Harlem Shake YouTube Reactions: Watch Harlem Reacting to the Harlem Shake Video

Culture

Real people from Harlem, New York, are not impressed with internet's newest and goofiest viral meme yet. "I mean, it's 'interesting.' I just don't think is closely related with the original 'Harlem Shake,' was one of the kindest reactions to the dance supposedly inspired in the 1980s neighborhood dance. Others were less polite and bluntly expressed their confusion with expressions such as "what are they doing" and "that's just humping ... and it's not the 'Harlem Shake.'" The raw reactions evidence one of pop culture's most pervasive techniques, when big entertainment corporations appropriate a popular trend and transform it into something that hardly resembles the original work of art. In this case, a dance with deep urban roots that — as cleverly stated by one of the Harlem neighbors — ends up "representing Jersey or California, not Harlem" ("that might be a shake, but it ain't the 'Harlem Shake'"). Word.