While the Bay Area of Northern California represents the invention of the Hyphy movement, originating in the late ’90s with rappers Keak Da Sneak and E-40, Los Angeles’ own hip-hop movement, jerk dancing, or “jerking,” is quickly becoming a nationwide fad. The UCLA Jerk Kings, a group of four jerk dancers (two of whom are actual UCLA students), have jerked their way to YouTube stardom.
Jerk dancing, a more positive derivative of the gang-affiliated Crip walk, was a previously underground hip-hop dance style that has recently become popular because of media exposure, most notably in the New Boyz single, “You’re a Jerk.”
As an underground movement, most jerk dancers catch onto the trend at parties or through instructional videos on YouTube. The UCLA Jerk Kings was formed through chance encounters at parties with members who found a common interest in jerk dancing.
“We would look at little videos here and there and eventually we all progressed. I was interested in jerking because of the attention that it brought. We would go on the dance floor, and we would get a lot of people watching. All eyes were on us, and every time we would go to parties, we would get the crowd going, and it was exhilarating,” said Andre Randle (aka Dr. Strokes), a second-year theater student.
After forming the dance crew as a fluke idea, they filmed their first video, “White Boys Jerkin.” To date, the video has received more than a million hits on YouTube, creating a worldwide fanbase, as well as notoriety in the hip-hop community.
Members of the Jerk Kings appear in the New Boyz music video for “You’re a Jerk,” as well as a Fox News segment covering the jerking phenomenon.
“It was the most random coincidental thing,” said Edward Danielyan (aka DJ Eklektiq), a third-year political science and Russian student. “It is amazing how it started, and we got over a million views. I am really grateful for the technology. We found something in common, and we used the Web and how easy it is to access it from all over the world. … It was honestly the smallest fun activity that turned into something that we can’t even handle anymore.”
The Jerk Kings’ videos (there are now four) feature dance crew members jerk dancing on various locations throughout the UCLA campus and Westwood to remixes created by DJ Eklektiq, who is also a budding local DJ.
Little did crew members know that their antics in front of the Bruin bear and in the nooks of Young Research Library would land them enormous amounts of publicity and promotional opportunities.
“I’ve been in three music videos so far. It was fun because I am an actor, and I love jerking, so I was getting to do what I love,” said Barnaby Kupper (aka BB the Jerk). “Jerking has helped the crew to do a lot more. We started making our own music, our own clothing line at uclajerking.com, and we have been making a lot of appearances at parties.”
While jerking has helped the Jerk Kings launch a line of T-shirts as well as give them invaluable publicity to their musical endeavors, the movement in general is a positive outlet for young kids in urban neighborhoods.
“All of the youth right now that’s jerking could be up to worse things. It is healthy exercise, they’re dancing, and they aren’t up to any activities like drugs or violence. I am really surprised by how friendly jerking crews are ““ I have never been to a party where anyone is violent. It is a really positive activity,” Danielyan said.
Only time will tell whether jerking becomes as popular as the Hyphy movement, but for now, the UCLA Jerk Kings intend to ride the wave of jerking for as far as it will take them.
Danielyan, for instance, jerks less now to focus on his jerking remixes.
And while a prevailing sense of ambition motivates the UCLA Jerk Kings to take advantage of their celebrity, they have no intention of abandoning the dance crew that brought them such unexpected fame.
“At first I thought jerking was going to die pretty soon, but it is a movement of dancing that is nationwide. I don’t think it’s going to die. We are being featured in a jerking documentary that is coming out soon,” Kupper said. “And as for the future, we are going to be making another video and more music and jerking for as long as it lives.”