Entry · catalog no. 1329
the Running Man
/ /ðə ˈrʌnɪŋ mæn/ /thuh RUN-ing MAN
noun phrase · New Jersey and the East Coast club circuit; nationwide · 1980s
✓ Verified
1.
A hip-hop social dance in which the dancer appears to run in place: one foot steps forward while the other slides back, the arms pumping, the body staying put.
“He hit the Running Man in the middle of the reception and the whole floor cleared for him.”
Origin & Attribution
A Black social dance out of hip-hop dance crews in the late 1980s, with New Jersey most often named as the point of origin. The choreographer Paula Abdul, who came up choreographing for Janet Jackson, picked it up and taught it to her; Jackson put it in front of the world in the 1989 "Rhythm Nation" video, and MC Hammer made it his own signature shortly after. As with most Black social dances, it was being done at parties well before any camera found it, and the performers who popularized it were not its inventors.
1986
The move circulates among East Coast hip-hop dance crews, New Jersey most often named
1989
Janet Jackson performs it in the Rhythm Nation video
1990
MC Hammer makes it a signature during the U Can't Touch This tour cycle
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
New Jersey and the East Coast club circuit; nationwide · 1980s
Spoken by
Black club and party dancers; hip-hop crews; pop and R&B stages from 1989
$THERUNThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady40 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
56/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1986
in the culture
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Janet Jackson, Rhythm Nation, dir. Dominic Sena, A&M Records
music video · 1989
■
+ Cite a sourceMC Hammer, U Can't Touch This, Capitol Records
single and video · 1990
See also