Don’t Do The Harlem Shake – Baauer’s Trap Hit Is The First YouTube Meme Of 2013

Back in December I recounted my experience of being introduced to Baauer and how freakin’ mental it was. I mean, like, absolutely bonkers.

Over the last year the 23-year-old has been riding on the crest of a tsunami, originating in his bedroom in New York and heading full-pelt for international superstardom, and sweeping every venue, festival, radio station and pair of headphones on the way. The rate at which he’s blowing up is comparable to Carly Rae Jepsen and Gangnam Style, with the crucial difference being that he’s done it from the bottom up, infecting underground clubs, the cool corners of Soundcloud and uni/college pre-drink parties before spilling out onto the radio and into the mainstream, so it’s still totally cool to get caught up in his trap (hehe).

However, you may be too late. YouTube has swept up Harlem Shake and turned it into, well, a meme. Not only is this going to make his stellar banger so overplayed that your ear will invert, rip out its own cochlea and throw it on the ground if you hear “Con Los Terroristas!” one more goddamn time, it’s also probably going to make Harlem Shake completely lame, because loads of lame internet dorks and normies are being exposed to Baauer without earning the right to hear him (by either listening/looking in the right places or having cool friends). They probably think it’s dubstep. *Sigh*

There’s nothing we can do about it because Sick Chirpse isn’t strong enough to overpower the internet (yet) so you may as well enjoy the craze for now and pray to god that Baauer comes out the other side with his respectability and cool fanbase intact.

Here are some of the best ones, beginning with the one that Baauer shared on his Facebook which I think started this whole thing off. I don’t think he knew what he was getting himself into. None of them will make you laugh, but you’ll keep watching anyway. Because this is the internet we are enslaved by:

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W52rnrwG9p0′]

[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oNouzHiQ70′]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGvnDoxV5HI’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFKj8CwE5dI’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtXeetiPyvU’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhMiU3CcRQI’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IJoKuTlvuM’]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wZRiu1ly-8′]

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vJiSSAMNWw’]

Wanna know what Buzzfeed HQ looks like?:

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5OfTPGnzqQ’]

And finally, this one’s the best. No contest: