Zaza (YTMND)

About

Zaza is a YTMND series characterized by spastic, repetitive movements of dancing Black Ranger (played by Walter Jones) from the popular TV series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, typically set to rapper LL Cool J's 2006 single "Control Myself" as background music.

Origin

The Zaza phenomenon began on April 5, 2006 when user MrApgar created a YTMND site titled Zaza, featuring GIF animation of Black Ranger Zack Taylor demonstrating his breakdance-influenced martial arts on the opening entrance of "the Hatch" from the TV series LOST.

Play

This site, combined with the "Za-za-za-za-za" audio sample heard at 3:11 in LL Cool J’s song "Control Myself", sparked the interest in "zaza" phenomenon, eventually giving it over 290,000 views.

The "za-za-za-za-za" heard in LL Cool J's song was originally sampled from the 1982 hip hop song Planet Rock by Afrika Bambaataa. The audio sample first made its way over to YTMND with a popular instance of Dew Army series titled "My Chainsaw" in March 2006 (now-defunct).

Spread and Popularity

After the site's creation, it began to receive very high ratings, spawning derivatives and variations with the "Zaza" sound popularized by the Dew Army instance and the original Zaza site. Its popularity was further boosted through a five-star bump placed by YTMND mod Inkdrinker, notorious for giving 1-star ratings to most popular YTMND sites and explanation of why he wants the site and its creator to "die in a fire."

Due to its notability within the community, the song "Control Myself" was included in the 10th Volume of the YTMND Soundtrack.

Structure

Most of the instances sample the "Zaza" sound, but the character sprite can vary across multiple themes. Some of the more common features of "Zaza" YTMND sites are:

• Zack Taylor dancing with customized outfit & items
• GIF images of people dancing back and forth
• Images of Bees and other buzzing objects

YTMND Sites

• Zaza (Over 290,000 views)
• Cosby Treadmill Zaza (Over 240,000 views)
• How Black People Snore (Over 84,000 views)
• Gman Is Having A Very ZAZA Time (Over 32,000 views)
• ZazazazaZidane (Over 26,000 views)
• Zaza Mario (Over 26,000 views)
• Naruto Manga Zaza (Over 21,000 views)
• Zack’s Chainsaw Fixed (Over 20,000 views)
• When Cosbees Attack Volume III (Over 18,000 views)
• How A Ghetto Bee Sounds (Over 18,000 views)
• Cosbees zazazazazazazaza (Over 17,000 views)

• Cosby Zazaza (Now with New Original Animation!) (Over 12,000 views)
• Jack Sparrow: zaza (Over 11,000 views)
• zazazazaza (Over 11,000 views)
• Zazazazazaza Stole My TV (Ninja Style) (Over 8,000 views)

Youtube

There are a few "zaza" videos on Youtube, mostly with low viewcounts, with the highest having over 70,000 views.