- Soulja Boy has his own dance, so does Wiley and virtually every tune released in Jamaica has its own special moves. This used to be a part of dance music too (e.g. ‘Jack your Body’ or, the daddy of them all, ‘The Hustle’). And why not? The music’s about dancing after all, and there’s no reason to dance badly or boringly if you can do better…
So, a challenge for you readers, can you come up with a special dance for ‘Boogle’? Answers on a YouTube if you feel up to it, you can link to it in the comments section. If nobody replies I’ll have to conclude that either you’re a bunch of webnerds or that the track sucks, which I don’t honestly think it does.
Why “Boogle”? Well it’s “half boogie, half bogle” as the vocal tells us, and indeed the track has reggae(ton) beats fused with a glitchy Recloose-esque bassline and funky hits and horns. It’s a fun and very unique-sounding fusion and the vocal (half cod-Jamaican toasting and half ecstatic disco swoon) reminds me of the heyday of disco dance crazes. Yes it’s a little on the novelty side, but it’s summertime now and we can all use a bit of goofiness and fun as a distraction from debating what constitutes “deep house” versus “techno”.
The Yellowtail mix is less original in sound, as it ditches the reggae rhythm, but probably more effective in a straight dancefloor sense as the substitute drums are in a punchy broken beat style, without the jazzy noodling that so often lets that genre down. The bassline lurches heavily and ominously in this version, creating a darker and more serious mood than the original and there’s something reminiscent of a jab-cross-hook-hook combo in the way the drums batter your ears.
Both mixes come in an instrumental and vocal version, but I’d advise playing to the strengths of both – the original needs the vocal to add to the silliness, but the Yellowtail mix is better without as it’s more straight-laced in nature. The whole affair is a little rough around the edges, but it’s chock full of ideas which bodes well for the future of both Ok_Ma and Yellowtail.
TracklistA1 Boogle
A2 Boogle (Instrumental)
B1 Boogle (Yellowtail rub)
B2 Boogle (Yellowtail instrumental)