ok so boom… (your Black media hub): (Nothin but) Love and Hip Hop: A Conversation with Hip Hop Fit’s Founder Mike Peele on How the Pandemic Gave Rise to the Peele Effect
When my partner sent me a TikTok about Mike Peele’s hip hop-based exercise videos, I was instantly intrigued–but I didn’t expect an equally instant infatuation with the workouts and, more broadly, the man himself and his rotating roster of fellow dancers.
With a free YouTube backlog of roughly 100 videos (and more on his Patreon), LA-based performer Peele has built a devoted following for Hip Hop Fit, a series of 20–40 minute dance workouts set to popular music. Peele’s dancers, diverse in age, size, race, and ability, don’t know the choreography prior to filming–they learn with the viewer, often making small mistakes in the process. The overall effect is that of a low-pressure but high-energy setting, making it easy to see how Peele amassed over 300,000 subscribers since 2020.
I sat down with him earlier this month to talk about his background, process, and goals for Hip Hop Fit.
Hi, nice to meet you.
MP: Nice to meet you, too.
My best friend, Addie, and I–we both started doing your videos at the beginning of the year and, like, can’t stop. We’re obsessed with them. We just got really excited and wanted to talk a little bit with you, so thank you so much for doing this.
MP: No, that makes me so happy. So happy.
I’d love to hear a little bit about your background and how you got started doing this. Have you always been involved in fitness? Or dance?
MP: Dance, yes. I’ve been dancing since I was one or two. Like, you know, your mom pushes you out and “go do the Michael Jackson dance,” that whole thing. So I danced all my life. My background comes from choreography. I’ve worked with Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Destiny’s Child and Rihanna, and I’ve done Stomp the Yard and you know, all of those things. So that was instilled as a part of me. But with fitness, it was — I lived in Atlanta for 10 years. So I was teaching at Crunch Fitness. I didn’t call it Hip Hop Fit back then. I just knew that I wanted to have people come and dance and have a good time. I don’t even think back then I was thinking about them losing weight. It was just more about being active. And those classes used to be packed. There would be like 80, 90 people in those classes. And it just slowly progressed. Then when I moved to LA, I stopped doing professional choreography classes because everybody does that. I wanted creative work. I said, no, this is better, because I was getting all types of people that were coming to class. And I could change up the music, I didn’t have to stay with one song. I was able to have all types of people come, like every type of background. I loved it. Just the energy of the people. So I was like, “Yeah, we’re going to call this ‘Hip Hop Fit.’” From there, it was just like, boom. I’m just very thankful and blessed that people still rock with it. And you know, with COVID, everybody just kind of jumped on.
So what’s your stretch goal for Hip Hop Fit? I know that you want to keep growing the audience but what do you want to do ultimately?
MP: I think ultimately, specifically with Hip Hop Fit, I would like it to become bigger than Zumba. I would love for it to venture out to having a fitness Coachella. I know people are tired of the whole Fit Expo thing. It’s just so repetitive. I think music brings everybody together. I don’t care who you are, music will bring everybody together. You find that you have that common thing, that one thing in common. To have some type of festival like — not just Hip Hop Fit, but the same concept as [Coachella]. You have yoga over here on this stage, you have the dopest spin people on this stage, and you have your headliners for that main stage. People from all around the world coming in that weekend, and you know they’re going to get active, stay active, working on their mental and their physical. So that’s the long term goal with Hip Hip Fit.
I actually just got certified as a Zumba instructor. So if you ever start a licensing program for Hip Hop Fit instructors, I will jump ship.
MP: Yes. Yes. That is so funny, because I’ve gotten so many people like, “You have to do the [licensing],” and I want to. The thing about it is that I’m so particular about energy and intent. I’m like, listen, you can have a bad day, but your energy has to be right [when you’re teaching]. Just certain things, it has to be right. The energy is so important.
That’s a pretty good segue into how you’re picking the dancers featured in your videos. Do they have to audition for you, or are they just people you’ve built relationships with during instruction?
MP: So the people you see when we film Hip Hop Fit are people I have relationships with, or friends of mine who do take my class, and there’s something about them. You know, their energy. I’m always surprised when I say, “Hey, would you like to do these videos?” and they’re like, “Oh, yeah.” Because for me, I’m just like, people have lives and they might say no. But these are people who really support me and who I support, and I see some type of greatness in them. It’s important for me to show the contrast between body types, backgrounds, ability, so that people don’t feel like, “You’re already fit. You know how to dance. I can’t do that.” But they [might] see somebody else and say, “Oh, I identify with this person. Okay. Maybe I can do it,” you know what I’m saying? So I won’t say never, but I don’t want to audition at this point. You know, you don’t have to be perfect. In those videos that you get to see, they don’t know the routine. They’re literally [learning as they go]— that’s why you see them messing up. I want that.
Yeah, that’s a good idea. I think that’s one of the reasons so many people respond so well to Hip Hop Fit, and definitely a reason Addie and I [continued to] do it. We really appreciate that we can tell that the dancers featured in your videos don’t know the choreography previously and that people make mistakes. Do you intentionally choreograph with accessibility in mind, making this doable for different people?
MP: I do. What I try to do is give easy steps. Some of those steps, if you just break it down, you’re like, “Oh, that’s all it is?” It’s just the force, the energy that you give a particular move that makes it really dope. But I do have in mind that there are going to be some people that aren’t going to get this move right off the bat. So when we’re going into filming, I try to make sure I break things down even more, or break it down slower, as many times as possible. But nobody wants to learn one half of an 8-count over and over. Nobody wants to do that because you get bored. So I think all of us just need to be pushed. Even if you mess up, it’s totally fine.
When you’re filming, do you ever modify the choreography on the fly based on how the other dancers are doing, or how you’re doing that day?
MP: (laughing) Listen, I can’t give you all the secrets, but there are times when we’re filming and [someone] will do something that is not really what the move is. And in I’ll go, “Okay, I like that.” So I’ll change it. Especially if the other person is also doing the same thing, I’m like, okay, it flows naturally better on your body. Sometimes I will call it out. I’m like, “Okay, so y’all see what this person did? That’s what we’re going to do.” So yes, on the fly, if I see something or even if I feel something, I’ll change it right then and there. I will say that before we start the film, I’ll go over [the choreography] myself. And anytime anybody on set gets silent, that means they’re watching. So they’ll be in the corner trying to cheat. So as we start filming, I go, “So we’re going to do this,” and they’ll go, “That’s not what he did a little while ago!” But yeah, I’ve been known to change on the fly. And a lot of the time it feels really good.
So I know you have a Patreon and you sell merch, but a lot of your content is available for free on YouTube. What was behind the decision to make those videos free for people?
MP: You know, people love the free. They get mad when you put up a paywall. (laughs) So I’ll be honest and transparent as possible. My career has multiple links. I have acting, I have a film degree. All these different things that I’m super blessed and grateful and thankful to be able to make a living [doing]. Prior to the pandemic hitting, I was still booking work. So the thing was that when the pandemic hit, I wanted to go back to my YouTube channel to give people something to do, to take their minds off whatever was going on, and also to get people fit or to stay active. You saw people building these gyms and their homes and all of that, but what about the people who couldn’t afford to buy the weights, didn’t have the space to even create this whole gym thing? So I said, “Listen, just dance. All you gotta do is put it on you in your living room, your bedroom, wherever.” And the notion behind free and still free for YouTube was simply that I want to continue to build the Hip Hop Fit and the Peele Effect community. That was the goal. The Peele Effect stands for creating, motivating, and inspiring. So whatever I create, it’s to pass on to people to motivate them and inspire them to go do the same. It was to build that community. It had nothing to do with money, because my thought and my process is that the bag is going to come. The money will come. The thought was putting people together, making people feel good about themselves, getting them active, staying active, giving them something to look forward to. That was that. Now, you know, people have started saying, “Well, Mike, at least tell people if they want to tip you, if they want to support, they can CashApp or Venmo or whatever.” That was a struggle, because I didn’t want people to think that’s what I was out for. I’m still not. But now we’re at 103 videos. That is a huge library. So I’ve started to back off and say, “Okay, you have all these videos, now I’m only going to YouTube one, maybe two a month. If you want longer, if you want stuff that I can’t even put on YouTube because of the copyright, now you gotta come over to my Patreon.” Now we have a slew of new people, so we’ll see how that goes. But to me, it’s strongly about this community, that I have built and will continue to build. The money and all that stuff will come. I’m not even worried about it.
So Addie has asked me to ask you where you get your pants from and what your favorite sneakers to dance in are.
MP: You know what? You tell Addie I love, love, love an H&M. All the sweatpants you see me wear in the videos are from H&M. If it’s not Hip Hop Fit gear, then the t-shirts or whatever probably come from Marshalls. I’m not going to spend a whole bunch of money on something I am consistently sweating in. I’m just not going to do that. But H&M, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx. I like a Target, but Target for activewear, for me and how I’m built, can be very hit or miss. And then the sneakers. Now, I’m a sneakerhead. So what I do is I will dance in shoes that I have now made a dance shoe, a dance sneaker. Or I’ll just go out and buy a pair of sneakers or two just specifically for dancing that are good on my feet, which tends to be a Nike shoe or an Adidas. I’m not saying no other brand probably would work, but those are the shoes that I normally rotate out.
Do you have any favorite fitness tips, or maybe dance-specific tips you’re willing to share with us?
MP: I feel like in this day and age with social media, people really need to figure out what works for them. Not everything that a person is doing to lose weight, get fit, may work for you. It just might not work for you. So I think people should take information with a grain of salt. I think people need to also go back and research and stop looking for the answers through a 30-second or 60-second video. Do your research. People want a quick fix. Hip Hop Fit isn’t even a quick fix because you have to build up your stamina. You have to still put in the work. And you have to change your lifestyle. So I think people need to research. I think people need to try. People need to ask for help. And understand that everything does not work. Everything that works for somebody else may not work for you. Trial and error. [As for] dance tips, I think people should really stop putting themselves in the box. Do what you can. And that’s it. If you know that you can’t spin, you alternate the move and you keep it moving. I think we get so stuck in our heads as we get older. When we were kids, you never told yourself, “I can’t do a backflip.” You either tried and busted your butt, or you tried and got it, or you tried until you got it. It’s the same thing [with dance]. Just get out of your own way.
Follow Mike Peele on Instagram and YouTube or support him on Patreon. And most important of all, come join Anomaly’s Editor of Features and Reviews and me and dance with us!
**NOTE: Some of this interview has been edited for clarity.
