Memphis Jookin
Also known as: Jookin', Gangsta Walking, G-Walk, Buckin', Choppin'
History & Cultural Context
Memphis Jookin is the glide-and-toe-stand street dance of Memphis, Tennessee, and the direct descendant of gangsta walking. Gangsta walking took shape in Memphis's Black neighbourhoods in the 1980s, driven by DJ Spanish Fly, who worked it into records and into rooms like Club No Name and Club Expo; by his own account three hundred people would rotate in one enormous circle on the floor. The Crystal Palace roller rink in South Memphis became the hearth of the culture through the late 1980s and 1990s, and the rap group G-Style put the walk on national screens in their 1993 'Gangsta' video. As the vocabulary expanded past the original marching-and-arm-swinging step — absorbing the New Orleans-influenced buck jump, then adding slides, ankle rolls and balance work on the outer edge and tip of the sneaker — dancers began calling it jookin. The result reads like ballet performed in Air Force Ones: weightless glides, abrupt stops and toe stands held in ordinary shoes. Charles 'Lil Buck' Riley carried it to Yo-Yo Ma, Madonna and the Kennedy Center, while Terrance 'G-Nerd' Smith founded the Memphis Jookin Warz battle that keeps the form anchored at home.
Cultural Significance
Jookin belongs to Memphis's rap scene and to the skating rink as a social institution — a place, as locals describe it, to have fun and stay out of trouble. It remains transmitted through 'bump sessions' in parking lots and garages as much as through classes.
Characteristic Movement & Technique
Continuous gliding footwork with the weight rolling across the outside edge of the shoe, punctuated by toe stands, spins on the toe, sharp ankle rolls and stop-time freezes. The upper body stays comparatively still so the feet read as the whole story.
Partnering Dynamics
Solo dance performed in a circle, with dancers rotating in and out; historically the gangsta walk moved as a whole room circling clockwise or counter-clockwise together, which survives in the group energy of a jookin session.
Competitive Context
Battled one-on-one in circles and at organised events, most notably the Memphis Jookin Warz founded by G-Nerd. Judging weighs balance, glide quality, musicality and originality of transitions.
Regional Variations
Older gangsta walking, harder-hitting buckin and the smoother modern jookin coexist in Memphis as distinct registers; younger dancers push extreme toe work while veterans keep the marching walk alive.
Common Misconceptions
Jookin is not simply renamed gangsta walking — the walk is its ancestor and still exists alongside it. And its toe work is not borrowed from ballet: it developed independently in sneakers on rink and street floors, which is why comparisons run the other direction when jookers appear on concert stages.
Peak Popularity
Signature Figures
- DJ Spanish Fly
- DJ Squeeky
- G-Style
- Charles "Lil Buck" Riley
- Terrance "G-Nerd" Smith
- Daniel Price
- Al Kapone
Notable Codifiers
- Crystal Palace Skating Rink
- Memphis Jookin Warz
Memphis Jookin Music & Tempo
Drawn from 16 Memphis Jookin tracks in the LODance music library.
Example tracks at practice tempo
- FOR REAL (feat. PC BAND) — Jookin Soundtrack83 BPM
- Take Da Charge — Project Pat72 BPM
- TikTok (feat. Saucelord) — Jookin Soundtrack73 BPM
- 60 FEET (feat. VIRGHOST) — Jookin Soundtrack70 BPM
- BEAST (feat. Shannon Sanders) — Jookin Soundtrack
- 30 Years Strong (Gangsta Walk Anthem) — Young Jai
Memphis Jookin on screen
Films and television where Memphis Jookin appears, with the sequences worth watching for.
Poster artwork from TMDB.
This site uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
What to Wear
Attire guidance for Memphis Jookin and other Hip-Hop & Street Dance dances. Each card below is sized to the moment — class, practice, social, or competition — because the wardrobe shifts as the stakes do.
Reading the cards
In Class
Street clothes you can sweat in and move fully in: joggers, sweats or loose jeans in thin denim, a tee or hoodie, layers you can shed. The one hard rule at most studios is a dedicated indoor sneaker that has never been worn outside — grit tracked in from the street scratches marley and wrecks the floor for everyone. For breaking, add a flat vulcanized sole (Sambas, Chucks, Gazelles) rather than a cushioned running shoe, cover your knees and elbows, and skip slick nylon or heavy zippers that catch on the floor. Long hair tied back, and take rings and bracelets off before floorwork.
Social Dancing
Jams, cyphers and club nights have no dress code — you dance in what you would wear on the street, and that is the point of the form. Practical constraints only: clean sneakers you can pivot and drop in, nothing so oversized that a judge or the circle can't read your movement, and pockets emptied before you go to the floor. Bring a second shirt if you plan to be in the cypher all night.
Competition
Battles and championships (Red Bull BC One, Juste Debout, World of Dance, the Olympic breaking format) generally have no prescribed costume — dancers wear their own street look or crew kit, and personal style is part of what gets judged. Practical rules do apply: a visible competitor bib or number, nothing that can fall off mid-round, and shoes that won't mark the stage. Breakers competing in power moves usually add a spin beanie or headspin cap and taped wrists.
Shoes
Flat, thin, minimally cushioned soles — vulcanized rubber rather than a built-up foam or air heel. Adidas Sambas and Gazelles, Converse Chuck Taylors, Puma Suedes and Vans are the perennial choices because you can feel the floor through them and pivot on the ball of the foot without the sole grabbing. Running shoes are the common beginner mistake: the raised heel and aggressive tread lock the foot mid-turn and blunt every slide and glide. Whichever pair you choose, keep it indoor-only.
In Practice
Training alone or with a crew sits between class and battle — wear what you would battle in, so you know how it moves before it counts. Fitted enough to read your own lines in the mirror while drilling isolations, since popping and locking are invisible inside an oversized hoodie, with the hoodie back on between rounds. Breakers add knee pads and a long sleeve under the top for floor sessions, and empty their pockets: keys and a phone in a pocket are the classic cause of a bruised hip.
Common Pitfalls
- ✗Wearing the shoes you walked in on — street grit scratches marley and most studios will stop you at the door.
- ✗Cushioned running shoes for breaking or footwork: the tread grabs on turns and the raised heel kills ground feel.
- ✗Clothing so oversized that isolations and body lines disappear — the teacher and the judges cannot see what you are doing.
- ✗Attempting headspins or windmills without a spin cap or padding.
- ✗Keys, phone or a belt buckle still on you when you go to the floor.
Price Range
- Budget: You likely already own the clothes. An indoor-only sneaker at roughly $60–100 (Chuck Taylors, Puma Suede) is the only real purchase.
- Mid: Adidas Samba or Gazelle around $100–120, knee pads $20–40, a spin beanie roughly $25–50.
- Premium: A purpose-built spin cap (Spincontrol and similar) at roughly $60–100, wrist supports, and multiple indoor pairs rotated for different surfaces. Beyond that the money goes into workshops and travel to jams, not gear.
Key Terms
- Vulcanized sole
- Thin, flexible rubber sole bonded flat to the upper — gives ground feel and a predictable pivot, unlike a cushioned running sole.
- Spin cap
- Padded cap or doubled beanie worn for headspins and halos; protects the scalp and reduces friction and hair loss.
- Floor burn
- Friction abrasion from footwork and floor rocks — the reason breakers wear long sleeves and durable fabrics rather than thin jersey.
- Indoor-only sneakers
- A pair that never goes outside; grit carried in from the street scratches marley and ruins the floor for the whole studio.
- Crew kit
- Matching or coordinated crew clothing worn at battles — identity rather than costume, and never required of an individual entrant.
Quick Tips
- •Suede-soled shoes allow controlled sliding and pivoting — essential for most partner dances.
- •Avoid rubber soles on dance floors; they grip too much and can cause knee injuries.
- •Bring a separate pair of clean shoes for the dance floor to keep it in good condition.
Recommended Gear for Memphis Jookin
Essential equipment and apparel selected for dancers learning Memphis Jookin.
As an Amazon Associate, LODance earns from qualifying purchases. Affiliate disclosure
Sources & Further Reading
Cultural & Historical Context
Memphis Jookin emerged from Memphis, Tennessee, USA during 1985—present day. Understanding the cultural roots, musical traditions, and social circumstances of this era enriches appreciation for the dance's characteristics and significance.
Formative Influences
Codifiers & Standardizers:
Crystal Palace Skating Rink, Memphis Jookin Warz
Signature Movement Vocabulary:
DJ Spanish Fly, DJ Squeeky, G-Style, Charles "Lil Buck" Riley, Terrance "G-Nerd" Smith, Daniel Price, Al Kapone
Primary Source Documents
The Library of Dance contains public-domain primary sources for dance history. Copyrighted modern syllabi are indexed with purchase links to their respective copyright owners. Search by dance name or codifier to discover primary source documents.
Last reviewed: September 2026 — This dance profile synthesizes historical research, cultural documentation, and contemporary practice knowledge to provide authoritative context.
More in Hip-Hop & Street Dance
Breaking (B-Boying / B-Girling)
The foundational dance of hip-hop culture, built in the Bronx on looped drum breaks and organised into toprock, footwork, power moves and freezes.
Hip-Hop Party Dances (Old School Social)
The social layer of hip-hop: named, repeatable party steps such as the Wop, Cabbage Patch, Running Man, Roger Rabbit and Steve Martin, learned by watching rather than counting.
New Style Hip-Hop
The studio and choreography form that grew out of the party dances, keeping their groove as its base while adding isolations, texture and eight-count structure.
Chicago Footwork (Juke)
Chicago's double-time battle dance, danced almost entirely from the knees down inside a ring at 150–165 BPM over ghetto-house-derived footwork tracks.
Turfing
Oakland's storytelling street dance, mixing gliding, waving, tutting, contortion and bone-breaking with pantomime, named T.U.R.F. by Jeriel Bey in the early 2000s.
Flexing (Bone Breaking / Bruk Up)
Brooklyn's contortionist street dance, descended from Jamaican bruk up and danced to reggae-rooted Flex Dance Music rather than hip-hop breakbeats.
Litefeet
Harlem's fast, buoyant, trick-driven street dance of named steps, hat and shoe tricks, performed to purpose-built 100–110 BPM tracks and on subway 'Showtime' sets.
Detroit Jit
Detroit's high-speed footwork dance, created by the McGhee brothers as The Jitterbugs in the 1970s and later fused with electro, techno and ghettotech.
Bounce
New Orleans' call-and-response party music and its hip-driven dance culture, built on the looping 'Triggerman' beat and neighbourhood roll calls.
Hip-Hop & Street Dance in art
Browse the gallery →Works from the wider Hip-Hop & Street Dance tradition — we have not yet identified enough that depict Memphis Jookin specifically.
Continue Exploring
Lineage of Dance
500 years of dance evolution
Champions of Dance
Winners of marquee national & world titles
Language of Dance
161 dance terms & translations
Listening of Dance
Tempo, timing & musicality tools
Gallery of Dance
5,700+ artworks from museum collections
Attire of Dance
Evolution of dance dress across eras
Keep the thread going
Dance history, technique, and the occasional rabbit hole — in your inbox. Thoughtful, infrequent, unsubscribe anytime.
Free. No spam. One click to leave.