My Boo
As is usual, today I sat at my desk and did work while listening to my iPod. I was listening to one of the playlists that I put together with a lot of 80s/90s good music that sends us back to that time and place we WANT to remember so well.
The song, My Boo came on from the Ghost Town DJs. The song is over 5 minutes long. About 2 minutes into the song, I felt a tear come to my eye. That just proves, we don’t always have full control of our feelings and bodily functions. Because the part of my brain that controls memory made a tear fall.
You see, this song brings back a WHOLE bunch of memories. Memories that are locked away and enclosed in the deeper recesses of my mind. Memories that I can call upon when I’m feeling sad or things are not going so well and I need to bring myself to a time when all was right with the world. That’s what type of song, My Boo is. Sounds silly I know, but let me explain.
Attached to the memory of this song is, youth. It reminds me of when I was 18. The end of my freshman year, in fact. This was one of the hottest songs playing in the South where I attended school. If I close my eyes and listen to this song, landscapes shroud my mental space like a falling piece of lace. And in place come the sprawling manicured lawns of Duke University. The late night study sessions that included study breaks over coffee as we began to mimic adults. Sweaty gymnasiums with folks from as far away as 2 hours, joining us for what turned out to be a well attended party. Myrtle Beach. Fraternity brothers and too cute girls. Practicing party walks.
This song takes me back to the time I was in the Underground with other football players (much older than me for college standards) and Grant Hill came back to the school after his first year as a Detroit Piston and was buying all of the football and basketball players drinks; we were all sectioned off behind the DJ where no one else was allowed, but girls of course. And we all started dancing and being young, all at the same time. That was just another unbelievable experience that I can now recall due to the remembrance of that song. Youth.
Attached to my youth was ignorance. Not ignorance of mind, but ignorance of experiences. Prior to moving to North Carolina, I refused to listen to any music that wasn’t from NY. What did that mean? That meant during that time period, whenever music would come on that wasn’t either NY rap or reggae, I wouldn’t dance to it, so I would leave the dance floor no matter how much fun I was having. You see, in the mid-90s, most mainstream dance music was coming from the Northeast. . .at least for a Northeasterner, that is. There was a time I didn’t like Outkast. Not because I didn’t like their lyrics; I didn’t know their lyrics. Not because I didn’t like what they represented; I didn’t know that either. I didn’t like Outkast because they weren’t from New York. Ignorance.
This song takes me back to the very first time I tried to dance to “Booty Shake.” We were at Myrtle Beach and everyone was on the dance floor having a good time. I was dancing with this freshman named Carmen who was a soccer player and smart as anything I’ve ever known (she was at Duke on a full ride). Well, an Uncle Luke song started to come on and everyone got hype. . .everyone but me. I started to call it quits and do my usual of walking off the dance floor, but then got upset with myself. Why was I making myself leave the dance floor? Quite the opposite was occurring. The booty shake song came on and the dance floor started to get more crowded.
I grabbed Carmen by the hand, who was from ATL and knew how to dance and went deeper onto the dance floor (to hide myself from the on-lookers on the side of the dance floor). I began to dance like I’d never danced before. At the time, every song from NY to LA, for that matter, could be danced to. . .nay, SHOULD be danced to using a slow head bob and maybe a raised hand or two. Not booty shake. Speed up EU’s, “The Butt” song from Spike Lee’s School Daze and you have the picture I’m trying to paint for you. Prior to going down south, never had I seen music make men move like that. You’re accustomed to seeing women gyrate, but not men. Even Kid n’ Play had nothing on some of the things I saw.
An Uncle Luke song was playing and I had to figure out how to dance to it. So I did what I thought made sense. I started boggling fast as hell!! And for a minute, I thought I was doing the same thing as everyone else. Then Tootsie Roll came on. I thought to myself, “I can move my legs like that.” I was doing it!! To the left, to the left (okay, here I go). To the right, to the right. (okay, let’s go back) To the front, to the front (hope you’re moving in front of me). To the back, to the back. (hope I don’t step back and bust my you know what). Now dip, Baby, dip. Come on, Now!! (I can definitely Dip!) I made it through 2 songs. Then the very next song was My Boo; the slow version of this dance genre, which was still 5 times faster than any other form of dance.
I can remember mimicking other male dancers on the floor. And on more than one occasion I saw men turn their backs to women and dance with their butts pressed up against the front of the woman. Huh!!! What’s the point of doing that? It seemed so odd to me, but I decided that if I was going to blend in that I should try it too. Carmen seemed to get excited about it when I turned around and that made me feel a bit more awkward. But we were all having fun. My Boo.
I have to laugh at myself now. What a memory; let me go hit repeat.
The song, My Boo came on from the Ghost Town DJs. The song is over 5 minutes long. About 2 minutes into the song, I felt a tear come to my eye. That just proves, we don’t always have full control of our feelings and bodily functions. Because the part of my brain that controls memory made a tear fall.
You see, this song brings back a WHOLE bunch of memories. Memories that are locked away and enclosed in the deeper recesses of my mind. Memories that I can call upon when I’m feeling sad or things are not going so well and I need to bring myself to a time when all was right with the world. That’s what type of song, My Boo is. Sounds silly I know, but let me explain.
Attached to the memory of this song is, youth. It reminds me of when I was 18. The end of my freshman year, in fact. This was one of the hottest songs playing in the South where I attended school. If I close my eyes and listen to this song, landscapes shroud my mental space like a falling piece of lace. And in place come the sprawling manicured lawns of Duke University. The late night study sessions that included study breaks over coffee as we began to mimic adults. Sweaty gymnasiums with folks from as far away as 2 hours, joining us for what turned out to be a well attended party. Myrtle Beach. Fraternity brothers and too cute girls. Practicing party walks.
This song takes me back to the time I was in the Underground with other football players (much older than me for college standards) and Grant Hill came back to the school after his first year as a Detroit Piston and was buying all of the football and basketball players drinks; we were all sectioned off behind the DJ where no one else was allowed, but girls of course. And we all started dancing and being young, all at the same time. That was just another unbelievable experience that I can now recall due to the remembrance of that song. Youth.
Attached to my youth was ignorance. Not ignorance of mind, but ignorance of experiences. Prior to moving to North Carolina, I refused to listen to any music that wasn’t from NY. What did that mean? That meant during that time period, whenever music would come on that wasn’t either NY rap or reggae, I wouldn’t dance to it, so I would leave the dance floor no matter how much fun I was having. You see, in the mid-90s, most mainstream dance music was coming from the Northeast. . .at least for a Northeasterner, that is. There was a time I didn’t like Outkast. Not because I didn’t like their lyrics; I didn’t know their lyrics. Not because I didn’t like what they represented; I didn’t know that either. I didn’t like Outkast because they weren’t from New York. Ignorance.
This song takes me back to the very first time I tried to dance to “Booty Shake.” We were at Myrtle Beach and everyone was on the dance floor having a good time. I was dancing with this freshman named Carmen who was a soccer player and smart as anything I’ve ever known (she was at Duke on a full ride). Well, an Uncle Luke song started to come on and everyone got hype. . .everyone but me. I started to call it quits and do my usual of walking off the dance floor, but then got upset with myself. Why was I making myself leave the dance floor? Quite the opposite was occurring. The booty shake song came on and the dance floor started to get more crowded.
I grabbed Carmen by the hand, who was from ATL and knew how to dance and went deeper onto the dance floor (to hide myself from the on-lookers on the side of the dance floor). I began to dance like I’d never danced before. At the time, every song from NY to LA, for that matter, could be danced to. . .nay, SHOULD be danced to using a slow head bob and maybe a raised hand or two. Not booty shake. Speed up EU’s, “The Butt” song from Spike Lee’s School Daze and you have the picture I’m trying to paint for you. Prior to going down south, never had I seen music make men move like that. You’re accustomed to seeing women gyrate, but not men. Even Kid n’ Play had nothing on some of the things I saw.
An Uncle Luke song was playing and I had to figure out how to dance to it. So I did what I thought made sense. I started boggling fast as hell!! And for a minute, I thought I was doing the same thing as everyone else. Then Tootsie Roll came on. I thought to myself, “I can move my legs like that.” I was doing it!! To the left, to the left (okay, here I go). To the right, to the right. (okay, let’s go back) To the front, to the front (hope you’re moving in front of me). To the back, to the back. (hope I don’t step back and bust my you know what). Now dip, Baby, dip. Come on, Now!! (I can definitely Dip!) I made it through 2 songs. Then the very next song was My Boo; the slow version of this dance genre, which was still 5 times faster than any other form of dance.
I can remember mimicking other male dancers on the floor. And on more than one occasion I saw men turn their backs to women and dance with their butts pressed up against the front of the woman. Huh!!! What’s the point of doing that? It seemed so odd to me, but I decided that if I was going to blend in that I should try it too. Carmen seemed to get excited about it when I turned around and that made me feel a bit more awkward. But we were all having fun. My Boo.
I have to laugh at myself now. What a memory; let me go hit repeat.
posted by JayGee at 2/13/2007 02:30:00 PM
2 Comments:
So you danced like you had never danced before? That's funny.
Yeah, back in the day, men would dance! Now they stand on the dancefloor expecting the woman to treat him like he's the pole at some strip joint. That's no fun. I refuse to gyrate my butt on some man...well, most times anyway.
I'm glad you finally gave it a chance. Question though? Does it continue to this day?
I'm jealous. I can't dip anymore. I injured my knees some years back and I can't get low. I'd fall if I tried. On the dancefloor, I usually blame this inability on tight jeans.
Post a Comment
<< Home