Hip Hop Hooray

This celebration of hip-hop is built on the "hip-hop hooray" chant that comprises the chorus. It's a variation on the phrase "hip hip hooray," which was said in merry ol' England to celebrate a person or event with three cheers. For example: "Three cheers for Dashing Dan on his stellar performance during the fox hunt. Hip hip... hooray! Hip hip... hooray! Hip hip... hooray!" In Naughty By Nature's variation, we're toasting to hip-hop.

In the '80s, many MCs (notably Kurtis Blow), would engage the crowd in call-and-response, often yelling out "hey!" or "ho!" to get it answered back. "Hip Hop Hooray" took this to a new level, with the crowd see-sawing from "hey" to "ho" throughout the chorus. It quickly became a modern classic, with rappers invoking the chant anytime they needed to hype a crowd.

Rappers and hype men have been imploring us to throw our hands in the air and wave them like we just don't care since the dawn of hip-hop, but when we hear this song, we do it without being asked. The music video shows the moves: arms in the air, to the left on "hey," to the right on "ho." It's irresistible.