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

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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For the cultural record, please help document this old school Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc chant by sharing in a comment below the words that you know for this chant along with information about when and where you learned or heard it. Thanks!

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Edited by Azizi Powell

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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This 2024 post is a reprint of a now deleted pancocojams post on this subject. That post had a different title and a few minor differences in its wording.

The only comment that was added to the discussion thread for that 2012 post was posted by an Anonymous visitor who shared this link to a YouTube video for the University of Michigan yard show which included this chant: "#UofM Yardshow Fall '12 Kappa Eta Alphas". Unfortunately, that video is no longer available on YouTube.
   

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STATEMENT ABOUT THIS HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTER CHANT
Historically Black Greek letter fraternity & sorority chants and songs are part of African American culture. I consider examples of historically Black Greek letter chants & songs and their stepping and strolling performance to be cultural artifacts.

In addition to the cultural and entertainment purposes of these compositions, I believe that fraternity/sorority chants and songs that should be collected, preserved, and studied along with information and comments about those performances their textual structure, wording, and when and how they are used.

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

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTES ABOUT THE "KING TUT" CHANT
"King Tut" is an example of an Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc,'s bragging/rival dissin (insulting)  chant. As of the publishing date for this pancocojams post (April 18, 20224), I've only come across to three YouTube video examples of this "King Tut" chant. Two of those examples are embedded in this post, and the third example is a short video whose link I didn't save and whose audio and video quality is very poor. 

As of April 18, 2024, there are only three comments in the discussion thread for the video that is given as video #1. I wrote one of those comments to inform people about the 2012 post. (I edited that comment with the link to this post.) Here are those two comments: 

1. @MissShila, 2009
"wow.  93.  I like throwbacks."

**
2. @rozvaker, 2011
"omg I love this Fiskites! Skee-Phi"
-end of quote-
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As of April 18, 2024, there's only one comment in the discussion thread for the video that is given above. Here's that comment:

@justcallmekay6666,2021

"Spr 21 bro. Thank you so much for posting this. I've been looking for old school chants, probates, and strolls that got lost in my chapter. 06' to the good bros".
-end of quote-

These comments suggest that the "King Tut" chant may not be commonly known among contemporary members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Members of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., please confirm or correct whether this is true.

I haven't come across any example of this chant that was or is associated with any other Greek letter fraternity or sorority.

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INFORMATION ABOUT "KING TUT"
In these Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. chants, "King Tut" 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 historically 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 Greek 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 HISTORICALLY BLACK GREEK LETTER FRATERNITIES THAT ARE MENTIONED IN THIS "KING TUT" CHANT. 
Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc's chant "King Tut" refers to the four of the five historically Black Greek lettered fraternities that are members of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (informally known as "The Divine Nine" - "Alphas" (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.),  "Ques" (Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc), "Kappas" (Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.), and "Sigmas" (Sigma Phi Beta Fraternity, Inc).

That chant doesn't mention the other Black Greek lettered fraternity that is a member of the "Divine Nine" Pan Hellenic Council, the "Iotas" (Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc). Iota Phi Theta Fraternity was founded in 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" suggests that that chant was composed before 1963 and was never updated to include any mention of the Iotas. It might also point to the disinclination of Alpha chanters to change that chant. 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 VIDEO #2 - King Tut and Finale - Spring 2011 - Beta Iota Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Mr. Black Legacy,  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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An example of the Alphas' King Tut chant is demonstrated at the end of that video [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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