Lets “Get Stupid”
The Bay Area Youth Do Their Own Dance
Story by Angel Luna

There are a lot of young people in the Bay Area “Getting Stupid.” No, this does not mean we are brainless, it's a dance that is the thing to do in the clubs, streets and house parties across the Bay Area. When older people hear this, they may be asking themselves,   “Is this generation just straight ignorant?” I know they already think we don't care about what's go in on in the world, and the fact that we do a dance called “Getting Stupid” probably doesn't help matters.   But the truth is that we do care about what's going on, but we're just tired of it. And now we just want to party and forget – get stupid. New York has the “Harlem Shake” and the South gets “Crunk,” but here in the bay, we “Get Stupid” or what's also called the “Thizzle” dance.

The Thizzle dance is a creation of local Bay Area rap legend Mr. Mac Dre. Mac Dre is a rapper who came out of Vallejo in the early 90's with the Romp label. He was a charismatic, creative and a very popular rapper in the Bay Area and even beyond, known for innovating both style and language. He was recently murdered in Kansas City and after his passing, his popularity has only continued to sky-rocket. Mac Dre was known to party alot and glorified the use of amphetamines in his songs. Thizz is a term he used for been high on Extasy. He would dance a certain way at his shows while rapping, and soon enough the Thizzle dance was born. But to do the Thizzle you don't have to be high on Extasy, you can just be tipsy or sober, what ever is your choice.

To “Get Stupid,” first you are supposed to do a funny face, like if you smell some piss. Like he instructs in one of his songs, “First I do like this, put a look on my face like I smell some piss, bounce to the beat till it starts to hurt, then I dust all the smirf of me shirt.” Then let the beat get in your head and start rocking your head back and forward or left and right, and move your body like if you were flexing different muscles. The music is a really important factor in this operation at this point. After that, pretend that you are a bird and start moving you arms, pop your collar, and then wipe the sweat off your face, do another face, growl like a bear, and keep bouncing to the beat.   Repeat this Thizz process till you run of air, and you've succeeded in “Getting Stupid.”

Dance is a reflection of the times, a way for people to physically express their happiness, worries, and moods. Back in the 40's, you had the swing dance, when folks were desperate to be free from conformity. I remember seeing videos on the sixties where everything was about trying new things incuding heavy drugs, politics and love. They would dance around, spinning and dazed, a sign of the times. The Reagan's 80's people were “moshing,” literally smashing into one another, because it was a time to be rebellious and angry at the “Man.”

People doing the “Thizz”explains our moment, in the same way other dances marked their own specific time in American history.   The same young people who are trying to “Get Stupid,” are the same ones who are face huge credit card debt, unemployment, education cuts, war, and violence in the streets.   It's a surprise any of us can even hold our heads up. With all the stress, the only intelligent thing for us to do is to “Get Stupid.”   Homies are just trying to stay hyphe(energetic), to do whatever we can to make life a bit less stressful. Inside all of us in the question, “Why not just get doodo dumb!”

That's how the dance has even grown beyond the dance floor. If you are cruising in downtown on the strip, or just walking around the east side of San Jose, you are going to hear someone blasting some Mac Dre, and homies just straight dancing. In the East Bay you may catch someone “Getting Stupid” at a side show – a osrt of illegal car show that takes place anywhere from an intersection, a street or the parking lot.   In there you see people who are “whipping” and “youking”(when you step on he gas and brake right after) in their rider. People actually can get their car doing the Thizzle dance that way.

For me the Thizzle dance is just a way to let your frustrations go, because you are just getting stupid and nothing else matters on the dance floor but you and the music banging in your head. Plus you can come up with your own set of steps. The ladies love that. It seems like the perfect escape for those times were everything become stressful and nothing seems right.

The best thing is, to do the Thizz, you don't need to know how to dance, as long as you feel it, you have it.   Feel free to mess up, and make up your own steps.

If you like this story watch the video
Lets “Get Stupid”
The Bay Area Youth Do Their Own Dance
Story by Angel Luna