Sam The Beast - "Knock Some Boots" (A YouTube Sound File & Partial Lyrics For This Old School Dance Classic Record)

DJKhaos33, Jan 12, 2010

[...]

Song: Knock Some Boots

Artist: Sam the Beast

Album: Greatest Hits

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube song file of the late 1980s/early 1990s dance record "Knock Some Boots" by Sam The Beast.

This post also includes my partial transcription of this song. 

In addition, this pancocojams post presents the meanings of  several of the African American Vernacular English terms in this song.

The contents of this post are presented for cultural and entertainment purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Sam The Beast and all those who were featured in this record. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this sound file on YouTube.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/04/h-town-knockin-da-boots-other-1990s-r.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "H-Town - Knockin’ da Boots & Other 1990s R&B "Baby Making" Records".

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE (Updated April 28, 2022)
I haven't found any biographical information on Sam The Beast online except for some comments that he is (was?) from Alexandria, Virginia and that one time he performed at the high school that his daughter Ree Ree attended.

Sam the Beast recorded other very well received records including "Gucci Dance" (1994).

His Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SAM-THE-BEAST-361107608442/?_rdr has event promotional photographs with the heading Sam "the Beast" from the East. This was/is* that entertainer's full stage name.

*A July 18, 2021 2021 post on that Facebook page from Rodney Footloose Johnson indicates that "p

This is a bad dude right here. Sam Tee Sam the beast still make crowds move till this day. That should tell u something. Good songs are timeless."

**
Sam the Beast's "Knock Some Boots" record may have been first released in 1987 (according to one online source), and it was included on his greatest hits album in 1991

**
I've read [in Recess Battles: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling, by Anna R. Beresin (Univ. Press of Mississippi, May 27, 2011) that between 1991 and 2004 some African American girls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania had a double dutch jump rope rhyme called "Juice Juice Knock Some Boots". This rhyme was clearly based on Sam the Beast's "Knock Some Boots" record.
And The lyrics to that song includes a reference to double dutch (around 2:57 in the sound file that is embedded above.) That record is from Sam the Beast Greatest Hits album. Did Dm the Beast have different lyrics for this song, and did he insert the reference to double dutch after he heard that girls had made up that double dutch rhyme in honor of his song? Here are the lyrics to that double dutch rhyme:

BOOTS
Juice Juice, gotta get loose
We came here to knock some boots 
Foot oh yeah oh yeah
Hop oh yeah oh yeah
BOUNCE oh yeah oh yeah
(1992)
-snip-
Page 95, chapter: "Lessons From Old School Rhymes" in Recess Battles: Playing, Fighting, and Storytelling" edited by Anna R. Beresin. 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/07/juice-juice-lets-knock-some-boots-four.html for the 2017 pancocojams post entitled "Juice Juice, Let's Knock Some Boots" & Four Other Recreational Double Dutch Rhymes"

**
The few online comments that I found that contain partial lyrics to "Knock Some Boots". Those comments are given in the discussion thread for this pancocojams post.

**
This pancocojams post presents PARTIAL lyrics for Sam The Beast's now classic song 'Knock Some Boots".  This transcription is inaccurate because I couldn't decipher some of the words in that record, and I'm sure I got wrong some of the words that I transcribed, and I  didn't repeat certain lines in that song the number of times that they are repeated.

Please help improve this transcription or replace it with the complete lyrics from some documented source or from your memory of this song. Thanks!

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LYRICS - KNOCK SOME BOOTS [Partial lyrics- Transcription Improvements Welcome]
(Sam The Beast)

Get off the mic before it gets too hot
Get off the mic before it gets too hot
Get off the mic before it gets too hot 

Yeah, y’all ready to get housed right?
[repeat]

Knock some boots
[female voices- Oh oh oh yeah]

Knock some
female voices- Oh oh oh yeah]

Feel that juice, time to get loose
We came here to knock some boots
[female voices oh oh Oh Yeah]  

Juice
[Oh yeah oh yeah]

[spoken]- Yeah, y’all ready to get housed y’all

Juice
[oh yeah oh yeah]
[spoken] Yeah, y’all ready to get house yep
[spoken] Yeah, y’all ready to get house yep yep
Ooh ooh ooh ooh
[oh yeah]

Ooh ooh ooh ooh

[oh yeah]

Peace from the East
What kinda ? one
Peace from the East
What kinda? one

Ice
Ice
Lookin’ for a cool rhyme
It’s a new time
And I get mine
Just about that time
When you were diggin’ it
And I’m back
And I’m bringin it
Down to the bass
below ??
Am I rockin it
Yeah you ??
Yeah today I dig
I go solo
I drive a Porshe
Not a Yugo
I’m showin you a dance
that makes you go loose
And every day I’m knockin some boots

Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha

[repeat several more times]

Peace from the East
What kinda ? one
Peace from the East
What kinda? one

Hit ah hit ah hit the bass
Hit the bass
It’s like you rhymed the rhyme the song that I’m given you
on the floor
It’s time to the __ with the double dutch rhyme
‘Cause if you double dutch rhyme
with the wave of your hand
Cause it gets into your mind like a random band
If I can’t rock it
The n no one can
Knock some boots
It's time with Sam

ooh ooh
[ooh ooh oh yeah
ooh ooh
[ooh ooh oh yeah]

[repeat several times]

Feel that juice
time to get loose
We came here to knock some boots

[Repeat several times]

JUICE!
oh yeah oh yeah
Yeah, y’all ready to get housed, Yep Yep

JUICE!
Yeah, y’all ready to get house, yep yep

JUICE!

[Repeat several times]

Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
Get out the way ‘for I get you ah ha
I’m gonna um hum um hum knock some boots

Now wave your hands
if you feel like wavin’ them
Now wave your hands
if you feel like wavin’ them
Let me hear you say “Hurt me, hurt me”
[females] – Hurt me! Hurt me!]
Ah keep it goin now
[females] - Hurt me! Hurt me!
Ah keep it goin now
[females] - Hurt me! Hurt me!

[Repeat several times]

Ah keep it goin now
Ah keep it goin now
[females] – Hurt me! Hurt me!
Ah keep it goin now

[Repeat several times]

****
MEANINGS OF CERTAIN AFRICAN AMERICAN VERNACULAR ENGLISH TERMS IN THIS SONG 

These terms are given in alphabetical order. Many of these terms have different meanings other than the one that is given below.

GET HOUSED - to get drunk

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Housed

Housed

extremly intoxicated, the highest form of drunk possible.

Hurry up man, I'm trying to get housed before the night is done.

by mrauk July 22, 2008

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GET LOOSE - lose your inhibitions, do anything you want to do (the same as the later phrase "to get crunked")

"get loose

(Mostly phrased to women)To tell a person to go wild, crazy and to do anthing....and that means anything!

"Like dem girls on dat Tip Drill video"... "Let me see you get loose!!!"

 -T.I.feat. Nelly

Get Loose

by Kevin Jones January 27, 2005

**
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crunk
"Crunk

its a mixture of the word crazy and drunk

i wanna go to a party and get crunk

by heyballookey May 18, 2003

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JUICE - to get extremely excited, to get pumped up (also the same as the later phrase "to get crunked")


https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Juice&page=8

"juiced

this word originated from the streets of the bay area it means to get pumped up excited

Man i'm so f&&kin* juiced dat we finna go to dat party....son.

by seannonnon February 7, 2008
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out in this post.

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KNOCK BOOTS - to have sex

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/knock_boots#:~:text=(slang%2C%20euphemistic)%20To%20have,quotations%20%E2%96%BC

slang, euphemistic) To have sexual intercourse, especially recreationally if not casually.

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Also, in the context of the song "Knock Some Boots", I think that the phrase "Hurt me" that women could be heard singing may be an exhortation for a person to "do it real good" (whether that be dancing or some other activity). 

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Trouble Funk - "Pump Me Up" (Funk/Go Go song information, videos, lyrics, & explanatory lyric notes)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two examples of the 1982 Go Go music record "Pump Me Up" by Trouble Funk. Information about the band "Trouble Funk" and its hit record "Pump Me Up" is also included in this post along with that song's lyrics and some explanatory notes about those lyrics.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Trouble Funk for their musical legacy. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and Thanks to the publishers of these examples on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT GO GO MUSIC AND THE BAND "TROUBLE FUNK"
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go
"Go-go is a popular music subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid-1960s to late-1970s. It remains primarily popular in the area as a uniquely regional music style. A great number of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but the Young Senators, Black Heat, and singer-guitarist Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers are credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.[1]

Inspired by artists such as the groups mentioned above, go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion...

In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time going to a go-go popularized by a million-selling hit of the same name by The Miracles . Dancers could expect to hear the latest top 40 hits, as many as 20 at a time, performed by local funk, rhythm and blues bands, including Chuck Brown. In 1965 The Young Senators, later known as "The Emperors of Go-go", were formed and there began a fierce competition with Chuck Brown and Black Heat on the local club circuit, they later became known for their hit "Jungle".[5][6][7]...

Trouble Funk had its roots in an early 1970s Top-40 cover band called Trouble Band, then fronted by drummer, Emmett Nixon. With the inclusion of Robert 'Dyke' Reed (keyboards, guitar, vocals), Taylor Reed (trumpet, vocals), James Avery (keyboards, vocals), Teebone David (percussion), and Tony Fisher (bass, vocals), the band changed its name, and, in the late 1970s, after seeing the light at a gig they played with Chuck Brown, they, too, adopted the go-go beat. The band was signed to the Sugar Hill Records label in 1982 and recorded with Kurtis Blow. Trouble Funk recorded the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas.""

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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trouble_Funk
"Trouble Funk is an American R&B and funk band from Washington, DC. It helped to popularize that area's local funk subgenre known as go-go. Among the band's well-known songs are the go-go anthem "Hey, Fellas." They released several studio albums including Drop the Bomb, In Times of Trouble, Live, and Trouble Over Here, Trouble Over There (UK #54[1]), and two live albums, Trouble Funk - Straight Up Go-Go Style and Saturday Night Live. In 1982, they released a single "So Early In The Morning" on D.E.T.T Records, later reissued on diverse labels as 2.13.61 & Tuff City. Trouble Funk sometimes shared the stage with hardcore punk bands of the day such as Minor Threat and the Big Boys.

Trouble Funk's song "Pump Me Up" was sampled by many other artists, for example Dimple D's one-hit wonder "Sucker DJ," which went to #1 in Australia, Public Enemy's Fight The Power, Kurtis Blow If I Ruled The World and M.A.R.R.S. Pump Up The Volume. The song is also featured in the film Style Wars and on the fictional R&B radio station Wild Style in the game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."...
-snip-
A seldom acknowledged fact about Trouble Funk's 1982 song "Pump Me Up" is that it is probably the inspiration or one of the main inspirations for the children's cheerleader cheers entitled "Pump It Up" and other cheers and rhymes that include the saying "pump it up" as well as other sayings such as "pump up the volume". 

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Trouble Funk - Pump Me Up (1982)



veewee Uploaded on Dec 10, 2007

from their album "Drop The Bomb"

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Example #2: Trouble Funk at Strathmore Pump Me Up! 1 of 3



Chip Py, Published on Jul 25, 2013

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LYRICS- PUMP ME UP
(as recorded by Trouble Funk]

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
Like the man with the super 'S' on his cape
We're gonna jump to the funk
like we got no weight.

I'm DJ Rock and I can pass the test
Uh to get down the wit' the rappers
From the East to West
This party pleased, that party pleased
I'll pump them all with the greatest of ease
This is DJ Rock with the master beat
The boogie-oogie sound that moves your feet
Somebody say (Get up, get up)
Somebody say (Get up, get up)
You party good, you throwin' down
You complement this funky sound
The funk is here so you can groove
We want to make your body move
And that brother there, his name is Dyke
He's gonna hit you with the rest so you can boogie tonight

I say downtown shoppin' with some flashes in mind
Just listen here closely while I tell you my line
I'm slick Dyke can be very naughty
I'm known by the name sporty shorty
And when checkin' out the others that dress so mean
They put me in the mind of a Mr. Cardin
But Calvin Kline seems to come through
Until Yves St Laurent walks up to GQ
But that's not it, they still want more
So I send them down to Studio 54
Say Jordache, Bon’jour, Cassini, Sassoon,
I've got the jeans that make the tunes
Can you smile, in your style
with you're mouth, without
be cusin' with a big, because what can I do now?

Now you exit the store,
acting just like a jerk
But all he wants to see is your body work
(Work your body, work your body, work your body. Work your body)
(Work your body, work your body, work your body. Go all the way!)
(Work your body, work your body, work your body)
(Work your body, work your body, work, Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
Like Perry Mason gonna solve the case
You just listen to the sound of the funky bass
Like Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn

You're gonna boogie on-a down 'til the break of dawn
Like a party over here, a party over there
We got a party all in this atmosphere
You get wiggle your neck and stomp your feet
and boogie on down to da' funky beat
Well they call me Dick and that's my name
And funkin' around, it is my game
So funker's here da' thing you've got to have what it takes
And if you can't funk then those are the breaks
So "L's" are for squares you'd better get live
'Cos everyone's tryin' to get Funk-matized
And this is what you need and that's a fact
And with this you don't need no mac*-attack
So if you're out for lunch, just take a hunch
And boogie on down with the rest of the bunch
You should be bumpin' your behind all in the air
All over the where, just everywhere
And if you're on the dance floor and if you can't hang
Just sit on down and let us shake our thing
And if you still sittin' down and can't shake your rump, holler
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
You gotta
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
Everybody go
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)
Pump it on up, pump it on up
(Shake that thing, shake that thing, you gotta shake that thing)

I'm a put you on down on the one
So we can all get together and have some fun
I'm teller here, an' I'm teller there
I'm tellin', I'm tellin' I'm tellin' you now
Like Einstein the master mind,
All the women thought a dat he was shy
Like Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Well they never miss a beat, they are right on time
Like Fat Albert when he wanna eat
It takes a lot of funky food ta' get him outta his seat
When the gang is down at the junkyard dump
Fat Albert is eatin' to the rythm of the bump.
Like Tarzan and Jane they're dancin' to the beat
And Boy, and Cheata, they're stompin' their feet
And if you still sittin' down and can't get up, holler
(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

(Pump, pump, pump, pump me up)

Source: http://www.songlyrics.com/trouble-funk/pump-me-up-lyrics/
-snip-
*The word "mack" is given here. That may be a typo as "mack" makes no sense and "mac attack" was a familiar phrase for having an intense desire for a MacDonald (fast food) hamburger or cheeseburger.

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SOME EXPLANATORY NOTES ABOUT THE LYRICS TO "PUMP ME UP"
Notes about these lyrics:
1."the man with the super 'S' on his cape = refers to the fictional character "Superman"
2."'ll pump them all with the greatest of ease" = "pump people up" means to get them excited, get them energized ("hyped"); "Pump me up" means "Get me excited" ("Get me hyped") [in this record] by the way you dance. "Pump me up" here probably also has a sexual connotation for men.
3. "when checkin' out the others that dress so mean" = observing others who dress really well in the latest fashions
4. "Mr. Cardin (Pierre Cardin), Calvin Kline, Yves St Laurent, Jordache, Bon’jour, Cassini, Sassoon" = brand names of luxury, expensive clothing & products [The singer is bragging by "dropping" the names of luxury brands]
5. "GQ" = considers itself and is largely considered to be "the definitive magazine for men's fashion and style news"
6. "Studio 54" = a world famous New York nightclub
7. "Perry Mason" = a fictional American television lawyer who wins all of his cases
8. "Little Boy Blue" = a character from Mother Goose nursery rhymes
9. "boogie on down" = dance
10. "da" = the
11."bumpin" = doing the R&B dance called "the bump" which is done by rhythmically hitting (bumping) your butt (also referred to as "behind" and "rump" in this song) next to your partner's butt.
12. "if you can't funk" = if you can't get funky (be hip, lose your inhibitions and dance to the music any way you want to)
13. "then those are the breaks" = a line from one of the earliest hit 1980's Rap song (Kurtis Blow's "These Are The Breaks"; in the context of Trouble Funk's song means "that's just how it is".
14. "taking an L" = falling down [on the ground] (from the phrase "getting lifted") [as per my daughter who remembered that slang term and gave another definition "getting "jacked up" or "messing up"
15."squares" = people who aren't hip (up to date with the latest street culture
16. "you'd better get live"= get hip (liven yourself up)
17. "you don't need no mac-attack" = You don't need to crave a McDonald hamburger or cheeseburger
18. "So if you're out for lunch" = if you don't understand
19. "just take a hunch" = something like "here's a clue"
20. "you can't hang" = you can't keep up with the other dancers
21. "let us shake our thing" = let us dance
22. "Einstein the master mind" = theoretical physicist Albert Einstein who developed the general theory of relativity
22. "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" = fictional characters in an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson; "Jekyll and Hyde" [has come to] o mean a person who is vastly different in moral character from one situation to the next." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Case_of_Dr_Jekyll_and_Mr_Hyde.
23. Fat Albert = fictitious heavyset Black boy who was featured in comedian Bill Cosby's memories of his childhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
24.Tarzan, Jane, Boy, and Cheata"= fictional characters developed by novelist Edgar Rice Burroughs and portrayed in movies and television

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Chuck Brown & Washington, D.C's Go Go Music

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest update- Dec. 16, 2020

This pancocojams post provides information about & five videos of African American "go go music".

The content of this post is presented for historical, educational, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Special thanks to guitarist & singer Chuck Brown (August 22, 1936 – May 16, 2012 ) who was the undisputed creator of Go Go music. RIP Chuck Brown. 

Also, special thanks and RIP to trumpeter Lil Benny [d. May 30, 2010] who was one of the founders of Go Go music.

Thanks also to all the other musicians and vocalists (including the audiences) who are featured in the performances that are highlighted in these selected videos and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.  

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INFORMATION ABOUT GO GO MUSIC
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go:

Go-go is a subgenre associated with funk that originated in the Washington, D.C., area during the mid- 1960s to late-1970s. It remains primarily popular in the area as a uniquely regional music style. A great number of bands contributed to the early evolution of the genre, but The Young Senators, Black Heat, and notably singer-guitarist Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers are credited with having developed most of the hallmarks of the style.

Inspired by artists such as the groups formerly mentioned and Chuck Brown, Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion.

-snip-
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/chuck-brown-dies-the-godfather-of-go-go-was-75/2012/05/16/gIQAJAfPUU_story.html

Known as the “Godfather of Go-Go,” the performer, singer, guitarist and songwriter [Chuck Brown] developed his commanding brand of funk in the mid-1970s to compete with the dominance of disco.

Like a DJ blending records, Mr. Brown used nonstop percussion to stitch songs together and keep the crowd on the dance floor, resulting in marathon performances that went deep into the night. Mr. Brown said the style got its name because “the music just goes and goes.”

In addition to being go-go’s principal architect, Mr. Brown remained the genre’s most charismatic figure. On stage, his spirited call-and-response routines became a hallmark of the music, reinforcing a sense of community that allowed the scene to thrive. As go-go became a point of pride for black Washingtonians, Mr. Brown became one of the city’s most recognizable figures.

Also, click http://www.visionaryproject.org/brownchuck for more information about Chuck Brown & Go Go Music.

-snip-
From http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/30/AR2010053003566.html

Anthony Harley, 46, a Washington trumpet player better known as Little Benny ... helped define the city's homegrown style of funk music as a member of the Rare Essence go-go band during the 1980s.

.... [Chuck] Brown was the godfather of go-go, but when he went on tour, he left a void in Washington that was filled by younger bands. One of the most important was a group of teenagers including Mr. Harley. Called Rare Essence, it performed up to six times a week at venues in and around Washington, continuing to shape go-go into a style of funk that is still identified with the nation's capital....
In go-go, the groove doesn't stop, and Mr. Harley was known for having the boundless energy it took to continue making music from the beginning of the performance to the end. The Go-Go Hall of Fame inductee was a diminutive man with a powerful voice who led the band's vocals on fast-paced songs and could play two trumpets at once.

Mr. Harley left Rare Essence in the mid-1980s and formed Little Benny and the Masters. Among his most popular songs were "Cat in the Hat" and "Who Comes to Boogie." Later, he played with the go-go band Proper Utensils and reunited several times with original members of Rare Essence.

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FEATURED VIDEOS
[Four of the five YouTube examples that were initially showcased in this post are no longer available. These examples replace those videos/sound files and are given in no particular order.

Video #1: Go Go Swing - Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers



Wabangi Video, Published on Jul 20, 2012

Go Go Swing - Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers.
Gogo Swing - Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers Live 1986
Arranged by Chuck Brown&the Soul Searchers

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Video #2: Chuck Brown and KK Donelson



kevj1069, Published on Oct 10, 2014

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Video #3: Chuck Brown ** Wind Me Up Chuck ** Live



akimmbo, Published on Jun 13, 2015

We got the old school in the house tonight
"Hell, Yeah"

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Video #4 A tribute to Chuck Brown \ BUSTIN' LOOSE \



Kei Duke, Published on Feb 21, 2015

An Original FUNKBUDOYA Back in 70's SOULTRAIN

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Video #5: Chuck Brown~ Chocolate City Reunion



Uploaded by PyChip on Jul 7, 2011

Washington DC's Godfather of Go-Go performs at The Chocolate City Reunion July 4th 2011. www.windmeupchuck.com

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Washington, D.C.'s Go Go Music

Written by Azizi Powell

Among African Americans in the 1970s to date, Washington, D.C.'s nickname was "Chocolate City". D.C. was given that name because so many Black folks lived there. Back in 1970, that city peaked at 71 percent Black. However, "Washington’s black population slipped below 50 percent this year [2011], possibly in February, about 51 years after it gained a majority, according to an estimate by William Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution… http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/18/us/18dc.html?pagewanted=all. It will be interesting to see how long D.C. retains the "Chocolate City" nickname in the face of its significantly changing demographics.

Many online articles & blog comments cite the influx of White people from the suburbs back to the city and the resulting cost of property, and the rise of property taxes due to gentrification as the reasons for Washington, D.C.'s decreased Black population. For those interested in that subject, in addition to the article linked above, I highly recommend reading
"On The Rapid Gentrification of DC" by Latoya Peterson, July 19, 2011 http://www.racialicious.com/2011/07/19/on-the-rapid-gentrification-of-dc/

Rather than looking at the causes & consequences of D. C.'s gentrification, this post focuses on "Go Go music" - a sub-genre of African American music that originated in predominately Black Washington D.C. and still remains centered in Washington, D.C. area.

From http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/1167 The Beat!
Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. by Kip Lornell
and Charles C. Stephenson, Jr:

The Beat! was the first book to explore the musical, social, and cultural phenomenon of go-go music. In this new edition, updated by a substantial chapter on the current scene, authors Kip Lornell and Charles C. Stephenson, Jr., place go-go within black popular music made since the middle 1970s--a period during which hip-hop has predominated. This styling reflects the District's African American heritage. Its super-charged drumming and vocal combinations of hip-hop, funk, and soul evolved and still thrive on the streets of Washington, D.C., and in neighboring Prince George's County, making it the most geographically compact form of popular music.

Go-go--the only musical form indigenous to Washington, D.C.--features a highly syncopated, nonstop beat and vocals that are spoken as well as sung. The book chronicles its development and ongoing popularity, focusing on many of its key figures and institutions, including established acts such as Chuck Brown (the Godfather of Go-Go), Experience Unlimited, Rare Essence, and Trouble Funk...

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go-go:

Go-go is a blend of funk, rhythm and blues, and early hip-hop, with a focus on lo-fi percussion instruments and funk-style jamming in place of dance tracks, although some sampling is used. As such, it is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. Go-go rhythms are also incorporated into street percussion...

There is generally little familiarity with go-go music outside of the D.C. Metro area, which includes the District of Columbia and the city's outlying Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs. Consequently, the relatively little commercial success (by industry standards) go-go bands have enjoyed has largely been a product of the genre's following in this geographic region. Nevertheless, the style continues to evolve.

As to the source of the name "Go Go", the authors of that Wikipedia page indicates that "In the mid-1960s, "go-go" was the word for a music club in the local African American community, as in the common phrase at the time "going to a go-go".

http://gogobeat.com and http://www.dcgogoparadise.com/ are online resources for information about and bookings for go-go bands. go go music. gogobeat.com describes itself as a "Directory of Go-Go Music in Washington DC, MD [Maryland] and VA.[Virginia]". It's my belief that go-go music strongly influenced the creation of two other African American performance styles in that same area, and in a contiguous area during that same mid 1970s period. Those two performance styles are "Stomp and Shake" cheerleading (whose beginnings I've traced to the Virginia and North Carolina areas) and "foot stomping cheers" (whose earliest documented recording is of Washington D.C. schoolgirls in 1976). Both Stomp and Shake cheerleading and foot stomping cheers owe a lot of their performance styles to the African American art of university based Black Greek lettered fraternity & sorority steppin. Numerous predominately Black universities are found in the Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina areas. And my recollections as a member of a Black Greek lettered sorority and a fan of step shows is that the mid 1970s & early 1980s was when step shows first became prominent on Black campuses and in Black communities. I don't think that it's a coincidence that all of these Black performances arts originated or grew in influence in the same geographical areas and at the same time as go go music. It seems to me that scholarly research of any of the above mentioned African American performance arts should investigate the likely influence of go-go music on the creation & the development of those heavily percussive, crowd participation encouraging art forms.

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Here are two YouTube examples of Go Go music:

Chuck Brown And The Soul Searchers ‎– Bustin' Loose 1979



TT V-rus 1138, Published on Jun 25, 2016
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The video entitled "CHUCK BROWN "GOGO SWING,MIDNIGHT SUN,MOODY'S MOOD" @ 930 CLUB" which was initially showcased here is no longer available. Here are three comments from this video's viewer comment thread:

I live in delaware an area that has no idea what go-go music is. Still after all these yrs it's makes me dance..DC/VA stand up for chuck!...ps BET, VH-1, why isn't this getting an award???.
-denji31; 2011

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@denji31 Chuck has had many awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and things like that. He even has a street named after him on near GA ave in DC. He has gotten tons of recognition.
-CALICOTV301 ; 2011

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REAL MUSIC AT ITS BEST LIVE INSTRUMENTS REAL TALENT. I WAS STATIONED AT FORT LEE ,VIRGINIA BACK IN THE DAY AND I WAS FORMERLY INTRODUCED TO THE GREAT GO GO SOUND!!!! YOU CAN DANCE AND GROOVE OFF THIS ALL DAY AND NIGHT!!! KEEP GO GO ALIVE!!!
-XMAN4708; 2011

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Rare Essence Chocolate City Reunion (2011) #2



Uploaded by PyChip on Jul 8, 2011

Rare Essence plays at The Chocolate City Reunion
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Here's a comment from that video's viewer comment thread:

GO-GO IS STILL ALIVE!!!!!!!!!! Horn Section, Frontline Dance moves, Crowd participation, & most importantly CONGOS!!!! The only thing missing is the $10-$15 shows that went a hour & half per set!

(If you were BORN anywhere in the 90's you probrably dont understand what I'm talking about)
-Draydayz ; 2011

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