Little Jerks

Exhibit A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCotPIA4vn8&feature=related

Exhibit B: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUmG7Fkw760&NR=1

So, Jerkin' is what the kids do. Lots of people think it's corny, lots of people think it's cool. I, personally, am drawn to it because of the parallels it shares with nascent b-boy culture of yester-generation. I like the idea that a bunch of kids formed a unique style despite the oppressive tenets of popular black culture that for so long has dictated what black people "should" be like. If nothing else, the popularity of jerkin' provides an alternative to the internalized stereotypes people have come to associate with hip hop culture, and by extension, black people; to say that rap is mostly about killing people and wearing oversized clothing doesn't make as much sense when 11 year olds in purple-checked skinny jeans are bowing their legs skipping backwards down the street. So in that regard, I think jerkin' is cool.

One of the most romantic images I have of b-boying is two crews meeting in a park, having words and deciding to throw down in a battle instead of a brawl. The fact of the matter is, these videos are probably what that was like: goofy, awkward children firing lame insults back and forth before twisting their prepubescent bodies into amateurish dance moves. Sure, maybe they good and became part of the Rock Steady Crew, but they had to start somewhere. When it comes to b-boy, we don't really see the development, we just see the finished product. Luckily for us, or maybe not, history repeats itself and with what I like to think of as b-boy 2.0, we see all the ridiculous youthfulness that such a cultural movement requires.