"Whoomp! (There It Is)" is the debut single by 1990s rap duo Tag Team, written by members Cecil "DC the Brain Supreme" Glenn and Steve "Rolln" Gibson. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot R&B chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1993. "Whoomp!" reached multi-platinum status and broke records for the number of consecutive weeks in the top 10. Though Tag Team is considered a one-hit wonder, as their subsequent singles did not find the same success, "Whoomp!" has remained a pop culture staple with multiple placements in film, television, and advertisements. The song has also endured as a mainstay at sporting and arena events.
Background
Tag Team recorded "Whoomp! (There It Is)" in August 1992. At that time, Glenn was working as the main DJ at Magic City, an Atlanta gentlemen's club that would later become recognized as a hub of Atlanta hip-hop and rap music. The song sampled a synthesizer line from the 1980 Italo disco hit "I'm Ready" by Kano. Glenn played the track in the club on the same day it was mixed and received a positive reaction from the audience. In the following months, people requested the song so often that it became clear the song had the potential to become a hit. The single was shopped to and rejected by multiple record labels because executives were unfamiliar with southern bass and were unsure if the sound would sell well around the country. Glenn instead borrowed $2,500 from his parents to press eight hundred records. The singles quickly sold out in Atlanta on word of mouth alone.
A representative from Mercury Records suggested that the best person to promote music from the southern bass genre was one-time Stax Records mogul Al Bell, head of Bellmark Records. Glenn reached out to Bell, who agreed to sign Tag Team without even hearing the song. Bell reportedly told Glenn, "I don’t need to hear the record. I hear it in your spirit."
A similar song, "Whoot, There It Is", was released by the Miami-based group 95 South a month prior to Tag Team's "Whoomp!" Both groups' record companies maintained that the similarities were a coincidence, as the phrase, "Whoomp (or whoot), there it is", was a common expression used by dancers in Atlanta and Miami nightclubs that members from both groups frequented. Arsenio Hall hosted both groups on his television show to perform their versions of the songs and let viewers vote on their favorite by calling a 900 number to donate money to the relief effort for the 1993 Midwest floods.
The phrase "Whoomp! There it is!" has come to mean something similar to "Look at that!". It is intended to encourage "positive partying". Tag Team has explained that the phrase refers to "anything that one agrees with on a positive level."
Reception
The song was praised by critics for its positive and uplifting tone. Within months of its release, "Whoomp!" reached the top position on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. The record held the #2 spot on the Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks and reached platinum status. In February 1994, it received its fourth platinum certification.
"Whoomp! (There It Is)" received an award in the category for "Best Rap 12-inch" at the 1994 WMC International Dance Music Awards in the US. It was rated #97 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. The song is listed at #58 on "Billboards Greatest Songs of all time". "Whoomp" has been called "da bomb party song" of the 1990s by Atlanta magazine and "among the country's most commercially successful singles of all time."
Music video
The video for the song features a large outdoor party. It was filmed at an Atlanta fairground and shows the duo riding a carousel. Extras were recruited by word-of-mouth and also by an announcement on a local radio station. More than a thousand extras showed up for the shoot.