The 'Hip Hop Harry' dance circle song is taking over TikTok and Twitter

It's the perfect TikTok dance challenge and a hilarious new reaction meme.
By Nicole Gallucci  on 
The 'Hip Hop Harry' dance circle song is taking over TikTok and Twitter

To anyone who's a sucker for a painfully catchy song, we come bearing good news. Your latest musical obsession has arrived, and it just so happens to be a song from an educational children's show called Hip Hop Harry.

The song to which I'm referring is called "Go, Go, Go," and it has all the makings of an obnoxiously irresistible bop. The lyrics repeat to the point of exhaustion, the song only contains three words, and it has a beat so good that it's inspired an entire TikTok dance challenge.

If you have yet to hear the stupid, lovable jam, listen to the audio clip below. But be warned, the lyrics are simply, "Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. Who's next?" and they WILL get stuck in your head.

Now that you're unfortunately in the loop, it's time to talk about why a silly song from a live-action kid's show that began airing on TV in 2006 is showing up all over social media.

What the heck is Hip Hop Harry?

First things first, what is this show? Hip Hop Harry stars a yellow, anthropomorphic, hip hop-loving bear named Harry, who wears a blue hat, baggy jeans, a long red shirt, sneakers, and a chain that displays the letter "H" at the end.

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Hip Hop Harry himself. Credit: mashable composite: Stephen Shugerman / Getty Images for HRTS

Though Hip Hop Harry ended in 2008, you can still watch the show's three seasons today on Tubi or Amazon Prime Video. Hip Hop Harry later returned as a YouTube series, which currently has more than 32,000 subscribers.

Hip Hop Harry is set at an after-school center called Hip Hop Central, where Harry teaches kids about everything from healthy living to childhood development. Oh, and did we mention that David Joyner — the man who played Barney the beloved purple dinosaur from 1991 to 2001— was also one of the main humans inside the Harry costume? Iconic.

But perhaps the most important show detail you need to be aware of is that each episode of Hip Hop Harry ends with a traditional dance circle. Harry and the kids take turns busting moves in the center while shouting, "Go! Go! Go!" over a fairly sick beat, as you heard above. After each child takes a turn, Harry shouts "Who's next?!" and this repeats until everyone has a chance to tear up the dance floor. Here's a 47-minute compilation of the dance circles to help you get the gist.

Harry takes on TikTok

The Hip Hop Harry YouTube channel occasionally posts dance challenges to get kids up and moving. They feature everything from the running man and the cabbage patch, to the moonwalk and more. There's also "The Harry" dance challenge, which includes more modern moves like the whip, the Milly Rock, and dabbing, but it seems the most famous song and dance associated with Hip Hop Harry will always be the freestyle circle.

TikTok users started mimicking kid's dance moves from the show, and after figuring out that they could use their video background as a green screen, they began pretending they were in the center of a legendary Harry dance circle. Thus, the #HipHopHarryChallenge was born.

Some TikTok captions include references to a childhood love of the show — such as "10 year old me at 6:30 when this came on" and "9 y/o Me every weekday at 4:30." But the dance and song usage have grown so popular on the app that it's clear other people are simply jumping on the bandwagon of another fun TikTok dance trend.

At time of writing this article, two Hip Hop Harry sounds users could be found on TikTok. The first is the sound bite taken from the show, and the second is a 2020 remix by Special K, which also kind of slaps. As for hashtags, #hiphopharrydancecircle had 246,000 views, #hiphopharrychallenge had 332,000 views and #hiphopharry had 17.6 million views.

The Hip Hop Harry YouTube channel is clearly aware of all the TikTok love, because the team has made several TikTok dance challenge compilations, including a "Stanky Leg Edition."

And Harry's clearly no stranger to TikTok. A video on the YouTube channel shows the bear making his own version of popular "Wipe It Down" and "Bored In The House" videos. This bear gets the internet.

How Harry is taking over Twitter

Hip Hop Harry's comeback isn't solely limited to TikTok. A clip of an episode-ending dance circle (feat. "Go, Go, Go" audio, of course) is also making the rounds on Twitter, and it's become a truly perfect response to many events currently unfolding in the world.

When people see someone get canceled online, notice that they've lost followers, or see another confederate statue get removed, all they have to do to show their feelings is post the Hip Hop Harry clip.

And at the end of the day, aside from being an absolutely on-point reaction video, the song is simply too catchy to get out of your head. People can't help but tweet about it.

If your brain now only repeats the Hip Hop Harry song on a loop and you find yourself wishing for some variety, a studio recording of "Go, Go, Go" is featured on the 2006 Hip Hop Harry album, Jammy Jams. It sounds a bit different from the version being shared on social media, but it's still good. And you can check out all the other Hip Hop Harry albums while you're there.

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Nicole Gallucci

Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.


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