SNAP!

“Don’t get it twisted, pimpin’, this a hood dance.”—Sean Paul of Young Bloodz

In an attempt to explain Snap music, and its body-based compliments, websites such as Rap Basement (rapbasement.com) have posted brief descriptions:

Snap is a new subgenre of Rap music that is emerging from Atlanta, Georgia. A close cousin to similar Dirty South style crunk, snap is characterized by its namesake finger-snapping, and its very primitive, stripped-down approach to hip-hop. Tracks commonly consist plainly of a hi-hat, bass, snapping, a main groove, and a vocal track. Invented for use at clubs, it is unusually languid for normal dance music, with a slow tempo. There is some debate over the true origin of snap, with both rap outfits Dem Franchize Boyz and D4L and leading producer Mr. Collipark claiming themselves the creators.

Dance.
There are four dances that can be done to snap music. They are The Poole Palace, The Westside Walk, Jocin', and the Snap Dance. The snap dance is a very simple dance done to snap music. Different artists have different ways of instructing it, from Lil' Jon's "Snap ya Fingaz, Do ya Step" description to Dem Franchize Boyz "Lean wit it, Rock wit it" instruction. Basically, the dance is the movement of the torso and arms with little (if any) feet movement, followed by snapping and leaning back in time with the music.

The first paragraph, which was probably jacked from Wikipedia or vice versa, points out that the “primitive” characteristic of Snap music centers around the finger-snap. I also came across a website that offered a “how to” step-by-step instructional text. In this case, the dance is reduced to four easy steps. So, “When you're concerned about "sweating up" your expensive outfit, or just want to look cool on the dance floor, there's a dance that's got your name all over it. It's easy, and the best part is once you've got the basic moves down, the sky's the limit.” What’s crazy is how this notion gets transferred to the dance. The dance is all about the snap. Really?

But, check it. The “dance” features finger snaps as bookends to the “dancing” that happens in-between. Even the featured fingersnap of the dance functions as an opportunity to exhibit individual style. How you gon’ snap? Don’t just snap. It’s not about keeping time. Snap!

For example, dude in this clip adds, with his body, a variety of polyrhythmic phrases on top of the “primitive” and “unusually languid” music.



In this clip, the punctuation of the snaps is noticeable but not predictable. The use of the finger snap functions as a means to support the overall aesthetic strategy. He’s not just keeping time. This embodied act of stylistic time-keeping seems to recall, in some way, the jazz aesthetics of the “swinging twenties” often exemplified by toe-tapping and finger-snapping. It recalls an image of Harlem’s bouncy head-noddin’, toe-tappin’, and finger snappin’ hepsters; an image that has been embedded as an embodied visual representation of a moment in jazz. In the same way, this dance will mark a moment in hip-hopstory and it’s geographical (Atlanta, Georgia) and ideological (The Streets) region of origin. Dance captured on video, re-formatted and uploaded dance is one language that turns YouTube into an accessible space. It potentially becomes a space clear of oral language borders. It is assumed that the audio-visual content of a dance clip permits the viewer

Lastly, for the record, there are more than four dances that can be done to snap music. Folks aren’t restricted to the fore mentioned dances when a snap jam comes on.