This article originally appeared on Noisey UK
In the history of oscillating limbs, “the dab” has ascended to prominence like no other. Starting out as a movement embedded in Atlanta’s rap scene, in the last year or so the dance move has become one of the great cultural ticks of our time. Like Snapchat, hoverboards, outrage, and the ability to bone, eat, and order a ride through the mobile phone, “the dab” is one of this generation’s defining features. Your favorite sport stars are dabbing, your co-workers are angling their arms, even the grandmother of Disney-channel-child-star-cum-Twitter-celebrity Cole Sprouse is doing it. Fuck, even the Daily Telegraph took a break from eating cheese and scones and the jellied body parts of the lower-class to write about the dance move. So, then, as all trends grow and come to pass, the moment has come for the dance move to be laid to rest, cremated in a funeral pyre, and left to fester in the backpages of time.
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In an interview (read: verbally acosted outside of an airport) with TMZ, Quavo of the rap group Migos—who are widely recognized as one of the originators of “the dab,” having immortalized it in the hallowed hallways of their Instagram and tracks like “Look At My Dab (Bitch Dab)”—signaled the death of the dance move. Asked about comments made by the NFL star Cam Newton regarding the expiration of the dance move, Quavo states “RIP” to “the dab.” He then goes on to say, “You got to give everybody a new trend, a new wave or something new to do so I feel him on that. Everybody was copying it and now it’s time to switch lanes.”
Obviously, unless you’re the sort of person who is still comfortable wearing K-Swiss trainers or a chain-wallet in 2016, this means it is now socially unacceptable to engage in “the dab” in public. Fear not, though, as the Migos will be bringing a new dance move to your eyes soon.
“We ain’t gon’ tell you because we know y’all gon’ take it, bite it and re-write it,” Quavo says. “But you know, we’ll come out with something new.”
Watch the video below:
