Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been preachin’ the relevance of regional dance music for years. From D.C. Go Go to Baltimore Club, Detroit Techno to Miami Bass each form had it’s genesis in the city’s urban core and gradually spread to a wider audience. These styles have at least some core elements of hip hop and it’s always interesting to see the ways various geographic flavors gets thrown in and effect the corresponding dance styles.
In our constant search for the next hot “it”, us media and marketing folks have given these styles some shine over the years, not always to the best ends-sometimes making the underground mainstream is a really bad idea-but it’s good to see folks getting some recognition and (ideally) eating off their craft.
Footworkin’ has been a Chicago staple since at least the late 90’s and grew out of the city’s fierce house and club scenes. The music is like House on meth:fast, neckbreaking stuff-and the footwork, well just check it:
Recently Samsung, in a move that kicked them up about 1 zillion notches on my “Marketers who are on their shit” list, rolled out the ad campaign for their new “Juke” phone, featuring real live jukin from Chicago’s FootworKINGz:
With the commercial nod, a recent article in Rolling Stone, a theater debut at this years “Hip Hop Dance Fest” and yes folks, a movie deal in consideration, looks like Footworkin’, or at least the FootworKINGz, are set to be repping the Windy city lovely for a minute. I really hope creators of these dances and musical styles have their business hats on, are smart about how much control they give away and make it a point to establish some form of ownership over their creations. I’m down for everybody groovin, but just make sure that green goes into the right hands at the end of the day.
I mean, I’m way too young for this, but I hear cats used to listen to Rock n Roll and do the Charleston in the hood. Now ain’t that some other ish…
