‘The Git Up’ Is the Next Viral Country Rap Song

If there is anything to be learned from Lil Nas X’s success with “Old Town Road,” it’s that the world has an appetite for the intersection between country and rap. In April, the song was removed from Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart, but it’s since spent an impressive ten weeks on the Hot 100 after a remix with Billy Ray Cyrus made the song impossible to ignore. For years, artists from Nelly to Lil Tracy have laid raps across country productions, fusing the storytelling-centric genres together. “Old Town Road” is not the first country rap hybrid, and it won’t be the last, but the song has certainly opened up doors for more artists to continue to marry country and trap. Now, Georgia-native Blanco Brown is the next artist poised to take the “yeehaw agenda,” a term coined by pop culture archivist Bri Malandro, by storm with his debut single “The Git Up.”

You may not be familiar with “The Git Up” just yet, but the constituents of TikTok’s music community are making it hard to escape the instructional dance song. Brown, who has produced for artists like Chris Brown and Pitbull, released “The Git Up” on SoundCloud in late April, but the video-sharing app has given the song an extra push—similar to “Old Town Road’s” ascent. Without any support from radio, Brown’s debut single has garnered over three million streams on Spotify. Shortly after “The Git Up” hit SoundCloud, the singer posted a YouTube video with country artist Lainey Wilson to let the world know how the dance should go. The dance, though open to interpretation, has propelled the song even further.

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The song is a modern take on the line dancing traditions embedded in both country music and Black culture. Brown’s chorus is infectiously catchy, with directions that lure you in from the very beginning. “Gon’ and do the two-step then cowboy boogie / Grab your sweetheart and spin ’em out.” “The Git Down” is not your average line dance because it requires a little more than trudging left and right across the dancefloor. You’ll need to dust off your 90s knowledge of “The Butterfly,” and hit a mean twerk at the bridge simply because the beat won’t allow you to do anything else. What did you think Brown meant when he says: “Take it down now, take it down now / Bring it up now, bring it up now.” Not only do people love to hit a two-step, but they love songs that tell you the dance moves. No one wants to look stupid; the formula is foolproof.

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It’s been too long since the latest line dancing craze captivated the hearts (and feet) of America. The legal issues and allegations surrounding R. Kelly forced many of us to lay “Step in the Name of Love” to rest, and after hearing “The Cha Cha Slide” and “The Wobble” for over a decade the prospect of a new option is refreshing. Blanco Brown’s Instagram is evidence that the line dance is truly for everyone. Teachers are doing the dance with their class, grandmas are trying their best, and wakeboarders are even hitting their two-step on the water. It’s in your best interest that you practice before doing it in public.

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Kristin Corry is a staff writer. Follow her on Twitter.