Scene: New Orleans, 1994 – A hip-hop pioneer in the realm of bounce music jumps on a track and becomes widely known as the first person to ever have the word “twerk” in the title of a song. The artist, Angela “Cheeky Blakk” Woods; the song “Twerk Something.” 

Twerking had already been a popular local dance in the Crescent City and there were music performers in clubs mentioning the body movement and demonstrating it themselves. Woods began her career as a backup dancer for bounce artist Edgar “Pimp Daddy” Givens, with whom she had become romantically involved. Later, the two worked as rhyming partners that would draw crowds to see them utilize their relationship to trade diss records in battle performances. 

As a rapper, Woods grew from battle rhyming to leaning on her dance experience to craft lyrics. While everyone may have been in the club tooting it up twerk-style, no one had yet made it a catchy hook and mantra. While she is hailed in Louisiana as a twerk innovator and has watched the dance grow in popularity, Woods told Blavity that she never thought twerking would become the cultural phenomenon it is today.