"Jump Around" is a song by American hip hop group House of Pain, produced by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill, who has also covered the song, and was released in May 1992 as the first single from their debut album, House of Pain (1992). The song became a hit, reaching number three in the United States. A 1993 re-release of the song in the United Kingdom, where the initial release had been a minor hit, peaked at number eight. It was featured at position 580 on Q Magazines "1001 Best Songs Ever", number 24 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s", number 66 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop", number 325 on Blenders "500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" and number 47 on NMEs "100 Best Songs Of The 1990s". The song is popular among dancehall DJs and is widely regarded in the United Kingdom as a club classic.
Development
DJ Muggs has stated that he originally produced the beat for Cypress Hill, but rapper B-Real couldn’t come up with the lyrics. It was subsequently offered to Ice Cube, who refused it, before finally being taken and used by House of Pain.
Samples
The song features a distinctive horn fanfare intro, sampled from Bob & Earl's 1963 track "Harlem Shuffle". The song also samples "Popeye the Hitchhiker" by Chubby Checker, but it is best known for a high-pitched squealing sound that appears at the beginning of almost every bar—66 times in the course of the recording.
The origin of the squeal has been the subject of debate. American blogger Anil Dash and musician Questlove of hip-hop band The Roots have insisted on Prince's "Gett Off" as the source, while WhoSampled had listed Junior Walker and the All Stars' "Shoot Your Shot" as the source. In 2016, a Newsweek reader performed a spectrogram analysis, which revealed that the sample more closely matched "Shoot Your Shot", and House of Pain member Everlast himself told Questlove that it was a horn making the squeal and not Prince. However, Anil Dash claimed the band denied that the sample was Prince to avoid paying royalties to the singer. For his part, DJ Muggs said the sample came from neither Prince nor Junior Walker. In 2020, Everlast stated that the sample came from Divine Styler's "Ain't Sayin' Nothin", which samples "Shoot Your Shot".
Critical reception
J.D. Considine for Schenectady, New York's The Daily Gazette described the song as "springy" and Scott Sterling from The Michigan Daily called it the "most happening track" on the House of Pain album. Bill Wyman from Entertainment Weekly said, "It’s a charging dance number based on a sampled snatch of bagpipe." Another editor, Leah Greenblatt wrote that "the first and only members of hip-hop's Irish-American Thug Life Hall of Fame earned their spot in that (imaginary) pantheon with this killer blast of rapid-fire rap bravado." Brian A. Samson from the Gavin Report commented that "this uptempo single provides listeners with what H.O.P. calls "fine malt lyrics." Laced with squeaky buzzes that sounds like of a clarinet played by a novice, the beats should provide for some head-noddin' action."
Across the Atlantic, Dublin-based Evening Herald declared it as a "compelling single", while the Irish Independent said the group had "made a fairly groovy record." Stephen Trousse from Melody Maker wrote that it "has already achieved a frightening ubiquity, becoming 1992's evil twin hip hop hit to Arrested Development's 'People Everyday'". Music Week'''s RM Dance Update complimented it as an "excellent debut", noting that "built on a chugging Caribbean rhythm, 'Jump Around' features a strong Heavy D-like rap and its popularity is ensured by a chanted chorus with the buzz word 'Jump'. With a sleeve festooned with shamrock leaves and an Irish flag, it seems Tommy Boy may have beaten Talkin' Loud in the race to give us Irish rap." An editor, Andy Beevers, called it "an infectious bouncy track", adding that lyrically, "their invitation to jump is as aggressive as Kris Kross's was cute." Johnny Dee from NME remarked its "fresh perkiness", praising the song as "the crispest rap biscuit of the season". Upon the 1993 re-release, he stated that it "still makes your body feel as if it was possessed by a jumping bean". Rupert Howe from Select magazine described it as a "Kris-Kross-with testosterone smash" and added that it is "an impossibly simple freestyle skank that stormed the US billboard big-time."