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New Boyz Say They're More Than Just Jerkin' Rappers
The 17-year-old rappers talk about sparking a dance craze, and moving beyond it.

�The New Boyz — 17-year-olds Legacy and Ben J — are so young, they said that a major influence was Bow Wow.
"I've been rapping all my life, since I was 8," Legacy said. "I saw a Bow Wow music video, and all them little girls chasing him, and I wanted that lifestyle."

"I've been rapping for a long time too, but that wasn't my priority," Ben J added. "I wanted to go to college and play football. I still want to go to college, San Diego State! But I found out [Legacy] was rapping, and was like, I have to do it. And we've been New Boyz."
Formerly known as the Swagger Boyz, the two friends have been together for just a year (the duo was formed officially July 4, 2008) but are already getting love across the country for bringing the Los Angeles dance style jerkin' to the forefront with their single, "You're a Jerk."

"People were making jerkin' music, but nobody was like doing anything with it," Legacy said. "We wanted to make it worldwide. This dance is crazy, and it got potential, so we wanted to make it worldwide. We made a jerkin' song. We made 'You're a Jerk,' which is like a double meaning. Jerkin' is just having a good time, you just grooving. Some people ain't capable of crumping. Their body can't do all that. Everybody can jerk, my grandma be jerkin'. His 4-year-old brother be jerkin'. It's just groovin'. It's positive."
"You're a Jerk" was made at Ben's house, and his mother even contributed to the track. The two laid their vocals in a closet and posted the song and a video of themselves dancing on YouTube.
The track is already so big, you see even Chris Brown jerkin' on the Internet. The pair say that they've become so popular because people see themselves when they look at the New Boyz.
"We've got movies," Ben revealed. "We're about to start a film in August called '818.' We play two of the lead roles. It's basically like a street film, like an L.A. gangster/ police film. We've got our album dropping August 18. We have a mockumentary on jerking. It's about the lifestyle of jerking. We're gonna try to get our whole business situated. We're going to move forward. Success is the point."
"We got our next single called 'Dot Com,' " Legacy said of the next release from their debut album, Skinny Jeans and a Mic. "And 'Tie Me Down.' We do music besides jerkin' music. We were artists before. Now we got jerkin', and they think that's the only thing we got. We're going to surprise a lot of people."

New Boyz kick start a new dance craze.

This past summer, California rap duo the New Boyz, gave the regional phenomenon known as "Jerkin'" its first crossover hit.

The group's first single, “You're a Jerk,” was an instant hit. The upbeat single peaked at #24 on Billboard's Top 100 and #13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart.

“Everybody was jerkin’ and making jerkin’ songs, so we knew [the song] had the potential to be something worldwide if it was done right,” said group member, Ben J.

This forward thinking worked and introduced the rest of the country to the “jerk movement.”

“You talk about all the people jerkin’ in the club…what about the people who don’t know what jerkin’ is? They can’t relate to the song. But with, ‘You’re a Jerk,’ people that don’t know what it is can still relate to it,” he continued.

Jerk music usually consists of a minimalist beat made on computers and “jerkin’” is the dance counterpart.

When the dance form is performed, it looks like repeated hops, skips, and of course, jerks, to the beat of the music.

Individuals adopting the “jerk style” in terms of fashion can be spotted in uniform skinny jeans, a graphic tee or flannel shirt, Nike Blazers, and a baseball cap.

“Their particular style is pretty comfortable to me,” said Karl Hooks, Jr., 18, a freshman business administration student from Dallas, TX.

“I can't relate to the 50 Cents and the Ice Cubes in terms of fashion because I'm more of a cool kid type dresser,” Hooks added.

Hooks’ sentiments are shared by others at Florida A&M University, even those who are not from the west coast.

“I like it!” exclaimed Rashad Lott, a freshman criminal justice student from Jacksonville, Fla.

“It is giving more exposure to that style,” Lott added. “That's the type of stuff I've been on!”

Although Lott doesn't approve of the degree of skinny to which some may go in terms of skinny jeans, he believes the New Boyz , along with the hipster style, will be influential on the urban community.

“Maybe it will make people dress better or at least more expressively,” he said.

Earl Benjamin and Domonic Thomas, known publicly as Ben J and Legacy met as freshmen at Hesperia High School in Victorville, California.

It was here that the two discovered each other’s affinity for music and became the New Boyz.

A group that has been named, “the young teens of hip-hop” by The New York Times, is bursting at the seams with youthful expression. Their sound, street slang, and eclectic fashion sense make them unique among today’s music artists.

Benjamin and Thomas celebrate their October birthdays only one day apart, and before their big break, the duo combined their money to purchase studio equipment.

With the equipment, Legacy made the catchy beat to “You’re a Jerk” with the help of YouTube tutorials.

“In order for us to make money, we had to make beats,” insisted Legacy.

With one hit under their belts, the New Boyz are putting the finishing touches on their debut album, “Skinny Jeanz & a Mic”. The album is due in stores Tuesday, September 15.

It’s a warm august night at the Oakland Oracle Arena and hundreds of fans with crumpled ticket stubs make the arena explode into dazzling array of colors, sneakers and heels. With every step and each roar of the crowd the thought pounds again in your head “ are they up yet? are they up yet? have I missed it? ” The Summer block party is now in session.

Fans waited anxiously for performances by R. Kelly, Keisha Cole,Twista, Dorrough Music, Plies and The New Boyz amongst many other artists. Everyone stepped out in their club best and the halls were transformed into a mini runways.

Rapper Too Short was spotted in the club area and says he’s just mingling . He says ” I haven’t really been watching the show but I’ve been mingling and the kids that are here I know a lot of their parents. It’s a good thing to mix and mingle with the younger generation.” The fans energy was muffled and confused and at first you didn’t know if people were going to hook up or fight. Suddenly everyone stops and the energy lifts as someone shouts “ The New Boyz are on “ and a mad dash is made back into the arena to catch the song ” You’re a Jerk.”

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Ayatollah an affiliate of The Wutang clan says ” I was with Slim of 112 and we did a show in palm springs and they were very entertaining. The crowd went crazy when The New Boyz hit the stage and it was like…wow.”

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��������� (Legacy and Ben J) whoSHOTyah?

The rap duo from Victorville The New Boyz Earl Benjamin (Ben J) and Dominic Thomas (Legacy), have blazed onto Hip Hop scene and started a new dance movement called “ the jerk”. The jerk is a dance that can be done anywhere and it’s a combination between Chicago’s footwork and Bay Area’s “ Turf dancing.”

Celebrity Entertainment consultant Mizz Marie says The New Boyz aren’t political. Mizz Marie explains “They are representing the young people of today in music and they are not concerned about the politics…they leave it up to the executives .” They New Boyz loved the experience of performing at the block party and the duo is getting ready to go on tour with Sean Kingston.

The Get Money boys whose style is defined as “ twerking music” and who are also are associated with Mizz Marie like the The New Boyz’s style. The Gm boys say ” their music is real creative we trying to make a song with them cause our little swag and they swag down south and we northern california we could just mesh together. “

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(Legacy and Ben J) whoSHOTyah?

New Boyz member Ben J says Oakland was wild ” They were hard as heck they went really hard and we look forward to coming back because of how they went.” The New Boyz opened the show and Legacy says ” it started slow but it picked up once the group got on stage”. Ben J says,” Everybody was still coming in and it was still packed when people heard we was performing ever body started running in.”

The New Boyz say they are still adjusting to their growing popularity but at first it caught them by surprise. The Hip Hop duo was on myspace when their fame finally began to sink in. They laugh about one the of the first shows where the fans recognized them.

Legacy says ” There were thousands of kids so we tried to sneak in and they noticed us. They pinned us against the wall they started ripping our clothes taking our hats and it’s gotten worse…. we’ve got security but security can only take so many girls. “ Backstage they met quite a few performers including the lovely Keisha Cole.

�Ben J says ” Keisha Cole is my wife I don’t care what nobody has to say I touched her hand and I’m star struck..i’m just messed up.” Ben J playfully goes on to say,” Tell Keisha Cole to hit me up and put those in quotation marks.” They said they enjoyed kicking it with Pleasure P. backstage and that they are working on doing a track together. Legacy says he enjoyed Plies performance ” Plies went hard on stage and he walked right passed us but we just didn’t say nothing.”
The New Boyz listen to all types of music but they are influenced by Eminem, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Jay Z, and lil wayne. Their album “Skinny Jeans and a mic” comes out September 15th.