheers For the words to one or more examples of the foot stomping cheer examples that I've come across. The links to the other parts of this series are included in each post. 

The very widely known cheers "Gigalo" (Jigalow), "Bang Bang Choo Choo Train", and "Hollywood Swinging" were/are? also performed as hand clap rhymes. My sense is that the foot stopping cheer version of these rhymes preceded the hand clap versions.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/03/foot-stomping-cheers-demographics-city.html for the pancocojams post entitled "Foot Stomping Cheers Demographic Information: City & State Locations (1970s through 2010)". Pancocojams posts include many more examples of foot stomping cheers than the ones that I've cited with geographical information.

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Additions and corrections to these entries that are found below are welcome.

A, B
Bang Bang Choo Choo Train (Chili Chili Bang Bang and similiar titles) - African American folk rhyme (sexually explicit) entitled "Bang Bang Lulu" (1902); adapted and used in some African American originated military cadences during the World Wars with the title "Bang Bang" ; "Bang Bang Lulu" etc. These cadences are often sexully explicit.   

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C,D
Candy Girl - New Edition: "Candy Girl" (1983)

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Check It Out (or the one word refrain "Check" that is used in some foot stomping cheers) - comes from the practice of saying "microphone check" to make sure the microphone is on; also Tribe Called Quest: "Buggin "(1991- first line of that record is "Yo, microphone check one two what is this"; also ; also the African American Vernacular English phrase "Check it out".  

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Cheerleader, Roll Call - from the practice of teachers and other adults doing a "roll cale" and students responding to their name being called out by saying "Here" or "Present". In foot stomping cheerleader cheers, it is the cheerleaders who are introducing themselves to their (usually imaginary) audiences 

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Chocolate City - the nickname for Washington D.C.

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E,F
Fly Girl - The Boogie Boys: "A Fly Girl" (1985)

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G, H

Gigalo (Jigalow) -  probable earliest source: the United Kingdom hand clap rhyme "High Low Jack A Low" is the 17th century English card game "High Low Jack"; the probable direct source for  African American originated "Gigalo"  foot stomping cheers & hand clap rhymes are the United Kingdom children's hand clap rhyme "High Low Jack A Low" (also known as "High Low Piccalo" and other similar names).

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Hollywood Goes Swinging; Hollywood Rock Swinging, and similar titles) - Kool & The Gang: "Hollywood Swinging" (1974)

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Hula Hula (Who Thinks They Bad) - Michael Jackson: "Bad" (1987); probable origin of the word "Hula" in these cheers is a form of the word "Hello"  

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Humpty Danda - [speculation- This cheer was at least partially inspired by Digital Underground's "Humpty Dance" (1989) 

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I, J

Jay Jay Kukalay (and J. J. Kool-Aid): from "Kye Kye Kule" ("Che Che Kule", a traditional Ghanaian Children's Song/ Latin Jazz tune

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K, L

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M, N

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O, P
Playground - Another Bad Creation: "Coolin' at the Playground Ya Know!" (1991)

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Popcorn On The Train - [speculative source] New Edition: "Popcorn Love" (1983)

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Pump It Up -  - Technotronic: "Pump Up The Jam" (1989) 

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Q, R
Rock Steady - The Whispers: "Rock Steady" (1987)

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Rock The Boat - Hues Corporation:  "Rock the Boat" (1973)

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S, T

Shabooya Roll Call - The earliest published example of a song or chant with a "shabooya" pattern that I'm aware of is the 1992 song by Prince entitled "My Name Is Prince". The earliest documented use of the word "shabooya" that I have found is when the African American males riding the bus in Spike Lee's 1996 movie Get On The Bus chant a Shabooya roll call.  composition. 

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Show Me How You Get Down - K C & The Sunshine Band: "Get Down Tonight" (1975) and/or Kool And The Gang: "Get Down On It" (1981)   

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Sophisticated Lady -Natalie Cole: "Sophisticated Lady(She's A Different Lady)" (1976)

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Tell It  - Aaron Neville "Tell It Like It Is" (1966)

 
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Tingalinga Ling -  Shabba Ranks- "Ting- A-Ling" (1992) 

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Two Way Pass Away - probably from the Mardi Gras Indian song "Two-Way-Pocky-Way"; 
The first recording of that song was by The Dixie Cups: "Two-Way-Poc-A-Way" (1965), but forms of that song wereas sung before that recording.

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U, V

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W, X

words: "When you see me on the street/you better speak" (found in some Hollywood Swinging" cheers - from The Capitols "Cool Jerk" 1966 "When they see me walkin' down the street (hey, hey, hey)/ None of the fellas want to speak (hey, hey, hey)
On their faces they wear a silly smirk 'cause they know I'm the king of the cool jerk, whoo")

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Who Rocks The House -  "Rock the house" is a part of African American Vernacular English. One possible source for the title of this foot stomping cheer that has been adapted to a standard cheerleading cheer is DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince: "Rock The House" (1987). An earlier source may have been  the 1963 vinyl Blues album title "Etta James Rocks The House".

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Y, Z