About
Whip my Hair is Willow’s (9-year-old daughter of Will Smith) debut single, released in early September of 2010.
Its lyrics have been subject to parody on the internet through images and videos, especially the repetitive line in the chorus: “I whip my hair my hair back and forth.”
Online Origins
On October 14, 2010 the video Sesame Street “Whip My Hair” Remix was uploaded by nwyche. The video used is originally from from the Sesame Street song, I Love my Hair.
On October 16, 2010, user rxlngr uploaded a similar video called Willow Smith vs. Sesame Street (Mec Jagger Rmx) – Whip My Hair to YouTube, improving the lipdub of the original. This is the most popular version of the mash-up, and has over 900,000 views.
These “Sesame Street + Whip my Hair” videos and a combination of other parodies seem to have caused the song to become viral in mid October.
Other videos parodying “Whip my Hair” before the song reached its peak in popularity include I WHIP MY HAIR BACK AND FORTH uploaded by nitsuaa precede the Sesame Street mash-up.
Most of these earlier parodies did not become very popular until after mid October- as indicated by the pattern of these videos’ viewcounts over time:
One exception seems to be Willow Smith – Whip My Hair DANCING by CheyenneTechno, which reached a dubious level of popularity before mid-October.
The official music video, uploaded on October 18, 2010, received more than 6 million views within less than a week, and currently has 7.5 million views as of October 26, 2010.
Trending…
It was also trending on Twitter on October 18th.
As an Image Macro
On Tumblr, “I whip my hair back and forth” images, especially GIFs, are very popular.
Direct “I whip my hair” reference:
Rhyming!
Videos
Willow Smith – “Whip My Hair” choreography
Willow Smith feat Nicki Minaj – Whip My Hair [OFFICIAL REMIX] Download
Willow – Whip My Hair( Spoof)Whip My Wig
Willow Smith- Whip My Hair (Official Music Video Parody) -Bruce