“Where I’m from we do concrete backflips, flip-flop, flip-flop, flip-flop back, to the hood where I bring hip hop back”

– Jay Rock “Hood Gone Love It”

While we talked to Jay Rock about the music video for “Hood Gone Love It” from his album debut Follow Me Home, he revealed to us the importance of ghetto gymnastics. Jay Rock explains the significance of doing backflips in the jungle of Watts, California:

On my track in the first verse I say ‘Where I’m from we do concrete backflips’ which means back in the day, when we were young, around 10 or 11, we used to flip behind the gym on the basketball courts. At first we flipped on the grass but then if you really wanted to earn your stripes on flipping, you got to do your flips on the concrete. So that’s what we did, we sued to do flips on the concrete. That’s why I say ‘flip, flop, flip, flop, flip, flop back.’ We used to always do that off concrete. I was a young tumbler back in my day. Everybody who knows me knows I was a young tumbler and I did my flipping. Anyone that grew up in the projects knows about concrete backflips.”

Did Jay Rock ever land on his face a few times before graduating to concrete? Not at all, as Jay explains:

Never, never! I always landed on my feet! Actually, my brother taught me how to flip. My brother used to flip and when I was 6 or 7 I used to watch him do it all the time and when I got old enough I started doing it. Any young kid you know in the projects know how to flip on concrete, trust me.”

Click here to pre-order Follow Me Home which includes “Hood Gone Love It”.