It’s the season for year-end best-of lists, and one phenomenon that will likely provoke comment in many reviews of 2015’s music is the recent spate of instructional dance tracks. This year’s poster boy for making songs that encourage people to bust very specific moves is Atlanta’s Silento, who’s repackaged a handful of regional dance styles that have emerged in black communities over the past few years for a candy-coated pop-rap number called “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae).” The tune peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and its video is closing in on half a billion YouTube views.
The video for the track—its viral engine—calls it a “challenge.” Dlow punctuates his instructions by repeating the song’s title, which can just as easily sound like a friendly invitation to give his moves a shot. “Bet You Can’t Do It Like Me” isn’t a bop track, musically—its bell-based instrumental is a tad too sinister. And Dlow doesn’t strictly stick to bopping when he dances—his cornucopia of moves is part of what makes the lo-fi video and its song so endearing. It’s a joy to watch Dlow and his friends transition with ease from one distinct style to the next—the whip, the Nae Nae, the Dlow shuffle, even a bit of “Big Sexy Slide,” demonstrated by Chicago bopper-cum-rapper DJ Maine in the song and video of the same name.
