I attended Tulane University between Fall 2000 and Spring 2004. It was an evolving time in music, when the pop of the late 90s (N’Sync, Brittany Spears et al) was giving way to college acoustic (Dispatch, Guster), alt/indie sound (The Strokes, White Stripes) and alt/hip-hop (Kanye West, OutKast).
However, at our beloved Olive and Blue, there was one song in particular that cleared out the bar stools and made everyone drop it like its hot.
Witness, Da Entourage’s Bunny Hop.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3NtLug739E&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Now, the original Bunny Hop conjure up images of a line of Pete and Trudy Campbells, lampshades on head, New Years horns in mouth, bopping in a conga line past the boss’ office. John Waters captured it well in “CryBaby.” (fastforward to about 3:58).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1OleQxoBlQ&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
This was decidedly not that.
An underground diddy out of the Dirty South sound (Houston to be exact), the modern ‘Bunny Hop’ was not just a song, it was a a club mix event, a line dance in the vein of the Electric Slide, though with loads more energy.
Hip hop clubs. Second-floor house parties. The Boot at 3 a.m. When that first beat kicked in, at least two-thirds of the in-house patrons —black, white, all college aged— would be on the dance floor doing the Bunny Hop.
Simple steps, enough that even white-boy drunks could get in. Up three steps, back three steps, a kick/lean left, a kick lean right (lots of variation in this area but the gist was to go to those sides), hop to the next direction, repeat.
Though I couldn’t find a Tulane-specific example, here’s a fine Bunny Hop in execution.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBvT0FleWLo&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
And, thing was, this was def a Dirty South phenomenon. When I mentioned the Bunny Hop to my friends back in Baltimore, they thought I was senile. Not until the Cupid Shuffle hit did my friends in Maryland start dancing in lines.
I wonder if they still do the Bunny Hop in New Orleans? I would hope so. A point to make at the next reunion.
