Popping & Locking Home > Articles & Community News > The 10 Biggest Reasons We All Love Popping

The 10 Biggest Reasons We All Love Popping

Hey gang. Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. comin ‘atcha with a question.

Do you remember the exact moment you first fell in love with popping? I remember my first time like it was yesterday. It was that first clip where I saw someone do something that I couldn’t believe. You know what I’m talking about.

Hey guys, I’m Otis Funkmeyer, the professor of popping! I write an article about popping here at WCP every Sunday. I have lots of lessons, articles, DVDs, downloads, and music at my website www.funkmeyers.com!

The first time you watch a clip 10, 20, 30 times in a row. When you know that nothing is the same anymore. There is a new love in your life and you HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO DO IT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. Mine was Skeeter Rabbit from the Electric Boogaloos. Dressed all in black. Crazy isolations. Crazy ground moves. Crazy boogaloo. My mind was permanently blown that day…

And hey, if you’re not a reader, I made a video just for you. It’s a little bit about why I love popping so much. Check it out!

But why do we love popping so much? What are the reasons? What do you tell people? Well, I think I’ve figured out 10 good reasons:

How cool it looks. This has gotta be the first thing that catches your eye. I mean, really. What looks as cool as popping does? The answer. Almost nothing. Someone who looks like a robot or super funky who makes it look like they have become the music. Usually dressed super fly and getting huge audience applause. It doesn’t really get much better than that. If there’s one thing about popping, it’s an EYE CATCHER.
The applause. When you see a dope popper, you wanna scream like a little girl. Well, apparently, so does everyone else. This is why good clips get such huge response. This is why in the club, everyone cheers. This is why poppers always win talent shows and why we’re the most popular part of major TV shows like So You Think You Can Dance. Everyone loves popping because no one understands how you can move your body like that.
The moves. Which leads us to the moves. I mean, for most of us, it’s a crazy nice backslide or wave or head isolation that makes us go WHOOOOOOOOOA that first time. The moves of popping are just so unreal. And the coolest part is when you do them, it feels just as unreal as it looks.
The feeling. Of course, without feeling, the moves don’t look nearly as impressive. When you see somebody put some serious FEEL into those moves, it can almost make you well up with tears. This popping thing runs deep and can hit you right in the heart of your soul. Every so often, someone catches the music in such a perfect way that it makes you think that part of the song was made just so that this popper could catch it. The feeling is a beautiful thing.
The sci-fi aspect. We all love the Matrix and we all love good special effects like in Transformers. Something about robots and artificial intelligence and machines just triggers this part of us. And what better way than to BECOME a machine. That’s why so many of us poppers make sounds when we move. Gssssh. Eeeeeerg. Crnnnnnnnch. Hsssssssssss. We’re channeling our own inner machine.
The girls (or the guys). Poppers are attractive to members of the opposite sex. It’s a skill that’s cool and easy to show off and gets a lot of attention. This feels GOOOOD. How nice is it when you finish dancing and someone cute comes up to you with a compliment and you can just tell that they’d like to get to you know better. This definitely helps with motivation as well!
The competition. Most poppers are guys and most guys are pretty competitive. Poppers seem to be an especially competitive group of guys. The great thing about competition is it makes you train hard. You want to take out your opponent. You want to do something that no one’s seen before that makes everybody scream. And when it comes to competition, there isn’t anything more real than a battle. Just you and your opponent and the music and the crowd. No talking or debating. Just show and prove. It’s almost primal!
The freedom. We live in a time period where a lot of people are really stiff and don’t know how to use their bodies. When music comes on and people start dancing, most people just sit down in the corner. If they do dance, they don’t know what they’re doing and they look uncomfortable and it doesn’t seem like they’re having much fun. It’s such a good feeling to just let loose and be free to the music. Just making up movements as you go and improvising based on the song and the environment and how you feel. This popping thing runs deep…
The soul. Popping runs deep right into the soul. Rennie Harris, one of the leading hip-hop choreographers, says that he thinks popping is the most spiritual dance. He says with popping, it’s like you’re going into a trance and channeling the spirit realm and the ancestors, all the way back to the original tribal humans back in Africa. It’s that drum. Boom CLAP boom CLAP, boom CLAP boom CLAP. Most of the dancers I know have a couple stories about times when they just totally lost themselves in the music and had no idea who they were or where they were and the moves just came so easily it was like someone else was moving their body. Popping, like all art, is an incredible opportunity to connect with the deeper parts of yourself.
The music! There’s no feeling and no soul without the music. And poppers dance to the hardest, most bangin, gangster, funky, super dope music. Do you ever wonder why popping music isn’t more popular? I sure do! I mean, the beats are just RIDONCULOUS. They are so hard and so funky you think even your 80-year old grandma is just gonna pop up out of the chair and start BANGIN. With this kind of music, you almost can’t HELP but pop.

And you know what, I’ve got some super hard, super gangster, super funked out music just for you, as a way of saying thanks for coming by. Check out and download my Ice Cold Funk Mix and answer me this:

What was the first moment YOU fell in love with popping? Let me know in the comments!

And like Dre says, get ready for the next episode ya’ll!

Until next time, keep it gangsta!
Otis Profile Picture
Otis Funkmeyer, Ph.D. of Popping

17 Comments

Spektakular says:

August 29, 2009 at 5:43 am

Mad respect! I agree with all of it…
itsthatguyDJ says:

August 30, 2009 at 4:28 pm

it was #1 n 10 for me, it was just a “now n then” hobby tho. but when i actual started going off in front of ppl (@ clubs n stuff), #6 kicked in and got me hooked.
LouRoc197 says:

August 31, 2009 at 6:51 am

In 1984, I had a boy named Alex, one day he starts popping in the hallway.
I bugged out, his body movements were so dope. I wanted to move like that,
Mr. Frezze from RSC Crew had taught him, back in the days the only way to
learn to Pop was to get a teacher. I fell in love after that, in the BX, everyone
wanted to be as good as Mr. Wiggles.
popitgood says:

September 1, 2009 at 2:12 pm

To be honest I always wanted to learn how to breakdance. But when I started getting into dancing in general, I saw that I really wanted to learn popping. There were plenty of clips of dancers such as salah and PHJ that made me go “wow!” and got me into the dance. But I later found out that I was only brushing the surface. Dancers like Acky, Kei, Kite, Jr. Boogaloo, Boogaloo Sam and many others really hit it home to me. And I have been in love ever since. Also, when I finally bought some mirrors for my room and saw that all my hard work really did pay off I was in ecstasy. #6 doesn’t really do it for me though.
Poppin Chee says:

September 5, 2009 at 1:24 am

I saw boogaloo sam and poppin pete on soul train back in the late 70’s..And I knew I was going to be a Popper..We used to use 8 tracks to play our music on… It had no reverse buttons..Man that was the good old Days..Now that Im 40..I try to keep up but mostly to encourge da young Generation..Way to keep poppin alive out there and Keep bangin.. Poppin Chee Old School Popper-
Fownky! says:

September 5, 2009 at 8:07 am

I think first time i was introduced to popping was when I had a seatmate in college who was teachin me how to liquid and wave when we was bored in class. He also showed me some tuttin’ which was hella dope! I got really interested and started to learn these moves in yotube. All those research on tutorials eventually led me to popping and from then on I started to learn hitting, angles, waves, tuts, boog etc. step by step. I also fell in love with popping seeing my idols Salah and Jsmooth dish it out in numerous battles showing who got the most soul through their moves, feeling, creativity, and musicality. From then on I kept on practicing popping until one day I become great like my popping idols.
Haze elements says:

September 5, 2009 at 10:54 am

I was 14 and it was 95/96 my boy was doing box glides and this was when Ginuwine and Usher where in their prime so to speak. I was from the south so ticking and glides where popular. I didnt learn about hits until I was stationed in Cali while in the Marine Core. I am 28 and still growing and I love every min of it.
Strange Mike says:

September 10, 2009 at 5:04 pm

to me its #3, #4,and #10. i mean i love music. i love hearin a beat and just goin oh hell yeah this is tight. i love the moves. even just doin a simple wave is an accomplishment in its self. i love how it feels when you pull off a move or finally get a move that you been tryin to hit. it feels very rewardin. plus i like it when i do pop, peeps are like “whoa!!!! you know how to pop” “i never thought that you could do that”. that feelin is great
Hardkor says:

September 21, 2009 at 6:43 am

You forgot “THE FUN”.
Brady says:

October 21, 2009 at 12:14 pm

Otis!! i love it, every aspect is dead on brotha. hope all is well with you and the mrs!! ps. loved the popping vids you recently posted up on the tube, should show us some more get downs!! the tutorials are the shit! =] peace brotha
coco says:

October 23, 2009 at 3:53 pm

It was 1980, i was a sophmore in High school and saw a white dude doin a body wave and i was like ” what the hell was that”… i knew it was some sort of new dance because he had his boom box playing some music so i went home and started to imitate him then the next year met another cat who knew how to pop and all his cousins were all poppers and lockers so that how i got into the scene in the OC.. and the rest is history!
KB says:

November 8, 2009 at 2:42 am

After the 2nd competition Ive watched in my life. Yeah as u said, some poppers became the music, the crazy funky sexy poppin music, And a popper blew ma mind. He was like expressing himself damn cool, diffrent from krumping, something with controlled violence. He stared at his opponent like he would bite him and he even seemed he was playing with that opponent sometimes. Such a sense of humor made me and audiences laugh and when he returned to dance crazy, his moves beat the music I couldnt take my eyes off him at all like some people who surrounded and were watching him. He was such a performer. He just played with it. After that night, I realized the way poppers express themself was just me. I wanted to copy them, make my own and I imagined i would battle the popper. To do or to be even more closer to do that, I needed to train. I started having passion deeply in my mind like fire works. Now its about achievement, loving myself and expression
rocky says:

November 8, 2009 at 8:51 am

it was during my ankle injury. i fractured my ankle while bboyin. during the time i was incapacitated, i knew i just hand to find a way to keep dancin. thats when popping hit me. the injury gave me loads of time to really focus
Donoso says:

November 14, 2009 at 5:36 pm

I agree so much with this.
I had a little battle with my friend the other day, for my school talent show. Before the battle, both of us were sooo nervous, but as soon as we hit the stage and the music started playing, both of us completely changed. Best feeling ever. Until we saw the video…and i saw all the mistakes i made, everyone loved us both, but the both of us were completely dissatisfied, but the feeling was still there lol.
otis funkmeyer says:

December 30, 2009 at 8:05 pm

Yo Donoso I know *THAT* feeling.. I think we all do… Based on the crowd, you think you were KILLIN’ it! And then you see the footage and you’re like… OMG… angles could be better.. movement could be sharper.. hits could be harder.. rolls could be smoother…

the saga continues!
danny F!!! says:

August 2, 2010 at 4:07 am

My love affair with poppin, boogalooing and all things west coast began waaaay back in ‘82-when Jeffry Daniel performed his now legendary routine to ‘Night to Remember’ on the U.K pop music show, ‘Top of the Pops’. I didn’t actually see it, but everyone at school was raving about it. Then a friend of mine, Colin ‘DamSwift’ West showed me a tape of the show…and on the tape was a show called ‘Toni Basil:Take Two’. This featured clips of Penguine, Shabbadoo, Casper and Cooley and the legend that is Poppin’ Pete. I.Was.Hooked. And i remembered being in Queens, New York in ‘79 and seeing the kids around the way doing what I thought was an incredible robot dance and that my cousin Gary called it ‘The Electric Boogie’, I shoulda learned it from them, but had no idea the dance and vibe woulda spread all over the world. I first met Pete, Skeet(R.I.P),Sam and Suga Pop when they came to the U.K in ‘83 and try to link with them whenever they come to do workshops or shows. To anyone out there, this dance is the ultimate dance! There will never be another that connects people from all over the world on so many levels, despite the media once again saturating the market to the point of even us oldskool cats getting sick of every T.V show having some muppet that can backslide or backspin on it!
To the truskoolers out there, keep the faith and keep poppin’!
SAZON says:

November 2, 2010 at 10:44 am

can u list out the songs in your ice cold funk remix
its really fantastic