Hip-Pop/All the Ladies!

Today I thought I would talk about something that everyone is semi familiar with but may not realize it. Lyrical Hip Hop! WOOT! This is the hip hop you see in your fave music videos by your fave artists. And we’ve all seen at least one, and have one video that we wanted to watch over and over and over again. It all started for me with Michael Jacksons “Thriller“. My aunt had the video on VHS which also included the “making of” the video. So not only did I get to see the finished dance…I got to see Mike and the gang in rehearsals for the zombie dance sequence. I was in love…I must have watched that tape so many times. That dance is ingrained into my very being and I will never forget it.

The great thing about music video hip hop is that it HAS to be good. It has to hold your attention, not once like in live performance, and not for an hour in dance class…it has to hold it forever! It has to withstand the continuous plays on MTV, the constant you tube watches, the slow motion, the freeze frames, the HD 60 inch plasmas. It has to withstand it all and captivate every time. And for something to do that time and time again…it has to be pretty spectacular.

Now the key ingredients for all fantastical dance performances are:
1. Great song. You gotta have your jam.
2. Great choreography. Those moves don’t make themselves up.
3. Great performance/performer. The person or persons you want to see dance forever.

I’d like to show you a few clips of some of my favorite pop stars that have won me over with their dance ability's and stellar performances. The only think I love more then a hot pop song, is a hot pop song sung by a person that could also be a professional dancer. It just makes it that much better for me.

Lets begin with the ladies shall we. Top three right off the bat:
1. Janet Jackson
2. Ciara
3. Britney Spears(wait for it...)

Now Janet Jackson has been doing this for a LONG time. But I really only got into her around the “If” period. We all know that video…we all love that video! But I wasn’t an early Janet fan. Then she kind of slipped off my radar and I really didn’t reconnect with her until she came with this really happy poppy sound complete with super colorful happy awesome dance videos. She has ALWAYS been an amazing dancer…I’m sure being a Jackson didn’t hurt either. The video I would like to share is a song that Janet made for the movie Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps that she co-starred in. They always tryin to act. The video is really fun, colorful, great song and GREAT example of lyrical hip hop. They do the entire dance on this moving floor. Its awesome! Song is “Doesn’t Really Matter”. Enjoy!



Now Ciara is still a fairly new artist but I became obsessed with her pretty quickly. Girl can DANCE! She is one of the few female artists that not only have dance heavy performances…but goes just as hard as any male dancer around. At a young 23 years of age she got swagger like no girl I’ve ever seen. If you don’t believe me check out her video “Oh” where she is HER OWN video girl. Her dancing on top of that car is one of most raw video moments ever! But the video I chose to showcase the lyrical skills is none other then “Like A Boy”. Here Ciara plays two roles male and female and does a pas de deux(dance for two ya’ll) with herself! All female dancers in the back showin mad attitude and killin it! Enjoy!



Now Britney Spears needs no introduction. I feel like shes been around since forever. I know her…you know her. And although we all may not appreciate her style of music or vocal “decisions”, she is no doubt a well trained dancer and a person that I have always loved to watch perform. With a background in gymnastics, great technique and awesome choreographers by her side Britney is a dance force to be reckoned with. One my favorite videos is “Me Against the Music” featuring Madonna. This video sticks out for me because she went with different choreographers, one being Colombus Short, star of the dance movie “Stomp the Yard”. Its Britney Bitch!…and Madonna.



So that wraps up the ladies for me. Hope you had fun! Stay tuned for the boys!