Remember “Snap Music”?
That youthful offshoot of rap music that was way more catchy and lighthearted?
The entire movement was based of one basic dance move — commonly known as “The Pool Palace” — that was so lazy, it didn’t even necessarily require one to lift their feet off of the ground. Chicks liked it because everybody could do it (from the wannabe Ciara’s in the party, to the girls that really couldn’t dance at all but just thought they could) and guys liked it because the chicks liked it.
Snap Music was one of the hallmarks of black pop culture in the mid-2000s. It’s arrival and departure from our collective consciousness was as drastic as that of the throwback jersey (and the jersey-dress) fad that preceded it. But how did it really originate in hip-hop? And why wasn’t it able to stand the test of time?
These questions were most likely uttered by no one, ever. But HHSR decided to take a quick look back at the innocent sub-genre that had once taken on a life of its own in hip-hop anyway.
Wikipedia will tell you that Snap Music originated in Atlanta (Bankhead, to be exact) in the late ’90s. But it’s safe to say its influences stem from music that came years before. That finger-snapping, percussive sound had actually been done three decades earlier during the era of the “Motown Sound”. Groups like The Temptations and The Four Tops scored huge hits in the 1960s with the same type of sound. Hip-hop was built on biting the Motown generation— the snap phenomenon is no different.
What was particularly interesting about the rise of Snap Music is that it broke through while Crunk Music was dominating the airwaves, a much more aggressive brand of hip-hop, also popularized in the ATL. Crunk Music was all about stomping somebody out in the club (hence the birth of the “A-Town Stomp”), a far cry from the happy-go-lucky snapping that would first snatch the streets, then snatch the charts.
Nobody prosonified this transition more than Lil Jon, who by all accounts, should have never outlasted the Crunk era. Lil Jon was The Godfather of Crunk Music. For him to make this switch and get away with it was nothing short of amazing in retrospect.
Sidebar: And to think, Lil Jon was able to parlay that into a successful career as an actor and as Donald Trump’s bitch! It takes a special kind of person to pull that off.
We kid, Lil Jon, we kid.
Lil Jon’s hit, “Snap Yo Fingers” didn’t kick off the Snap Music craze, but it was the embodiment of it at that time (while also serving as the basic Snap Music instructional PSA). That, along with Dem Franchise Boys who, with a few hits, momentarily altered the course of rap music. When my cousin from Atlanta first told me about the White Tee record, I actually didn’t believe her.
“Yeah, it’s just a group of guys rapping about their white t-shirts.”
Word???
It’s one thing to rhyme about “My Adidas” or “Stompin in my Err Force Ones”, but white tees? Like the kind that you can get from K-Mart? Skeptical didn’t even begin to describe my attitude. But before I knew it, I was rockin the nightgown tee with pride and snapping right along with them. However the group’s follow-up record, “I Think They Like Me Remix” really brought snappin to the mainstream.
Oh yeah, it was also the last relevant So So Def moment. Ever.
Sidebar: Outside of Jermaine Dupri cuffing Janet Jackson for seven years.
JANET. JACKSON. SEVEN. YEARS.
NEVER. FORGET.
The Snap Music sensation would peak with the success of two other records. For a teenager to — without any support from a record label — write a song, create his own beat using the software on his computer, make up a dance, market his creation and have it become the biggest song in America, it was truly a sign of the times.
Sidebar: The “Crank That” video now has over 138 MILLION views. Not bad for a kid with a computer and a dream in Mississippi.
The sensation then moved into the R&B (or “Snap&B as it was known in some circles…not this circle though) lane, as T-Pain created one of the best songs of the decade. “Buy U A Drank (Shawty Snappin’)” had everything: creativity, savvy, polish and Yung Joc. It encouraged the fellas to be gentlemen and it encouraged the ladies to consume alcohol. It was cool enough for young people to buy in, yet still “grown & sexy” enough to get the 30-somethings to two-step. It was mature Snap Music; a song so special that it was never duplicated.
In hindsight, given the popularity of this brand of hip-hop, trying to understand how and why it fell off the way that it did seems like a bit of a mystery.
For all of the success of the songs mentioned, Dem Franchise Boyz never established a career after their first album. T-Pain would never score another hit as big as “Buy U A Drank” (neither did Yung Joc). It was impossible for Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em to ever live up to the success of “Crank That”. And “Snap Yo Fingers”, which dropped a full eight years ago, was, believe it or not, Lil Jon’s last hit.
Why might this be?
Sure, fads come and go. That’s what makes them fads. But T-Pain’s career has (for the most part) sputtered since ’07. Meanwhile, his trademark autotune sound has not only persevered, but has recently seen a resurgence, despite the fact that Jigga tried to kill it off altogether.
Sidebar: We have to acknowledge Future at this point. Refurbish-swag on 100,000!
Snap Music didn’t need a hitman.
Perhaps this was a classic example of “too much too quickly”. Soulja Boy was everywhere— it could be that the success of this, and other records like it only allowed for a 2-3 year shelf-life for a type of music that everyone knew wouldn’t last to begin with. Sooner or later, people would get sick of Soulja Boy.
Sidebar: Is Soulja Boy even relevant anymore? I suppose if you even have to ask, it’s never a good sign.
Like a one-night-stand or a “friend with benefits”, Snap Music was hip-hop’s guilty pleasure. Consequently, nobody was ever married to the snappin game (except for Dem Franchise Boyz, whom may wish it had been annulled at this point).
Those with a more sophisticated musical palate might have been supporting the records, but they weren’t consistently supporting the artists. And if hip-hop, or music for that matter, has taught us anything, it’s that you can’t get far without talent.
What Snap Music did was pave the way for an abundance of shitty rappers and rap groups (D4L immediately comes to mind). Its carefree attitude only served to enable artists and label heads to bypass lyricism for a catchy hook. At the same time, it showed us once again that hip-hop doesn’t always need to be about catching bodies and dope dealing. For a time between 2005 and 2007, it was perfectly acceptable to be a law biding, finger-snapping citizen.
With any luck, Snap Music’s destiny will be that classic go-to block of music that can carry any party for about 10 or 15 minutes. Weddings, barbecues, family reunions, the intermission during your local spades tournament; these are the moments when a good snappin session would be best utilized. And if you’re ever feeling nostalgic, go on ahead and throw on a Snap Music song or two in the comfort of your own home.
Besides, you can do it all by yourself.