"Hip Hop Hooray" is a song by American hip hop group, Naughty by Nature. The song spent one week at number one on the US R&B chart, and reached number eight on the US Pop chart. It contains samples from "

Funky President Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mid ...

" by

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...

, "Don't Change Your Love" by

Five Stairsteps The Five Stairsteps, known as "The First Family of Soul" and later "The Invisible Man's Band", was an American Chicago soul group made up of five of Betty and Clarence Burke Sr.'s six children: Alohe Jean, Clarence Jr., James, Dennis, and Kenn ...

, "Make Me Say it Again, Girl" by

Isley Brothers Isley is an English surname. The name can also be used as an anglicized variant for the German surnames Eisele and Eisler. Notable people with the surname include: *The Isley Brothers, American musical group **Ernie Isley (born 1952), American mus ...

, "You Can't Turn Me Away" by Sylvia Striplin and "

Sledgehammer A sledgehammer is a tool with a large, flat, often metal head, attached to a long handle. The long handle combined with a heavy head allows the sledgehammer to gather momentum during a swing and apply a large force compared to hammers designed t ...

" by

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

. Pete Rock made a remix that samples

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

's "74 Miles Away". It was certified

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

and has sold over 1,100,000 copies in the United States. The song contains lyrics boasting the group's love of hip hop and their fascination with good-looking women. The

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

would play the song after Ken Griffey Jr. was officially announced coming to bat at the

Kingdome The Kingdome (officially the King County Stadium) was a multi-purpose stadium located in the Industrial District, Seattle, Industrial District (later SoDo, Seattle, SoDo) neighborhood of Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. O ...

, especially in 1995, the year of the Mariners' first

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

playoff appearance. It plays at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

after a Yankees player hits a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

from

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

until the middle of the 2019 season. It was brought back for the 2020 season. ''

Kids Incorporated ''Kids Incorporated'' (also known as ''Kids Inc.'') is an American children's television program that began production in the mid-1980s and continued airing well into the early 1990s. It was largely a youth-oriented program with musical performan ...

'' covered "Hip Hop Hooray" in 1993 in the Season 9 episode "Writing on the Wall".

Critical reception

Jesse Ducker from Albumism said the song is "just about as ubiquitous" as " O.P.P.". He added, "Most people remember the "Hey! Ho! Hey! Ho!" hook, but

Treach Anthony Criss (born December 2, 1970), better known by his stage name Treach, is an American rapper and actor. He is perhaps best known as the lead rapper of the hip hop group Naughty by Nature. Career With Naughty by Nature, Treach worked ...

and Vinnie Rock do a solid job trading four bar stanzas through the song's three verses. And Treach using "Tippy-tippy, pause, tippy-tippy pause" to describe him sneaking up on wack emcees is, if nothing else, creative."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described it as "invigorating", noting that "once again, an anthemic

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

is the anchor for clever rhymes and a contagious melody.

Rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

purists will dig raw groove/lyrical undercurrent, though glossy production will glide right into the hearts of radio programmers." Reviewing ''

19 Naughty III ''19 Naughty III'' is the third album from Naughty by Nature, released on February 23, 1993, through Tommy Boy Records. Recording sessions took place at Unique Recording Studios, Soundtrack Studios and Electric Lady Studios in New York City fr ...

'', James Bernard from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' stated, "Yes, there's an "O.P.P." on this one. "Hip Hop Hooray" is as catchy as the charttopper this

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

rap trio rode to superstardom, only the new flavor is not quite as frisky." Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...

'' commented, "One of the golden rules for a hit is a good hook. When these rappers repetitively shout "Hey Hoo," like

cheerleaders Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

, everyone will join in automatically. "Hot hit hurray!" if you ask us." James Hamilton from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

s ''RM'' Dance Update described it as a "moderately jaunty rap swayer". Johnny Lee from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' said that the song "sounds a bit" like Jazzy Jeff's " Summertime".

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song was directed by

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

, who also appears in it.

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

Eazy-E Eric Lynn Wright (September 7, 1964 – March 26, 1995), known professionally as Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred t ...

Monie Love Simone Johnson or Simone Gooden (born 2 July 1970), better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British rapper, actress and radio personality from London. Best known for her singles during the late–1980s through the 1990s, Monie Love curre ...

Da Youngsta's Da Youngsta's is an American rap group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, that consisted of brothers Taji "Taj Mahal" Goodman (born February 23, 1977) and Qu'ran "Q-Ball" Goodman (March 24, 1978), and their cousin Tarik "Reek Geez" ...

Kris Kross Kris Kross was an American hip hop duo that consisted of Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith. Kris Kross was the youngest hip-hop duo to gain success, with gold and platinum albums at 12 and 13 years old. The duo was discover ...

Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the Li ...

and Run–D.M.C. also make appearances in the video. A second version of the music video was uploaded to Tommy Boy's YouTube channel on January 6, 2018 that has removed Eazy-E's appearance from the video, replacing it with footage from previous scenes. It is also missing the copyright message that was displayed at the end of the original version. It is unclear when this edited video was produced or what the reason was for Eazy-E's removal. The original unedited video is available on Naughty by Nature's YouTube channel.

Media usage

"Hip Hop Hooray" is featured as a playable track in the video game ''

Rayman Raving Rabbids ''Rayman Raving Rabbids'' is a 2006 party video game developed and published by Ubisoft. The game is a spinoff in the ''Rayman'' series. The game consists of 75 minigames. The game was released for the PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, and Microsof ...

''.

Rita Wilson Rita Wilson (born Margarita Ibrahimoff; October 26, 1956) is an American actress, singer, and producer. Her film appearances include ''Volunteers'' (1985), ''Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), '' Now and Then'' (1995), ''That Thing You Do!'' (1996), ...

, actor, singer, and wife of another A-List entertainer,

Tom Hanks Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Ha ...

, while in Australia, recovering from a bout with COVID-19, submitted a social media clip of herself performing the song. She later collaborated with members of Naughty By Nature to produce a remix of the song that posted on Youtube, to support a campaign, "Musicares COVID-19 Relief Fund." The song is played in the

Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, a ...

episode "

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", in which the basketball team's gorilla mascot costume is shot after making a basket. The song had been used by the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

when they score a home run in

. The

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

also use the song when they win a home game at the

Prudential Center Prudential Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the central business district of Newark, New Jersey. Opened in 2007, it is the home of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the men's basketball program of Seton Hal ...

Track listing

# "Hip Hop Hooray" (LP Version) # "Hip Hop Hooray" (Extended Mix) # "The Hood Comes First" (LP Version) # "Hip Hop Hooray" (Instrumental) # "The Hood Comes First" (Instrumental)

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 1992 songs 1992 singles 1993 singles Naughty by Nature songs Tommy Boy Records singles Music videos directed by Spike Lee Songs written by Ronald Isley Songs written by Ernie Isley Songs written by Chris Jasper Songs written by Rudolph Isley Songs written by O'Kelly Isley Jr. Songs written by Marvin Isley Songs written by Treach