Many will laugh now, but in 2009, learning to pindrop was a young Angeleno’s rite of passage. Equipped with only an iPod, wired earphones through your crew neck and the tightest jeans in your closet, you got yourself on the carrot-colored 108 bus, skated to the lo’ dropped on AIM Away and had the homies film you on a digicam hitting the dougie. And you better hit that.
Following the 1960s Black Arts Movement and ‘90s gangsta rap, jerkin’ joins the ranks as one of the most influential art movements to come out of the city. It started with a dance. There was one core move — the jerk: putting one leg in front of the other, bending the legs while moving them in and out to get as low as possible while the torso bounces in rhythm. This gave birth to the reject, the pindrop, the dip and, later, the dougie, the cat daddy and the juice. When combined, the moves became more than just a routine. It’s a community, an aesthetic, an era and a movement, dripping with the kind of waviness that demands your attention. You can see in a jerk’s expression the moment they start feelin’ themselves: face stanky and hands patting down their torso as if to recall that they’re still in a body on this planet. When rappers and producers posted a song to MySpace, they’d know it knocked if all the local crews made a video dancing to it. Once on YouTube, songs like “Miss Me Kiss Me” by Cold Flamez, “WoW” by Marvel Inc, “Teach Me How to Jerk” by Audio Push and, of course, New Boyz’ “You’re a Jerk” started racking up tens of millions of views, and it was only a matter of time until knees started hitting the concrete in Honolulu from Aloha Inc, Tunisia from the BDM Crew and “Ger(k)many” from Swagg Out BoizZ. Before long, there were “106 & Park” appearances, brand deals and even a Nick Cannon movie starringone of the most famous jerkin’ crews, the Rangerz.
With an aesthetic that took notes from 2000s hip-hop’s obsession with colorful polos and documented through overblown and deep-fried photos that infiltrated MySpace walls, the jerkin’ movement in L.A. was an unprecedented evolution of style and sound coupled with budding social media. It was the perfect storm to take the footwork happening on the streets of L.A. viral.
For little fifth-grade me, watching videos of jerkers cut up on the bus and get off at the mall made me excited to inherit the city, because it was clear it belonged to the youth.
Jerkin’ was what happened when you used asphalt as your dance floor and your hometown as your playground, reclaiming your place within it. For a cool minute, the streets were the gathering spot. Swept with neon-dyed fauxhawks, snapbacks, Real 3D Glasses with the lenses poked out and a hyphy-adjacent soundtrack to match, L.A was alive. It’s getting hard to accept that classic local haunts are losing their luster — Crenshaw Mall, Venice Beach, the Bridge (or whatever it’s called now). There’s been a lot of lamenting about the lack of third spaces — gentrification, specifically, has played a role in the demise of many of them — but maybe the issue is also that y’all don’t go outside anymore.
The jerkin’ movement proved the city was a place of alchemy. Early on, figures from the scene understood it as somewhere to create and follow dreams. Up to today, many have siphoned their nascent scene fame into careers in music, choreography and media. I asked those in the jerkin’ movement about what it took to pave that path in style and watch the world follow.
‘Everybody wanted to be a part of this.’
Young Sam, rapper: Jerkin’ was more than a dance. It was a lifestyle. The fashion trends, the music — that wasn’t just what we did, it was who we were.
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity, musician: People wanted something new. They wanted a breath of fresh air. A lot of people were opening up to a new world where people could express themselves in a different way. And of course, we were fly — like, come on.
Jeff Weiss, editor of POW Magazine: You really have powerhouses coming out of this movement. The entire next generation forms out of it.
Storm DeBarge, formerly of Drop Dead Inc., choreographer: Ty Dolla Sign came from jerkin’. Drakeo the Ruler came from jerkin’. YG came from jerkin’. A lot of these n— came from jerkin’. Tyga, Lil Uzi [Vert] was in the jerkin’ movement. Nobody ever want to bring it up. Half of the reason y’all early music was cracking is because of us dancing down and making it viral every time.
Legacy, formerly of New Boyz, rapper, producer, artist: There were individual crews, but it was a whole collective movement. They’re jerkin’ in Africa, in Tokyo. They had jerk crews in Puerto Rico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic. It was a whole civilization of people throughout the world that had the same vibe, swag and style.
Tony “Tone” Young, co-founder of Jerk-a-holic Clothing: It was so infectious. Everybody wanted to be a part of this.
TJ Young, formerly TJWhy of Outer Space Kids, co-founder of Jerk-a-holic Clothing: “You’re a Jerk” made jerkin’ worldwide, but there was really a street culture aspect to it before it really got there.
Kid Soul, former marketing executive at Warner Bros. Records, former marketing representative at Vlado Footwear, rapper from Breakfast Club games: At that time, jerkin’ was a term that they used when they saw something or did something that was dope. So if they did a dope move, they’d be like, “Aw, that was jerkin’.”
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary, entertainer: Before the jerkin’ stuff, it was the party crews. It was us dancing to function music. At the time, function music was TayF3rd, YG, DJ Mustard, D4L, “Gik’d Up.” We was dancing to Keak da Sneak, E-40, Too Short.
Kid Soul: The jerk movement was a mix of stuff that I saw in the ‘80s from breaking, and then stuff I saw in the ‘90s from house dancing and then perpetuated the style with color.
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity: It’s all in the 808s, in the tempo. It just banged.
Jeff Weiss: [Jerkin’ music] was clever. I like the way that they pitched the vocals. It reminded me of early hip-hop. It was young, but it didn’t feel juvenile. It was playful.
‘Being in the center of the circle is exhilarating.’
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho of Go Gettaz Ent.: There are unsung heroes like the Rangerz, Young Sam [behind “69 Me (Remix)” and “Hit My Cat Daddy”] and Marvel Inc and Cold Flamez — like, for Nick Cannon to write a whole movie about them?
Young Sam: Before everybody knew who the Rangerz was, everybody was watching GaryGramz [formerly AF Gary], he’s at the beginning of jerkin’. He’s one of the founders. He was not the founder, but he’s close to it. He really made it popular.
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: I started with function music and trying to jerk on function music. I still had my party crew, High Five. I was the youngest dude in the group and they were like, “Man, look, we getting older. We’re not about to be doing this YouTube dance stuff. We’re gonna hand the torch to you.” I created a group and made a crew name: Action Figures. [Jerkin’] didn’t work until I had a crowd behind me. Then it looked tight compared to me just being by myself.
Young Sam: It was so many crews I loved. It was hard to just join one.
Jeff Weiss: It reminded me of an ‘80s movie or something. People were having dance-offs.
J-Hawk, producer: The jerkin’ movement, especially at Hamilton High School, was a creative outlet. I remember them being in the hallways and other crews would come up to Hamilton, and it would be a battle after school.
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush of Marvel Inc: Chemistry was there because everybody brought something different.
LAHiggz a.k.a. Langston Higgins, formerly of the Rangerz, rapper: We all bring something to the table. I’m the glue. I don’t mind playing the background. I don’t mind playing the front. I know how to wear different hats, swap positions, whatever we got to do to win.
Icez, rapper and producer: Everybody wanted to be the best jerker, best producer, best rapper, best dancer of the movement.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho: You go to the mall and look across from the food court and see somebody in colored skinny jeans, iPod out, and they had their crews or clique, we’re gonna have to battle them.
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush: There was a meeting at this bonfire [at Dockweiler]. I ended up ditching school and going there to be put on a group called Action Figures. I probably was 13. They made an announcement: “We’re about to start adding people to our group. If you want to join, you have to battle people here.” It was already a guy named Bart from Action Figures, and he had a little homie — everybody had crazy names — named Bart Deuce. I battled Bart Deuce, and I won. They was like, “I’m about to call you Johnny Bravo because of your flat top. You AF Johnny Bravo.”
Storm DeBarge: They used to throw Princess of Dougie and Queen of Dougie battles in Compton. It was called Back House Party, and Kel from “Kenan & Kel” threw them with his wife, Asia [Lee]. I remember I signed up for the Princess of Dougie and the Queen of Dougie. I made it all the way to the end of the battle and I lost. I was crying outside. The boys on my crew were like, “Just call out [the winner].” I did a whole five-minute video. I was like, “I’m calling out Bella Rae, Queen of Dougie, at so and so event on this day. Meet me there.” It was a big ass thing. Everybody and they mama from they jerkin’ crew was there.
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity: I had the title of the best female jerk, I think mainly because it was how hard I pushed my heart, my dedication and my consistency.
TJ Young, formerly TJWhy: Being in the center of the circle is exhilarating. It’s like scoring a touchdown on a football. Everybody is seeing the result of your hard work coming to fruition. I was waking up in the morning, practicing moves to get a chance to be in the middle of a circle and show everybody what I was working on. lt’s everything.
‘We didn’t really match, but it kind of made sense.’
Legacy: I wouldn’t say I invented the swag era, but I definitely was a catalyst for it. They throw parties, and the dress code is the swag era. I saw a party recently that was “2009 New Boyz” as the dress code. I’m like, “Damn, I’m the dress code?”
Kid Soul: Prior to the jerkin’ style getting accepted, it was dissed — the skinny jeans, the bright colors. It’s half skater, half hip-hop. That’s where you get the skinny jeans and the shoestring for a belt, the grunge-style backpack, wearing beanies.
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush: I grew up in Watts. It’s not like everybody got money. My homeboys would wear they sisters’ shirts and they sisters’ jeans. My favorite item was a rosary. We wouldn’t even go to church, but we were wearing these things.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho: Dude, we did some crazy stuff. Oh, my God, bro. I remember I used to [hang] Yogurtland spoons out of my pockets. I would match the spoon to a pair of shoelaces. People were hanging foxtails out of their back belt loops. Me and my neighbors would swap skinnies for the week. It’s how we bonded.
Bigklit, formerly Indigo Vanity: That’s what a lot of people knew me for: the curly, big half-pink, half-black hair with my straightened bangs. You had to have the bangs straightened.
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: We was literally like characters. There’s been plenty of times where I found a USPS worker shirt and I wore it in a jerk video. People thought I was working for USPS, but I was just getting it from the thrift store.
Storm DeBarge: You couldn’t just have a regular jean color. You have to have red, orange, blue, green — stacking colors on top of colors. If you had PF Flyers, if you had Jerk-a-holic gear, you was cracking.
Tone Young: There was nothing out that was specific for jerks. Jerks could wear Vlado shoes, or they could wear Vans or Chuck Taylors, but there was no representation of jerkin’ [in fashion] until Jerk-a-holic came.
Kid Soul: When swag hit, you started seeing people like Justin Bieber, Jaden Smith, Kanye West — what’s that kid’s name that has an album out right now? Tyler, the Creator. All these people start wearing the jerk style of clothing: tight, colorful s—.
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: We could have been designers at the time because we’re putting these pieces together and making it happen. We didn’t really match, but it kind of made sense.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho In 2008 to 2009, the gang banging culture was very influential. Jerkin’ was a counter to that. We would make fun of people that had the big boot cut jeans on, the fitted hats and the 2XL T-shirts.
Kid Soul: When kids would get gang banged on, they wouldn’t even mess with [us]. They could tell we were jerkers by the way we dressed. If guys were sagging in their skinny jeans, they had a pair of basketball shorts under. You weren’t seeing draws.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho, musician: The crazy studded belt locked everything together.
GoldFranko: My go-to was always a pair of Vans because they was the best for dancing — flat and hard at the toe. They was good for when you want to get on your tippy toes real quick and do something crazy. Then wearing kids backpacks — I was wearing Spider-Man backpacks when I was in high school.
LAHiggz a.k.a. Langston Higgins: You got soccer shoes, you got skate shoes, we had a jerk shoe. The jerk shoe was the Vlados.
Young Sam: Vlado supported the movement because they had Kid Soul. If they didn’t have him, there wouldn’t be no shoe for the jerkin’ movement. Vlado was a luxury brand — jerkin’ changed it to be friendlier to the dance, so Vlado came out with the Spectro shoe. Once all the dancers started wearing it, the popular rappers started wearing it, then it started trending. Every time I go, I’m getting 30 pairs of shoes.
Kid Soul: I meet Vlado in early 2007, 2008 at Magic Las Vegas [a fashion trade show]. The owner Jill Kim was like, “Yo, I got 100,000 pairs of these shoes. Do you think you could sell them?” I went and picked up the New Boyz, brought them down to Vlado — which at that time was off Maple and 7th Street — we signed a deal and did an XXL spread with the New Boyz in Vlado.
‘We’re famous at this point for jerkin.’
Young Sam: The Vlado Showdown was where everybody battled. It was very important to so many dancers. Trophies involved. Showdown was the one.
Kid Soul: When we did Showdown, we got 44 crews and auditioned them all.
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush: [Marvel Inc] battled that many crews and won first place. That just solidified us as the best crew in L.A. It felt like “You Got Served.”
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: It’s everybody in California in one building that really wants to do this. We’re just kids from L.A. streets. I was just 17 at the time, and people’s moms was coming to me like, “I’m glad to meet you. My son keeps telling me about you.”
Storm DeBarge: I knew I had fans, but I think seeing them in person was crazy as a kid. We’re famous at this point for jerkin’. Everybody wanted to take pictures with us.
‘These are legendary spots.’
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush: When we are about to shoot a video and we want to get a lot of attention, we go to the beach because we know a lot of people are going to be there.
Storm DeBarge: It was cool to dance in front of people and dance at these places that everybody knew. We was at Venice Beach down. We [shot] the “Hot Tamale (Remix)” [music video] there. We did “69 Me (Remix)” at Ladera [Park]. You were not cool if you can’t go up there and make a video at the Vlado store, especially being from L.A., like, you had to go to those places.
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: Crenshaw Mall, Fox Hills Mall, Ladera Park. These are legendary spots. Venice Beach. Club Chuco’s was the main party scene.
Tone Young: You can’t talk about jerkin’ without talking about Del Amo Mall, [Club] Chuco’s, Santa Monica Pier, Venice [Beach].
‘Everybody gave everybody a chance to get off.’
Tone Young: When they went to the beach, I was the ride. I had a chance to see how they communicate, what the community was among them, how they dealt with each other, what the hierarchies were. Nobody was trying to hog the spotlight. Everybody gave everybody a chance to get off.
J-Hawk: I liked working with the girls. The girls were going just as hard, if not harder, than the guys. They were just unfiltered and I loved it. I think everybody loved it. It was refreshing.
BigKlit, formerly Indigo Vanity: It was very empowering. There were so many girls that were so good and talented, man.
Legacy: We were on tour a lot, but there would be jerkin’ events and we saw a lot of familiar faces. We were friends with them too, because we were just kids from the High Desert. We weren’t Hollywood like that.
GoldFranko, formerly Johnny Kush: I wish we got more credit for it being a positive movement and getting people out of gang violence. Most importantly, it saved a lot of kids from being at home. I was poor, so going out to a party and not worrying about dinner was important back then.
Storm DeBarge: A lot of them would not have been here, alive, if they were not jerkin’.
‘We were just early.’
Kid Soul: You’re catching YouTube at its conception, and it gave you a window into what L.A. was doing at that time.
Legacy: When we dropped ”You’re a Jerk” on MySpace, Julian [Goins from the Rangerz] and Gary[Gramz, formerly AF Gary] dropped their videos on YouTube dancing to the song — they’re rejecting, jerkin’, pindropping, they had skinny jeans on. It was a chain reaction. The very next day, 10 more videos. The day after that, 30 videos and then 100. It became a snowball effect.
LAHiggz a.k.a. Langston Higgins: We getting 30,000 views in 10 minutes. At the time, 11 million views on one video. But we didn’t make no bread off of it.
GaryGramz, formerly AF Gary: The day when jerkers in Africa reached out and was like, “Hey, we need some jerkin’ clothes. We don’t have much over here.” I literally sent out a box full of old clothes I used to wear in my old jerkin’ videos. When it landed, they all were wearing it and making a jerk video that almost made me cry.
J-Hawk: Sometimes I’m like, “Dang, we were just early.” To the music, the fashion, the dancing, everything. We didn’t know how big the reach was. We didn’t have any data, no analytics about the people we were impacting.
Jeff Weiss: [L.A. hip-hop culture] never really went back to this monolithic [idea of] gangsters and ‘64 Chevys. That stuff still exists. It’s now become a part of the L.A. tradition. But it’s not the only part of the L.A. tradition. [The jerkin’ movement] was the first to crack it open and show the power of the internet. It was definitely revolutionary in the sense that for the first time in my lifetime, they’d cast off the cliches of the previous generation.
Storm DeBarge: I wish we knew we could have got money off those videos, but we weren’t thinking of that. We [just] needed to get videos out to the world.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho: We would watch Marvel Inc videos at Best Buy and then we would go right outside and make a video to their song. It was the closest thing to today’s TikTok.
Jeff Weiss: It’s early Obama era, so there is this feeling of optimism. Everyone was going to be able to be entrepreneurial and make themselves a business without necessarily cannibalizing their souls. It was really promising, and it did appear to be the future. The model of what the jerkin’ kids were doing, everybody’s trying to do some version of that [today]. I mean, look at TikTok.
‘Put a thumbprint on your time.’
TJ Young, formerly TJWhy: You gotta go outside. That’s what builds community and support.
Kid Soul: Put a thumbprint on your time. If this is your era, put a thumbprint on it.
Tone Young: It was just a heartbeat of L.A. kids’ street culture. These kids are poetic and athletic in a way that was special. I saw them jumping off cars, doing a flip off of a mailbox and dropping into a pindrop. I saw them jerkin’ in the street, jerkin’ on the freeway. It was like they had no fear. It was cultural expression at its finest.
Legacy: It showed me that you can change the world through music and positive movement. I just feel honored to be a part of that.
Young Sam: It brought people together. I was able to travel to different countries from jerkin’ music. I been to Germany, Amsterdam, London, Russia, Holland, Hawaii, all of that, just off of our trend, our style.
Jeff Weiss: That optimism [is] maybe the province of youth, but it did feel really specific to this time. Everything has its season and its place, and then it disappears, and you’re only left with the memories — and I guess in this case, a bunch of sometimes-dead YouTube links.
Storm DeBarge: When Skoo Boii [from Fantastic LOL Kids] passed, I stopped jerkin’. Everybody started getting older. People were having kids. People were already making adult decisions, getting kicked out, not having a job, not understanding that it’s real life happening right now.
Kangfrvr, formerly sosho: A lot of people remember it so vividly that it’s muscle memory. They remember how to do the dances, they remember the words to the songs. It’s just proof that we’re making history.
Tone Young: It’s embedded in them. They’re not gonna come outside in a busted outfit. They been dressing to go outside and be seen since they were small.
TJ Young, formerly TJWhy: Jerkin’ can’t die. It’s an essence.
GoldFranko, formerly Jonny Kush: Seeing the influence that it had and seeing the energy of going out there jerkin’ within a circle full of people, you can’t get from a lot of things. You literally have a circle of 10 people cheering you on, dancing. That’s pretty dope to me.
Astrid Kayembe is a writer from South-Central Los Angeles.
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