Double Dutch Bus

Hip-Hop was born in New York City, but by 1981 its influence extended to Philadelphia, where Frankie Smith used elements of the form to create "Double Dutch Bus," one of the most unusual songs ever recorded. Smith was a staff writer at Philadelphia International Records in the '70s, but he had little impact and was let go. He got back on his feet by recording his first single, "Double Dutch Bus," where he rapped about a funky bus where everybody's getting down. Like "Rapper's Delight" and many other rap songs that were gaining traction, the song tells a clever and self-deprecating story: He misses his bus and has to walk 15 blocks to get to work. But "Double Dutch Bus" has a secret weapon: a hook filled with a kind of pig Latin variation sung by Smith and a group of kids along the lines of: Mizzo izzay wizzat nizzo yizzou izzay This was a precursor to Jay-Z's improvised language in his 2001 hit "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," where he spells out HOVA in izzle-speak: H to the Izz-o, V to the Izz-A Snoop Dogg, an old-school aficionado, put his own spin on it, using it as part of his regular speech. Fo shizzle.

Double Dutch is a game typically played by young girls with two jump ropes swinging at the same time. They have to jump over the ropes in rhythm to keep it going.

This is really a kids' song. When Frankie Smith performed it on American Bandstand, he told Dick Clark: "'Double Dutch' is a tribute to all the girls in the world, especially the girls on my block. I've been watching them for 25 years. They use their mothers' clotheslines to play the game - it's an art. It's a tribute to them - they're really good at it."