Ghost-Riding: Brake-Dancing With Zip Under the Hood

My college-age son introduced me to the phrase "ghost-riding the whip" a couple of weeks ago, and explained to me all the intricacies of how the Bay-Areas hip-hopsters made this all the rage. In a nutshell, your car is stopped, but not in gear, and moving at an idle. You jump out of the car, and "get stupid" (yes, using quotes like that makes me feel really old). A "whip" is a car, btw. I tried explaining this phenomenon to my friends a week or so ago, but it got mostly mangled in the translation. Imagine my elation that the Washington Post has decided to report on this.

To ghost-ride, the driver climbs out of the car while it's moving at low speed. The ghost-rider then busts a move around and on top of the vehicle, usually accompanied by a thumping soundtrack from the car (or "whip," in urban slang). What they're attempting is to make the dance steps as gaudy and elaborate as possible and to stay outside the car as long as possible.

At least the Post is as uncool as I am.

The origins of this whole thing has its roots in the "hyphy" movement. Yeah, that's what I said, too. Here's the Post's explanation:

Hyphy (derived from "hyperactive") is also bass-heavy hip-hop music that celebrates things such as "thizz" (the drug Ecstasy); "scrapers," which are large, late-'80s domestic makes like Buick LeSabres and Oldsmobile Cutlasses; and oversize sunglasses, called "stunner shades."

All of that is referenced in the hyphy anthem, "Tell Me When to Go," by the Oakland rapper E-40 (sample printable lyric: "Ghost-ride the whip / Now . . . Scrape / Put your stunna shades on / Now . . . Gas, brake, dip, dip"). The song was on the album "My Ghetto Report Card," which topped Billboard's R&B and hip-hop chart this year.

Is it stupid, dangerous, and a waste of time? Bet yer ass it is. That's why it's popular.

"It's a fantastic waste of time, and it's really funny," says Andy Shields, a college student from the Chicago area who tried ghost-riding with some classmates this month. The stunt was in an empty school parking lot in Casey, Ill., during a recent road trip. As a buddy rolled tape, Shields car-surfed at about 3 mph atop a friend's Chevy Suburban.

Shields enjoyed the ride so much he's hoping to repeat it -- on a combine or a cement mixer.

I suppose we should thank the hyphy movement for helping to thin the herd. Darwin would be proud.