Hip Hop Hooray
"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" by James Brown, "Don't Change Your Love" by Five Stairsteps, "Make Me Say it Again, Girl" by Isley Brothers, "You Can't Turn Me Away" by Sylvia Striplin and "Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel. Pete Rock made a remix that samples Cannonball Adderley's "74 Miles Away". It was certified Platinum by the RIAA 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 would play the song after Ken Griffey Jr. was officially announced coming to bat at the Kingdome, especially in 1995, the year of the Mariners' first Major League Baseball playoff appearance. It plays at Yankee Stadium after a Yankees player hits a home run from 2017 until the middle of the 2019 season. It was brought back for the 2020 season. "Kids Incorporated" 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 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 from "Billboard" described it as "invigorating", noting that "once again, an anthemic chorus is the anchor for clever rhymes and a  contagious melody. Rap purists will dig raw groove/lyrical undercurrent, though glossy production will glide right into the hearts of radio programmers." Reviewing "19 Naughty III", James Bernard from "Entertainment Weekly" stated, "Yes, there's an "O.P.P." on this one. "Hip Hop Hooray" is as catchy as the charttopper this New Jersey rap trio rode to superstardom, only the new flavor is not quite as frisky." Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" commented, "One of the golden rules for a hit is a good hook. When these rappers repetitively shout "Hey Hoo," like cheerleaders, everyone will join in automatically. "Hot hit  hurray!" if you ask us." James Hamilton from "Music Week"'s "RM" Dance Update described it as a "moderately jaunty rap swayer". Johnny Lee from "Smash Hits" said that the song "sounds a bit" like Jazzy Jeff's "Summertime". Music video. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Spike Lee, who also appears in it. Queen Latifah, Eazy-E, Monie Love, Da Youngsta's, Kris Kross, Tupac Shakur 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". Rita Wilson, actor, singer, and wife of another A-List entertainer, Tom Hanks, 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 episode "The Burns and The Bees", 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 when they score a home run in Yankee Stadium. The New Jersey Devils also use the song when they  win a home game at the Prudential Center.