Harlem Shake

Harry "Baauer" Rodrigues is an American producer from Brooklyn, New York whose style we've seen described as "Electro Trap." Trap music originated from the American southern hip-hop scene from crunk. It gets its name from dangerous neighborhoods, which are referred to as "the trap." In 2012 a movement began within EDM which incorporated elements of trap music, and Baauer was one of the electronic producers involved in this development. This song was originally released as a free digital download by Mad Decent imprint label Jeffree's on May 22, 2012. Several months later, it was propelled from obscurity by a YouTube video posted by Filthy Frank on his DisastaMusic channel on Feb. 2, 2013 that developed into an Internet meme. Within a couple of weeks these 30-second video interpretations were being uploaded by fans at the rate of several thousands a day, racking up millions of YouTube views. After several years of posting comedic videos as Filthy Frank and other characters, George Miller retired in 2017 as a YouTuber to pursue a music career under the name Joji. Five years later, Joji achieved his first US Top Ten hit with "Glimpse Of Us."

Baauer intended to make the song stand out by adding a variety of peculiar sounds. They include growling-lion noises as well as the vocal, "then do the Harlem shake", from Plastic Little's 2001 song "Miller Time", and a sample of a woman yelling "con los terroristas", taken from an a cappella version of a 2010 remix for the track "Con Alegria" by Gregor Salto, DJ Solo, and DJ Gregory.

The song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #1, helped by a timely change in the compilation of the track countdown. The tune's sudden popularity coincided with YouTube streaming data being incorporated on the chart for the first time.