Trendsurfing: Hyphy culture (The Times)
By David Rowan
Well, if there isn't a new music trend in town to get you poppin' yo colla, fo'shezzy! Now that hiphop has evolved to encompass such regional varieties as crunk and Urban Pasifika, suddenly there is yet another emerging sub-genre emerging into mainstream culture. It is called hyphy - pronounced "high-fee" - and it combines a relentlessly energetic dance beat with some rather ill-advised car-driving stunts. And, naturally, it comes with its own language - so, concerned parents, read on if you wish to underdig what’s crackulatin (ahem, to understand what is happening).
Hyphy developed in the Bay Area around San Francisco as a local alternative to the Southern US crunk sound, nurtured by such poetically named stars as Keak da Sneak, Mistah Fab and Rick Rock. But in the past few months, it has begun attracting global interest, with buy-ins from major record labels, a Warner Bros documentary, even a dictionary of hyphy slang from one of the movement's leaders, a Californian rapper called Earl Stevens but better known as E-40. "The word hyphy itself means energetic or fired up or just doing the fool," according to Mr Stevens (or should that be Mr 40?). "It's a stress reliever. The music makes the kids go silly, go bananas, go coconuts, go stupid."
Going stupid, you need to understand, is considered a good thing. Going dumb or getting hyphy are also virtues, suggesting the relaxed forms of uninhibited self-expression that typically encompass frantic sessions on the dance-floor as well as illegal car meets known as sideshows. Motor-cars are an integral part of the culture, and in hyphy slang they naturally have their own glossary: a "scraper" is an old, oversized car, a "Lex Luther" a more modern Lexus. Going "gas-brake dippin'" is a favourite if mechanically unwise means for West Coast teens to drive said cars: they accelerate then quickly hit the brake a number of times until the vehicle bumps up and down as if dancing along to the tune. Thanks to MTV and the net, such pastimes have been moving way beyond the Bay Area into white suburbia.
But it is a rather riskier hyphy driving craze that has been causing something of a parental panic across the US towns where it has been increasingly reported. Known as "ghost-riding the whip", it requires the youthful driver to jump out of a slowly moving vehicle (the "whip") and then dance alongside it or jump on to its roof as it moves forward. Then, the forward automatic gear still engaged, the practitioner has to jump back inside the moving car, ideally with no bodily injuries. "It's probably one of the most dangerous activities I've ever seen," a Stockton, California, policeman recently told journalists. Amid unconfirmed reports that the stunt had killed eight participants, Stockton passed a new traffic law in July allowing the city to seize vehicles participating in "reckless street behaviour".
Will British teens too take up ghost-riding the whip? The way these trends evolve, expect the red-top scare stories soon about a Dangerous New Car Craze hitting UK streets. Already there are hundreds of celebratory examples clogging up video-sharing networks such as YouTube, and in this electronically networked age, no local trend stays isolated for long. So when you next you dash out of the path of an out-of-control unmanned car, do pause for a moment to underdig the moment's cultural significance.
(The Times Magazine, September 9 2006)
Well, if there isn't a new music trend in town to get you poppin' yo colla, fo'shezzy! Now that hiphop has evolved to encompass such regional varieties as crunk and Urban Pasifika, suddenly there is yet another emerging sub-genre emerging into mainstream culture. It is called hyphy - pronounced "high-fee" - and it combines a relentlessly energetic dance beat with some rather ill-advised car-driving stunts. And, naturally, it comes with its own language - so, concerned parents, read on if you wish to underdig what’s crackulatin (ahem, to understand what is happening).
Hyphy developed in the Bay Area around San Francisco as a local alternative to the Southern US crunk sound, nurtured by such poetically named stars as Keak da Sneak, Mistah Fab and Rick Rock. But in the past few months, it has begun attracting global interest, with buy-ins from major record labels, a Warner Bros documentary, even a dictionary of hyphy slang from one of the movement's leaders, a Californian rapper called Earl Stevens but better known as E-40. "The word hyphy itself means energetic or fired up or just doing the fool," according to Mr Stevens (or should that be Mr 40?). "It's a stress reliever. The music makes the kids go silly, go bananas, go coconuts, go stupid."
Going stupid, you need to understand, is considered a good thing. Going dumb or getting hyphy are also virtues, suggesting the relaxed forms of uninhibited self-expression that typically encompass frantic sessions on the dance-floor as well as illegal car meets known as sideshows. Motor-cars are an integral part of the culture, and in hyphy slang they naturally have their own glossary: a "scraper" is an old, oversized car, a "Lex Luther" a more modern Lexus. Going "gas-brake dippin'" is a favourite if mechanically unwise means for West Coast teens to drive said cars: they accelerate then quickly hit the brake a number of times until the vehicle bumps up and down as if dancing along to the tune. Thanks to MTV and the net, such pastimes have been moving way beyond the Bay Area into white suburbia.
But it is a rather riskier hyphy driving craze that has been causing something of a parental panic across the US towns where it has been increasingly reported. Known as "ghost-riding the whip", it requires the youthful driver to jump out of a slowly moving vehicle (the "whip") and then dance alongside it or jump on to its roof as it moves forward. Then, the forward automatic gear still engaged, the practitioner has to jump back inside the moving car, ideally with no bodily injuries. "It's probably one of the most dangerous activities I've ever seen," a Stockton, California, policeman recently told journalists. Amid unconfirmed reports that the stunt had killed eight participants, Stockton passed a new traffic law in July allowing the city to seize vehicles participating in "reckless street behaviour".
Will British teens too take up ghost-riding the whip? The way these trends evolve, expect the red-top scare stories soon about a Dangerous New Car Craze hitting UK streets. Already there are hundreds of celebratory examples clogging up video-sharing networks such as YouTube, and in this electronically networked age, no local trend stays isolated for long. So when you next you dash out of the path of an out-of-control unmanned car, do pause for a moment to underdig the moment's cultural significance.
(The Times Magazine, September 9 2006)
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