Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown dance, explained: How Ravens WR adopted the Park Heights Strut

David Suggs

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Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown dance, explained: How Ravens WR adopted the Park Heights Strut image

From Baltimore to the world.

Charm City is home to many a cultural touchstone, from hard-shelled crabs topped with Old Bay to the melodies that spilled from the late K-Swift's turntables. It just feels like the metropole has a way of bringing the best out of the arts.

It seems Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has taken notice. The famed pass-catcher has spent much of first year in the city familiarizing himself with the sounds — and movements — of his new home.

It's within this context that the Park Heights Strut came to fruition. The jig has become all the rage around league circles, with Baltimore's star wideout employing the lively ensemble after prancing into the end zone vs. the Seahawks in Week 9.

MORE: Is Odell Beckham Jr. dating Kim Kardashian?

The move isn't an OBJ original, though. Rather, it's an offshoot of the city that inspired it, vivaciousness and spirit encapsulated in just a few entrancing steps.

With that, here's what you need to know about the Park Height Strut.

Odell Beckham Jr. touchdown dance

First, here's a look:

What is the Park Heights Strut?

Hailing from the gleaming thoroughfares that line Baltimore's landscape, the Park Heights Strut is a rhythmic dance that has swirled through the interweb over the past few months. The number — which is spotlighted by a mesmerizing strut and sway — has been a fixture in the Baltimore area for most of the past two decades.

The dance is a relic of the Baltimore of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Its latest edition, though, has been modified for mass consumption. And much of that popularity stems from its resident experts, the local dance crews that pockmark the city's surface.

Whether it's Top Tier Shiners, TSU Dance Crew or Ronald "Bunkey" Snead Jr., it seems there's a whole cadre of acrobats studying the history of one of Baltimore's most iconic symbols.

The caper is named after the colorful neighborhood that it originates from, Park Heights, Baltimore. And much like its hometown, the Park Heights Strut is nothing if not raw.

“Everybody always talks about the bad things [but] we got something good to talk about for life,” Bunkey Jr. told WMAR. “This is legendary. They'll never forget."

The maneuver went viral on TikTok thanks in large part to Bunkey Jr., who added his own wrinkles to give the act some additional flavor. He wasn't the only one to do so, though; Top Tier Shiners was similarly creative with their moves. Now, it's a staple in Baltimore and abroad.

“We got celebrities doing it, we got athletes doing it,” Ryan "Shaggy" Dailey of TSU Dance Crew told WMAR. “I don't think it's ever going to end even down to club dancing that we do.”

Who made the Park Heights Strut?

For all of the dance's popularity, it doesn't really have a single creator. Rather, its establishment was a collective effort, the amalgamation of all sorts of different stylings that billowed through Park Heights in the past.

Like any dance, the Park Heights Strut is the result of older generations passing down their twirls and shakes to the next.

“The Park Heights Strut is a regular ol’ little two-step and that’s it," Bunkey Jr. told the Baltimore Banner.

Bunkey Jr. did play a vital role in spreading the gospel that is the move, however. The Park Heights native brought the strut to the attention of legions of onlookers via TikTok. Now, it's ubiquitous all over social media.

MORE: Odell Beckham Jr. contract details

“Now that TikTok is out, I guess that’s what brung it to life because if you go on my page from years and years ago, you’ll see me doing the same thing when nobody else was doing it," Bunkey Jr. said. "Everybody was loving the dance, but it didn’t get a chance to get out there until TikTok came along.”

Count Beckham and the Ravens as some of its most vocal enthusiasts.

"There's so much I want to do for this team, organization and also the city of Baltimore," Beckham said. "They've embraced me and the culture."

Park Heights Strut song

Every good dance is accompanied by an equally intoxicating song. The Park Heights Strut is no exception. The strut has been backed by a number of impressive tracks, including Mark Morrison's "Return of the Mack" local DJ Nelly Nell's mixes.

However, the song that most often soundtracked with it is Djzayy's remix of Tems' Afrobeats anthem, "Free Mind."

The lyrics are as follows:

Yeah, yeah my mindYeah, yeah my mind

I said, "Five in the morning"I wake up to fight for my earningsThe fear in my mind is a warningPraying to the one you rely inI've been wandering all dayI try to be fine but I can't beThe noise in my mind wouldn't leave meI try to get by but I'm burning

And behind my mind it runsAll these thoughts have troubled meFighting to give up my painFighting to be on my laneMy mind running to the other sideWhen it's time to live my lifeThen it tries to take me outTell you what I need right here

I really need, I really need timе nowI really need, I need a free mind nowI really need, I really need minе nowI really need, I need to free my mind nowI really need, I really need time nowI really need, I need a free mind nowI really need, I really need my mind now, oh yeah

This is the peace that you cannot buySend me a love that you cannot mixOne is the joy that you cannot wasteAnd the other one price that you cannot fixThis is the peace that you cannot buyFinding a way when you cannot seeMan will desist if he cannot prayI need to find release

But behind my mind it runsAll these thoughts have troubled meFighting to give up my painFighting to be on my laneMy mind running to the other sideWhen it's time to live my lifeThen it tries to take me outTell you what I need right here

I really need, I really need my mind nowI really need, I need a free mind nowI really need, I really need time nowI really need, I need to free my mind nowI really need, I really need time nowI really need, I need a free mind nowI really need, I really need time now, oh yeah

To set me freeFreer than the open mindFarther than the eyes can handleFreer than the ocean now yeah, yeahSo set me freeNow I need to find releaseSet me to the open skyNow I need to free my mind yeah, yeah

I might be falling deepI might be falling deepI might be falling deepI might be falling deep

Tell me now what you needI've been going to GodWhen I'm all in my mindI might be falling deep

Falling deep

I might be fallingI might be fallingI might be fallingI might be falling, yeah

David Suggs

David Suggs Photo

David Suggs is a content producer at The Sporting News. A long-suffering Everton, Wizards and Commanders fan, he has learned to get used to losing over the years. In his free time, he enjoys skateboarding (poorly), listening to the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and D’Angelo, and penning short journal entries.