hiphop | The Dance Buzz

Hope you’re all having a great summer!

Need some refreshments for your class playlists? Look no further – here are a few tunes to change up your playlist. I’m teaching mostly tap this summer, so my playlist tends to lean in that direction, but most of these songs could easily crossover into jazz / children’s hip hop / contemporary.

CHILDREN / TWEENS

– Call It Whatever (Bella Thorne)

– Really Don’t Care (Demi Lovato)

– Dar Um Jeito/We Will Find A Way (Avicii / Santana) – FIFA World Cup theme, a really good upbeat song – the whole album “One Love, One Rhythm” actually has a lot of fun “world” music

– Can You Do This (Aloe Blacc) – I’ve been using this as part of an improv combination – on the chorus we trade 8’s in tap class

– Classic (MKTO)

TEENS

– Love Runs Out (One Republic) – its been all over the radio stations, but I love using this in tap class for warm-ups

– Basically I (Robert DeLong) – good warm-up / across the floor song

– On Top Of The World (Imagine Dragons) – a happy little song that makes me smile

– Luck (American Authors)

– Sing (Ed Sheeran)

– Problem (Ariana Grande feat. Iggy Azalea) – another Top 40 rounds out my summer playlist update

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.Over the past ten years, hip hop classes at our studio have exploded in popularity. We offer hip hop starting with age six through adult. I know it can be a struggle to find fun, age-appropriate hip hop music when the majority of the songs on the radio are about sex, drinking or profanity.

Looking over the playlist selection on this blog, I noticed that I am slacking in the hip hop department. While I teach a variety of genres, hip hop is most definitely not one of them. I can shim sham all day and pirouette with the best of them, but I cannot pop or lock (although it doesn’t stop me from trying!).

Luckily, I have a bunch of great hip hop instructors at my studio who do try to find age-appropriate music that their students love.

Here are their suggestions for finding appropriate music for class (links open in iTunes – The Dance Buzz is a proud iTunes affiliate):

1. Go ‘Old School’ for the younger classes!

To my dismay, apparently the following songs are now considered “old school” by one of my hip hop teachers (she’s 20-something). In any case – look to the past for some fun hip hop songs (although I still recommend checking out the lyrics on older tunes):

Shake It – Aaron Carter
Let’s Get It Started – Black Eyed Peas
U Can’t Touch This – MC Hammer
Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) – Michael Jackson

2. Look for young hip hop artists

Ke$ha and Kanye are all grown up and rapping about grown-up subjects. Instead, look for pint-size rappers whose parent won’t let them use four-letter words in their lyrics. The Disney tween stars and starlets also fall under this category.

Suggested Artists: Lil’ Romeo, Willow Smith, China Anne McClain (A.N.T. Farm), Keke Palmer

Lip Gloss – Lil’ Mama
My Baby – Lil’ Romeo
Countdown – Victorious
We Belong to the Music (feat. Miley Cyrus) – Timbaland

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