0:00:00.206,0:00:02.666
If you do it right, it should sound like:

0:00:02.690,0:00:06.569
TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat,[br]TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat.

0:00:06.593,0:00:08.300
If you do it wrong, it sounds like:

0:00:08.324,0:00:09.823
Tick-TAT, tick-TAT, tick-TAT.

0:00:09.848,0:00:12.699
[Small thing. Big idea.]

0:00:13.574,0:00:15.460
[Kyra Gaunt on[br]the Jump Rope]

0:00:16.321,0:00:19.754
The jump rope is such a simple object.

0:00:19.918,0:00:22.517
It can be made out of rope,[br]a clothesline, twine.

0:00:22.541,0:00:25.067
It has, like, a twirl on it. (Laughs)

0:00:25.091,0:00:26.863
I'm not sure how to describe that.

0:00:26.887,0:00:29.392
What's important[br]is that it has a certain weight,

0:00:29.416,0:00:32.793
and that they have[br]that kind of whip sound.

0:00:32.817,0:00:36.615
It's not clear what the origin[br]of the jump rope is.

0:00:36.639,0:00:40.575
There's some evidence[br]that it began in ancient Egypt, Phoenicia,

0:00:40.599,0:00:44.671
and then it most likely traveled[br]to North America with Dutch settlers.

0:00:44.695,0:00:49.333
The rope became a big thing[br]when women's clothes became more fitted

0:00:49.357,0:00:51.635
and the pantaloon came into being.

0:00:51.659,0:00:54.539
And so, girls were able to jump rope

0:00:54.563,0:00:57.269
because their skirts[br]wouldn't catch the ropes.

0:00:57.293,0:01:01.173
Governesses used it[br]to train their wards to jump rope.

0:01:01.197,0:01:04.438
Even formerly enslaved African children[br]in the antebellum South

0:01:04.462,0:01:05.904
jumped rope, too.

0:01:05.928,0:01:10.539
In the 1950s, in Harlem,[br]Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens,

0:01:10.563,0:01:15.039
you could see on the sidewalk,[br]lots of girls playing with ropes.

0:01:15.063,0:01:18.785
Sometimes they would take two ropes[br]and turn them as a single rope together,

0:01:18.809,0:01:22.595
but you could separate them and turn[br]them in like an eggbeater on each other.

0:01:22.619,0:01:25.132
The skipping rope[br]was like a steady timeline --

0:01:25.156,0:01:26.673
tick, tick, tick, tick --

0:01:26.697,0:01:30.759
upon which you can add rhymes[br]and rhythms and chants.

0:01:30.783,0:01:32.831
Those ropes created a space

0:01:32.855,0:01:35.077
where we were able[br]to contribute to something

0:01:35.101,0:01:37.211
that was far greater[br]than the neighborhood.

0:01:37.602,0:01:41.288
Double Dutch jump rope remains[br]a powerful symbol of culture and identity

0:01:41.312,0:01:42.465
for black women.

0:01:42.489,0:01:44.807
Back from the 1950s to the 1970s,

0:01:44.831,0:01:46.966
girls weren't supposed to play sports.

0:01:46.990,0:01:49.791
Boys played baseball,[br]basketball and football,

0:01:49.815,0:01:51.156
and girls weren't allowed.

0:01:51.180,0:01:53.704
A lot has changed, but in that era,

0:01:53.728,0:01:55.569
girls would rule the playground.

0:01:55.593,0:01:58.013
They'd make sure[br]that boys weren't a part of that.

0:01:58.037,0:02:00.283
It's their space, it's a girl-power space.

0:02:00.307,0:02:02.403
It's where they get to shine.

0:02:02.427,0:02:03.989
But I also think it's for boys,

0:02:04.013,0:02:05.489
because boys overheard those,

0:02:05.513,0:02:07.957
which is why, I think,[br]so many hip-hop artists

0:02:07.981,0:02:11.277
sampled from things that they heard[br]in black girls' game songs.

0:02:11.301,0:02:14.377
(Chanting) ... cold, thick shake,[br]act like you know how to flip,

0:02:14.401,0:02:17.402
Filet-O-Fish, Quarter Pounder,[br]french fries, ice cold, thick shake,

0:02:17.426,0:02:18.881
act like you know how to jump.

0:02:18.905,0:02:22.925
Why "Country Grammar" by Nelly[br]became a Grammy Award-winning single

0:02:22.949,0:02:25.307
was because people already knew

0:02:25.331,0:02:28.806
"We're going down down baby[br]your street in a Range Rover ... "

0:02:28.830,0:02:32.243
That's the beginning of "Down down, baby,[br]down down the roller coaster,

0:02:32.267,0:02:34.696
sweet, sweet baby, I'll never let you go."

0:02:34.720,0:02:37.569
All people who grew up[br]in any black urban community

0:02:37.593,0:02:39.878
would know that music.

0:02:39.902,0:02:42.124
And so, it was a ready-made hit.

0:02:42.656,0:02:46.775
The Double Dutch rope playing[br]helped maintain these songs

0:02:46.799,0:02:50.800
and helped maintain the chants[br]and the gestures that go along with it,

0:02:50.824,0:02:54.831
which is very natural[br]to what I call "kinetic orality" --

0:02:54.855,0:02:56.656
word of mouth and word of body.

0:02:57.133,0:03:00.006
It's the thing that gets[br]passed down over generations.

0:03:00.030,0:03:02.961
In some ways, the rope[br]is the thing that helps carry it.

0:03:03.696,0:03:06.569
You need some object[br]to carry memory through.

0:03:06.943,0:03:10.887
So, a jump rope, you can use it[br]for all different kinds of things.

0:03:10.911,0:03:12.466
It crosses cultures.

0:03:12.490,0:03:16.495
And I think it lasted[br]because people need to move.

0:03:16.519,0:03:21.906
And I think sometimes the simplest objects[br]can make the most creative uses.