Black America’s 2025 summer anthem may actually be a line dance steeped in African history and tradition.
The catchy “Boots on the Ground” song by South Carolina rapper 803Fresh seems to be everywhere — at picnics, reunions, front lawns, block parties, cruise ships and festivals — with droves of African Americans waving fans and chanting the viral phrase, “Where them fans at?”
The signature Southern Soul line dance song was released in December. It recently surged in popularity after everyday people and celebrities alike began donning cowboy outfits and performing the choreography for a TikTok challenge.
The momentum has only continued building.
“Southern Soul music has been underground for years but this particular song brings the cowboy culture into a place where everyone can participate,” said Ramal “The Hometown Heat” Brown, a former hip-hop disc jockey at 105.3 KJAMZ in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “It brings a country feel to city life.”
Some of those who participated in the viral “Boots on the Ground” challenge, which got millions of views on social media, are former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and first lady Michelle Obama.
The official music video for the song, posted on YouTube two months ago, has been seen 12 million times.
During an intermission at the Winter Park Jazz Festival in Colorado last weekend, a disc jockey joked that someone paid him $100 to play the song.
And when he did, hundreds in attendance, regardless of race, found whatever little space was available on the vast, crowded lawn to take a spin. Others stood up to watch and learn it.
Culture critic Blue Telusma credits the success of Beyoncé’s 2024 album “Cowboy Carter” with paving the way for “Boots on the Ground.”
“Carter” won the Grammy Awards for album of the year and best country album by exploring and highlighting the overlooked contributions of Black people to music and culture.
While some balked at Beyoncè's formal entry into country, Telusma said it was an instrumental step toward reclaiming the genre for people of color.
“Blacks, Mexicans and Latinos have a deep history in cowboy culture that we often don’t get credit for, and the same ancestral DNA that I suspect that Beyoncé tapped into by doing ‘Cowboy Carter’ is what line dancing means in the Black community,” Telusma said.
Traditionally, for the ancestors and enslaved Africans who built America, line dancing was a form of spiritual communal dancing.
“It was a way for people during really nasty times to get together in a barn or a speakeasy and dance as a collective,” Telusma said.
Some say the way “Boots” sounds allows for an intergenerational appreciation of the song. Part of the song is derived from trail-ride culture, where Black Southerners would have cookouts before mounting their horses while dressed in vests and colorful cowboy attire and ride through different neighborhoods to show off their livestock, said 37-year-old Denver resident China Scroggins. She also agrees the song is tied to African ancestral traditions.
“There’s something very culturally and historically sound about the way Black Americans and their ancestors moved in order to overcome,” said Scroggins, who taught herself the dance after watching several viral videos earlier this year. “The song came out when people needed to hear it coming off of a presidential election — being in step with each other. And the song and dance was easy to adapt, and it was fun.”
Radio-friendly line dances like the “Electric Slide” in the 1980s and later the “Cupid Shuffle” and “The Wobble” have long been a part of Black culture.
“Boots on the Ground,” though, is different. It’s become a call for people to put on a pair of boots, a cowboy hat and whip their fans.
“When women hear the beginning of the song, they run to their purses and grab their fans,” Brown said. “That fan-popping sound is what highlights the song. Line dances have never had an accessory before.”
Historically ranking Black line dances, Brown said this is already near the top.
“It can take years for a line dance to take off, but with digital media it only took the song a few months,” Brown said. “The song has become a phenomenon.”
Telusma said the song has a Black celebratory feel with an element of political symbolism. “There’s a double entendre almost implied in it where it’s a leisurely dance, but it’s also reminding you, you still have to keep your boots on the ground,” she said, referring to political unrest around the country. “I think ‘Boots on the Ground’ probably has more legs than I thought because it outlasted like any other song that you thought would be the song of the summer.”
