Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc's "Sigma Walk" Stroll Routines Predate & Have No Connection Whatsoever With Mainstream Social Media's "Sigma Walk" Meme

Hyp Kreationz, Mar 25, 2009

The Beta Upsilon Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. doing their SIGMA WALK... produced by Front Sigma Nick Steele. Get it BCUUUUUUU!!!

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Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision -May 6, 2023

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series about the different meanings of the term "Sigma Walk".

Part I of this post showcase two YouTube videos of the historically Black Greek letter organization Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.'s "Sigma Walk" stroll routines.

My editorial notes about Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. "Sigma Walk" rap record and stroll routines are also included in this post. Additions and corrections are welcome. 

Part II of this pancocojams post also presents information about the mainstream social media's "Sigma" meme and showcases one YouTube video of the "Sigma Walk" meme.  

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2023/04/three-more-youtube-videos-of-phi-beta.html  for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post showcases three more YouTube videos of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, inc. "Sigma Walk". Some comments from those videos' discussion threads are also included in that post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, and entertainment purposes.

This post highlights the fact that a referent can have a different meaning or different meanings within different populations of the same city, state and/or nation during the same period of time.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are featured in these videos or were associated with those videos. Thanks to the creators of the fraternity Sigma Walk and thanks to the creators of the social media meme "Sigma Walk". Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. 
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This is part of an ongoing pancocojams series on historically Black Greek letter fraternities and sororities. Click the tags below or google [the name of the fraternity or sorority] pancocojams to find other posts in this series, for instance Phi Beta Sigma pancocojams. .

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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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PART I - PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY, INC.'S "SIGMA WALK"

SHOWCASE VIDEO #1- embedded above

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgJTAT-1hFU
Here are some comments from that video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)

1. ct50, 2009
"frat i need dis song...somebody hit me up wit where i can get it from...

and i want dis version, not da one from last year...MAB"

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2. MsMiMi784, 2009
"Boi... Just like a Sigma... Everybody wanna take they shirt off... And wassup wit that random Zeta in the back!!! LMAO!!! I SEE YOU BRE!!!! LOVE YOU ISM!!!!"

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3. PoloNYC, 2009
"lolz....MAB was goin hard body with the crazy legs stroll to this chune...."

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4. kewx007, 2009
"where can i get the song?!

GOMAB OR GO HOME"

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5. The random guy on here,2012
"Best part of this stroll is what they stole from kappas"

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Reply
6. D.J. Lindsay,2012
"@Jrico247: what did they 'steal from the Kappas?'

#not trying to start anything.

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Reply
7. SYNsational TV, 2012
"I swear wiggling iz the sexiest thing ever!!!"

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Reply
8. Ben Moore, 2017
"No one cares...SIGMAAAAAA"

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MY EDITORIAL NOTES ABOUT PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY'S "SIGMA WALK"

Additions and corrections to these notes are very welcome. For the historical and cultural record, please share information that you know about Phi Beta Sigma's Sigma Walk in the comment section below. Thanks!

The Sigma Walk is referred to as a stroll and not a step.
 
From the numerous YouTube videos that I've watched of historically Black Greek letter fraternity and/or sorority strolls, it appears that strolls are most often done in a vertical line that moves in a follow the leader circular or zig zag pattern. Much less often strolls are performed in an actual circle formation or in horizontal lines as is (or was) the case with the Sigma Walk. In contrast, Black Greek letter stepping appears to always be done in horizontal lines. 

I'm using the term "stroll" to refer to this fraternity routine because some video publishers of Sigma Walk videos and commenters on some YouTube discussion threads about (the fraternity) Sigma Walk refer to it as a "stroll". I have never come across the term "step" used as a referent for the Sigma Walk.  

For a video example of the Sigmas stepping, click  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_zj19zQ_EQ  Phi Beta Sigma - Eta Chapter - NCAT - GHOE Step Show - Greensboro Colesium - Oct 28, 2022 1st Place, published by Lester Coney, Oct 30, 2022  GREENSBORO

Phi Beta Sigma wins 1st Place at North Carolina A&T State University Greatest Homecoming On Earth (GHOE) Step Show at the Greensboro Colesium on Oct 28, 2022 - 7 PM.  12,000 in Attendance.

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"Sigma Walks" were* (or are?) only performed by members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and by members of their official sister organization Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. for example in Video #1 above and in a brief 2012 video in which a woman also does the Sigma Walk.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nic4_qohJRs. Those women are undoubtedly members of the Sigma's sister organization, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.. When Zetas perform the Sigma Walk they only appear to do so along with or separately as a tribute to members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity. 

Note that Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc. is a Divine Nine historically Black Greek letter sorority. However, members of that sorority and others usually refer to that Sigma Gamma Rho as "SGRho" and not "Sigmas". 

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In all of the Sigma Walk videos that I've found, members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. are strolling to the same recorded song named "the Sigma Walk". Here's the earliest video for the "Sigma Walk" with its summary citations:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlkv_I7xdGc&list=RDrlkv_I7xdGc&start_radio=1 "Georgia Sigmas "Do The Sigma Walk" Remix", published by BlackUnlimitedBU, May 12, 2009

"Got Another One... Georgia Sigma's on deck

Song Produced by your boi Nick Steele

 Moonpie, Me, Nick Steele & Black Reggie on the track

My bad Buckwheat and Reggie i had to do it for class so that's why yall not in it, but the BET version is coming soon".
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This YouTube video and some comments from its discussion thread are showcased in Part II of this pancocojams series.

Notice that video title and the narrator refers to this song and/or its routine as a "Remix". There doesn't appear to have ever been an earlier video of this Sigma Walk or its song with that title on YouTube. 

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That "Sigma Walk" song may have been featured on BET as noted in that Georgia Sigmas' video summary. However, I've found no reference to that happening. Also, that record doesn't appear to have been an actual record which is featured on YouTube and/or which is stores or online. Multiple commenters in several YouTube discussion threads of the fraternity Sigma Walk ask where they can find a recording of that song. The only response that I've read to those queries is that someone indicated that he would email that song to that person requesting that song.

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A number of commenters on several YouTube discussion threads wrote that the "Sigma Walk" is a diss stroll. The diss (insult) is made by doing the shimmy dance movement that is a signature Kappa Alpha Phi, Fraternity Inc. dance movement. 

Read comments that are found in Part II of this pancocojams series about the Sigma Walk being a performed as a diss.

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I don't know if "Sigma Walks" are still done now (in 2023). The latest YouTube (fraternity) "Sigma Walk" video that I have found was published on YouTube on Aug 26, 2015 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uU_EHokK3Q).  This probably means that the Sigma Walk is an old school (retired, no longer performed) style of stepping by members of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.

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A number of commenters wrote that the Sigmas' were "stealing" moves from the Nupes (also known as the Kappas- Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.") [Contemporary members of Kappa Alpha Psi, Inc. are known for their shimmy moves.] Some commenters who note that Sigmas purposely do these Kappa moves as part of the Sigma Walk as a way of dissing (insulting, making fun of ) the Kappas. (Read comments in Part II of this pancocojams series. Also, read the comment that is given above in which the commenter said that the Sigmas were foolin (i.e. "fooling around", being lighthearted in their stepping.) 

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PART II - MAINSTREAM MEDIA "SIGMA" MEME  
Excerpt #1
From https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sigma-males "Sigma Males"

"Part of a series on Internet Slang. [View Related Entries]

[View Related Sub-entries]

Updated 4 months ago by Zach. [2023]

Added 2 years ago by Adam.[2020]

About

Sigma Males or Sigma Male is a slang term referring to a supposed classification for men who are successful and popular, but also silent and rebellious, a type of man who likes to "play by his own rules." In most analyses, they are considered "equal" to Alphas on the hierarchy but live outside of the hierarchy by choice. John Wick has often been cited as a prominent example of a Sigma Male. After the discovery of the classification was unearthed by Twitter user @LilySimpson1312 in 2021, it was mocked online by people expressing distaste for the greek alphabet system of male classification. However, the term has since become widespread in memes and internet discourse, such as Sigma Stare and Sigma Male Grindset.

[…]

Origin

The term "Sigma Males" has been attributed to writer Vox Day, aka Theodore Robert Beale, a self-described Christian nationalist.[1] On his blog, he often goes into detail explaining the hierarchy of males using the greek alphabet. On May 16th, 2010,[2] he published, "Explaining sigma. Again," in which he wrote that the "sigma" is not just a social outcast, but a person who despite being a supposed social outcast "wins" at the social game. He writes:

Sigma: The outsiders who don't play the social game and manage to win at it anyhow. The alphas hate sigmas because they are the only men who don't accept or at least acknowledge their social dominance. (NB: Alphas absolutely hate to be laughed at and a sigma can enrage an alpha by simply smiling at him.) Everyone else is vaguely confused by them. At the party, it's the guy who stops by to say hello to a few friends accompanied by a tier one girl that no one has ever seen before. Sigmas often like women, but also tend to be contemptuous of them.'

He has also described some pop culture characters as "Sigmas," including Han Solo, Neo, and many Clint Eastwood roles.[3]”…

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Excerpt #2
From https://www.pixstory.com/story/what-is-the-sigma-male-meme-floating-around-the-internet/49097#:~:text=Lawl,who%20listens%20to%20himself%20only. "What is the ‘sigma male’ meme floating around the internet?" published by AshmitDyes, 2021
"Sigma Rules memes are originated from the term sigma male that is used for a self reliant and independent men who becomes successful in life and lives his life with his own rules, Basically Sigma rule is a rule made by a sigma male who listens to himself only.

While the origin may be innocent enough, netizens have been using the meme to justify behaviour which might not be the most gentlemanly. Misogynistic acts are being justified with the ‘sigma male’ mindset and the ‘sigma grindset’ etc.

Memes can sometimes turn toxic too. This is, in my opinion, one instance."...

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AN EXAMPLE OF MAINSTREAM SOCIAL MEDIA'S "SIGMA WALK"

Dr. Livesey Chad Sigma Walk except it's every universe 



Dr. Livesey, Aug 24, 2022
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In the context of mainstream social media, the Sigma Walk means walking (or strutting) forward in a highly confident manner.
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By its name itself, "Sigma male" refers to males only. However, "Sigma walk" may also refer to the confident way that a person of any gender walks (or struts).

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This concludes Part I of this two part pancocojams post.

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