Jerkin'

A male rejecting for a crowd

Jerkin' or Jerk is a street dance culture and hip hop subgenre originating in urban California in the late 2000s. It gained mainstream popularity outside of California by Inland Empire-based groups New Boyz and Audio Push,[1] and has origins in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.[2] Since breaking into the mainstream in 2009, jerkin' gained fans along the West Coast, East Coast, and in Europe, notably France and Germany, although it was heavily derided in the Southern United States.[3]

According to Oktane of Audio Push, jerkin' culture came from gang members dancing at parties, stating: "Jerking actually came from gang-banging. Like, it was a dance that gang members did. Like, the anti-dance. If you were in the party and everyone was dancing, [the gang members] would be doing the jerk."[1] The dance itself consists of moving your legs in and out called the "jerk", and doing other moves such as the "reject", "dip", and "pindrop".[4]

  1. ^ a b "Fashion Flavor: Audio Push Discusses What Killed The Jerking Culture And Their Fashion Influence On The Mainstream". Vibe. 2 May 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2018.
  2. ^ Reid, Shaheem (2009-07-13). "New Boyz Say They're More Than Just Jerkin' Rappers – News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News". MTV. Archived from the original on July 16, 2009. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  3. ^ Weiss, Jeff (2009-08-06). "We're Jerkin (Starring the New Boyz, J-Hawk and Pink Dollaz) – Page 1 – Music – Los Angeles". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2010-06-06.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference tubef was invoked but never defined (see the help page).