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Six Degrees of Aunt JackieA Harlem dance goes viral.

By Jody Rosen
Posted Friday, June 22, 2007, at 5:39 PM ET

(Continued from page 1)

From this onslaught of Aunt Jackie-ing at least one conclusion can safely be drawn. Whatever repercussions the rise of online video has for music and the music business, it's doing wonders for dancers. One can't help but suspect that we are entering a new dance craze golden age, in which the emphasis will be laid firmly on the dancing in dance music. Regional steps and styles, zapped across the world via the internet, will compete for global predominance. There are certainly signs, as in the heyday of b-boying, that dancing is once again moving to the forefront of hip-hop alongside beats and rhymes. In the past year, we've seen hits championing regional dance, from Cherish's "Do It to It" to Lil Boosie's "Do tha Ratchet" to Unk's "Walk It Out." And of, course, there was last year's Harlem-bred dance craze, "Chicken Noodle Soup," which Fox and the Hood Presidents invoke in "Aunt Jackie," and which many of the YouTube "Aunt Jackie" hoofers work into their routines, in a kind of Harlem-centric dance mashup. MTV has jumped on the trend, launching a doofy how-to show called "Dances From Tha Hood." Sure enough, they've already broadcast a primer on the "Aunt Jackie." It looks incredibly corny after watching all the ebullient freestyle hoofers on YouTube—but it may just come in handy as an instructional video for certain rhythmically challenged pop critics.

And what of Jason Fox and his upstart rap crew? They were scooped up by Atlanta superproducer/mogul Jermaine Dupri, for his new Island Urban label. In astatement announcing Fox's signing, Dupri said: "I think were seeing the life of hip-hop coming back with songs like 'Aunt Jackie.' It's the kids acting like kids used to act when I was growing up, and I love it because, to me, hip-hop has been too cool for school lately." True enough—but will Jason Fox still be acting like a kid in six months, once he has a diamond studded Rolex and a seat in every VIP room in town? It remains to be seen. In the meantime, "Aunt Jackie" is finally available on iTunes, and there's a new high-gloss "official" Aunt Jackie video on the Web. It definitely doesn't have the ragamuffin charm of the one that went up six months ago. But it features lots of cute Harlem kids dancing—and this time you can actually hear the song.

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Jody Rosen is Slate's music critic. He lives in New York City. He can be reached at .
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