About
“No Flex Zone” is a trap song released as the debut single for the American hip hop duo Rae Sremmurd. The track was a commercial success, reaching number 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and receiving multiple remixes by notable artists, including Waka Flocka Flame[1], Nicki Minaj and Pusha T.[2]
Origin
On May 18th, 2014, the song was released by EarDrummers and Interscope Records as the first single off Rae Sremmurd’s debut album SremmLife.[3] On August 11th, 2014, the RaeSremmurdVEVO YouTube channel uploaded the official music video for the track, which gained over 111 million views, 500,000 likes and 49,500 comments over the next year.
Spread
On July 25th, 2014, YouTuber SpikeFe released a “No Flex Zone” parody video (shown below, left). On August 15th, YouTuber Tpindell uploaded a parody music video titled “No Sex Zone,” garnering upwards of 800,000 views and 1,200 comments in 10 months (shown below, right).
On August 31st, the RaeSremmurd SoundCloud channel uploaded a remix of “No Flex Zone” featuring Nicki Minaj and Pusha T (shown below). In the next 10 months, the remix gained over 4.7 million plays and 62,000 likes.
On September 26th, 2014, a music video for a “No Flex Zone” remix by the hip hop duo Karmin and rapper George Watsky was uploaded to YouTube (shown below, left). Within nine months, the video accumulated more than 2.5 million views and 34,100 likes. On October 16th, the Karmin and Watsky video was submitted to the /r/listentothis[5] subreddit. On December 15th, YouTuber ADoseofBuckley ranked Rae Sremmurd’s original version of “No Flex Zone” as the 4th worst song of 2014 (shown below, right).
Notable Examples
Solange Knowles’ Choreographed Dance
On November 17th, 2014, Vimeo user Charlotte Hornsby uploaded footage of singer-songwriter Solange Knowles performing a chereographed dance to “No Flex Zone” following her wedding with music video director Alan Ferguson in New Orleans (shown below). In the coming days, the video was reposted by various news sites, including Gawker,[6]BuzzFeed,[7] Noisey[8] and Perez Hilton.[9]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Wikipedia – Waka Flocka Flame
[4]Youtube – The Ten Worst Songs of 2014
[5]Reddit – Karmin and Watsky
[6]Gawker – Solanges Mother-Son Wedding Dance
[7]BuzzFeed – Solange And Her Son Dancing
[8]Noisey – This is Solange doing a choreographed dance
[9]Perez Hilton – Solange Dancing To No Flex Zone