Bobby Shmurda and the Weirdest White Girl Anthem Ever
How a viral rap song with no chorus topped the Billboard charts and made everyone Shmoney Dance
The top ten on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart is a lot like the student body of an elite prep school. It’s dominated by the kids with heritage, their status is preordained, their popularity genetically engineered. They’re Presleys and Jacksons, Careys, Perrys, Pitbulls and ‘Ridas. They’re Jimmy Jams and Dr. Lukes—4/4 legacies who make perfect sense in their gilded surroundings. But it’s also home to a few oddballs, the orphans who don’t fit in with their peers and are unsure of how they even got there in the first place.
“Where’d that weirdo come from?” whispers “Billie Jean” to “Teenage Dream,” nodding toward that scrappy nerd “Harlem Shake” across the green. “Dunno,” TD replies with a toss of her raven locks, “But I’d fuck him.”
Just three weeks ago, Bobby Shmurda’s “Hot Nigga” brazenly cut “Stay With Me” in the lunch line, plopped its tray down at Max Martin’s table and splashed lean all over “Shake It Off’s” perfectly-manicured face. Peaking this week at No. 8 on the chart, it might just be oddest top ten record of all time—weirder than this or this or even this.
The fluke success of “Hot Nigga” provides insight into why contemporary white pop culture embraces certain viral hip-hop tunes, even when a mere mention of the title elicits an awkward fumble around the N-word. It also tells a broader story about how freak hits infiltrate and even usurp the popular clique in 2014.
Hey, even Katy Perry was a weird kid once.
As a DJ, predicting which songs will eventually capture the public’s consciousness is part of my job. I’m usually pretty good at it (*casually brushes shoulders off*). That said, “Hot Nigga” completely blindsided me (*casually reapplies dirt to shoulders*).
Not because I didn’t find it worthy, either. When I first heard it in July, I knew it was exceptional—arresting and catchy in spite of glaring eccentricities. But so are many sterling records that never make it. I certainly never thought I’d see “Hot Nigga” (rebranded for the radio as “Hot Boy”) sandwiched in the top tier between Megan Trainor’s saccharin self-affirmation cupcake “All About That Bass” and Ariana Grande’s uber-lite EDM wafer “Break Free.”
Furthermore, I initially pegged it as a guy’s song—too hip-hop, too regional, too masculine for the top-40, female-oriented sets I play at commercial clubs on the weekends. When girls dance, everyone dances, goes the DJ adage. I simply couldn’t picture white girls doing the “Shmoney Dance.”
I was right, at least at first. When I drunkenly dropped “Hot Nigga” in an LES club at 3AM one early September Saturday (mostly for my own enjoyment), boys of all creeds swarmed the booth for high-fives and fist-bumps. Meanwhile the girls, primarily white, stomped their heels and shot me death stares. This record had no place for them in my set next to “Countdown, “We Can’t Stop” or even “Trophies.” I mixed out quickly.
Essentially a freestyle rap, “Hot Nigga’s” lyrics play out like a series of inside jokes between Shmurda and his Bedstuy crew. “And Chewy I’m some hot Nigga / Like I talk to Shyste when I shot niggas… And Monte keep it on him, he done dropped niggas / and Trigga he be wildin’, he some hot nigga,” go the opening bars. Throughout its duration, the song’s highly personal idiom feels miles from the well-worn cliches that constitute most top 40 hits— pop, rap or otherwise.
Like many contemporary hip-hop records, “Hot Nigga” is driven by a purposefully abrasive, thundering masculinity—it conveys the language lyrically, sonically, texturally, of “boys being boys” in the most uninhibited sense of the paradigm. “If you ain’t a hoe, get up out my trap house!” Shmurda intones triumphantly.
From her plush perch in chartland, Meghan Trainor is blushing.
Unlike most other crossover hip-hop bro-fests, though, “Hot Nigga” features none of the usual concessions to white women, the primary consumers of top 40 music and a crucial demographic puzzle piece for a top ten record. There’s no sprightly DJ Mustard snaps to temper that aggressive masculine id, no cooing Drake hook to broaden its appeal across gender and racial lines. “Fancy” this is not.
But perhaps the oddest and most notable factor in “Hot Nigga’s” massive success is that it’s absolutely devoid of a hook. For context, even hit songs that famously lacked a traditional chorus featured either a repeating refrain (R.E.M’s “Losing My Religion” or The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” for example) or were arguably one endless 8 minute hook (See Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”).
More recently, Baauer’s “Harlem Shake” had a monstrous drop and Lil Wayne’s “A Milli,” perhaps “Hot Nigga’s” clearest top ten antecedent, possessed an indelible stuttering sample, hook-like elements that helped each blend in with average top 40 fair. “Hot Nigga” features not a single repeated line over the course of its runtime, perhaps a first for a vocal track in the top reaches of the Billboard chart. It’s a totally new pedigree.
Fast-forward six weeks from that chilly September reception, though, and this past Saturday I watched as “Hot Nigga” enjoyed the most unanimous reaction of my set, wholeheartedly embraced by the same white girls who had scorned it weeks earlier. “OH MY GOD, YASSS!” howled a brunette bachelorette as the song’s opening siren boomed through the club speakers, celebratory shrieks usually reserved for the latest Rihanna confection. This constituted a highly unlikely Becky U-Turn.
I tickled my chin in wonder. How the hell did “Hot Nigga” become the new “Drunk in Love?”
As I rolled home in my Uber that night, I racked my brain over the track’s unlikely rise to the top of the class, scrolling through my iPhone for clues. After some serious pondering I think I got some answers, or at least solid guesses. So here’s why white girls are Shmoney-ing:
1. The Video
The base of the song’s unlikely success is grounded squarely in the now. The 30 million YouTube views on the “Hot Nigga” video are factored into its Hot 100 points and are the track’s primary chart fuel. Moreover, the fact that the song arrived in the top ten by non-traditional means has, on its own, piqued curiosity, press coverage and thereby the track’s visibility with white people, fundamental in creating a popular music sensation in America. The mere fact that it’s a hit has made it a hit, so to speak.
So, you ask, what drew crowds to this video? Two words for you: “Shmoney Dance.”
2. The Shmoney Dance
So, remember when I said I couldn’t picture white girls Shmoney-ing? Well, I was very wrong indeed. The languid, syncopated body motion debuted by Shmurda in the “Hot Nigga” video has proved major here. It’s a movement that’s a movement unto itself. Even Beyonce did the Shmoney Dance on stage during the On the Run Tour.
Left-field pop hits like Los Del Rio’s “The Macarena” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” and even more commonly left field hip-hop pop hits, often come with a dance attached: Soulja Boy’s “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” Unk’s “Walk It Out,” Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How To Dougie,” the list seems endless.
The Shmoney Dance may even be “Hot Nigga’s” de-facto, non-verbal hook.
That said, “Hot Nigga” is far less inherently poppy, and the dance far more ethereal, than the hits mentioned above. Anyway a dance is not, on its own, enough for a top ten appearance. Here’s where cultural gatekeepers come into play.
3. The New Cultural Gatekeepers*
(*Mostly Just Beyonce)
This is perhaps the biggest key in “Hot Nigga’s” success.
Sure, the public has largely rejected the gatekeepers of yore: label executives, A&Rs and radio programmers. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a new set of cultural gatekeepers who help catapult an underdog song’s mainstream cache.
The Shmoney Dance is likely what helped endear the song to the next layer of gatekeepers, the ones with access to white audiences who don’t frequent hip-hop blogs, listen to Hot 97 or watch BET, all of which were “Hot Nigga’s” initial champions. The new gatekeepers who expand awareness around viral hip-hop songs use social media voraciously. They also tend to be cultural critics, bloggers and, perhaps most crucially, trendsetting celebrities who all appeal to white girls. Remember when Taylor Swift rapped “SuperBass?”
In the case of “Hot Nigga,” a series of Vines brought it to the iPhones of white audiences at large. Beyonce’s 10-second Stadium Shmoney served as the Taylor Swift rap this time around. Giggling at a Vine or ogling Bey as she Shmoney-ed, perhaps via Slate or The Village Voice or Vogue, lead to an even wider cultural fixation on “Hot Nigga’s” music video.
A nod from Beyonce also helped recast the aforementioned machismo inherent in the song’s DNA as something fun, playful and cool for girls to like, instead of sheer menacing ball-grabbing. Beyonce is, after all, the new spokeswoman for feminism, right?
I imagine it worked something like this: brunette bachelorette sees Beyonce’s Shmoney on Vogue.com > YouTubes “Shmoney Dance” > hits play on the “Hot Nigga” Video > goes HAM to “Hot Nigga” during my set on the LES. It’s simple math. Pop Culture is essentially synonymous with Beyonce at this point, anyway.
4. Bobby is Cute
Girls, this author included, like cute male pop stars and Bobby Shmurda is a cutie. He has style and allure. This may seem shallow, but it’s an important point and immediately separates him in this sphere from, say, Meek Mill (sorry Meek Mill ☹).
5. Ending a Testosterone Drought
The basic fact that “Hot Nigga” stands out worked in its favor. I mean this in terms of the song being unique sonically—it’s counter-programming if you will — but also in that its masculinity actually helped rather than hurt. Sure, the top ten is always largely female friendly. But the current winner’s circle—“All About That Bass,” “Shake It Off,” “Break Free,” “Bang Bang,” “Habits”—is especially estrogen-y. In fact, it’s unprecedentedly so. Even ladies needed a break from Ariana Grande. This track served as a bit of a respite from the girl talk.
6. “X” Factor (Def Not the TV Show, Though)
On the flipside of “Hot Nigga’s” unlikely rise are tracks that seems like forgone conclusions, ones that fit squarely in chart’s historic sweet spots, have all the makings of a hit—the brand name, the shimmering hook, the gleaming production values, but for whatever reason just don’t fully connect. “Hot Nigga” came together—the right place, right time—and some of its success is simply unquantifiable, even by fools like yours truly who have spent too many late night Uber rides thinking about this. “Hot Nigga” is an awesome song, plain and simple. Also, did I mention the Shmoney dance?
The funniest part of Hot 100 High is that, to the bewilderment of its tradition-fortified peers, outsiders often come from far behind to snatch the Prom King title. Even better, freak hits like “Hot Nigga” often create an expansive ripple—they affect trends, create new norms and allow for similarly-minded tracks to hit in their wake. When a scrappy track like “Hot Nigga” becomes a white girl anthem, it expands the overall sensibility of top 40 audiences, undoubtedly a splendid thing. It’s hard to remember now but prior to this and this, house music once had no place on the top 40 podium.
“Hot Nigga,” though, is unique even in the larger context of unique chart hits. People often complain about the current state of the music industry, that there’s a dearth of quality pop music, that top 40 is generic and rigged. But the way we usher new sounds into top 40 in 2014—YouTube, viral music videos, clever vines, taste-making artists—means that songs as offbeat as this one can make it to the top of the class without the pre-approval of a largely rigid, staid music industry. “Hot Nigga” really does feel like the people’s champ.
And maybe, just maybe, we don’t give white girls enough credit for their taste in hip-hop. As “Hot Nigga” unfurled on Saturday, the brunette bachelorette commenced with an absolutely breathtaking Shmoney Dance. She was gleeful—she really loved this song. The crowd cheered. I was delighted, too. It was really at this moment that I knew “Hot Nigga” was a game changer, even for a jaded DJ like me.
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Follow DJ Louie XIV on Twitter @DJLouieXIV.
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