Line #43 Series/HipHopHarry


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/71oe9tfdnbl_ri.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Like [[Series/BarneyAndFriends Barney the Dinosaur]], but [[TotallyRadical way more hip]].]]
3
4	->''"When I say hip hop, you say Harry!\
5	Hip hop! (HARRY!) Hip hop! (HARRY!)\
6	When I say hip hop, you say Harry!\
7	Hip hop! (HARRY!) Hip hop! (HARRY!)\
8	I'm Hip Hop Harry, we're about to enter\
9	Another adventure at the Hip Hop Center\
10	This is the place where the fun begins\
11	And you can't have a story without some friends\
12	Is it you?'' (It's me!) ''Is it you?'' (It's me!)\
13	''I need some more friends for this story!\
14	Is it you?'' (It's me!) ''Is it you?'' (It's me!)\
15	''We'll explore new things, come along and see!\
16	So my friends are in place, let the story begin\
17	Ready to learn to have fun? Well, come on in!\
18	When I say hip hop, you say Harry!\
19	Hip hop! (HARRY!) Hip hop! (HARRY!)\
20	When I say hip hop, you say Harry!\
21	Hip hop! (HARRY!) Hip hop! (HARRY!)\
22	IT'S ON!!!"''
23	-->-- The show's '''ExpositoryThemeTune'''
24
25	''Hip Hop Harry'' (2006-08) is an American children's TV show created by Claude Brooks. It takes place in an after-school community center known as the Hip Hop Central. The center is ran by an anthrophomorphic [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife yellow bear]], Harry, who teaches several children about how to live healthy, use your imagination, creativity, and friendship through HipHop songs.
26
27	Yeah, it's evidently a TotallyRadical Series/BarneyAndFriends. So much so that the actor who plays Harry, David Joyner, also portrayed Barney himself from 1991 to late 2001 (at least, physically for both, as Ali Alimi voices Harry).
28
29	The children that who appear on the show (usually in a group of four per episode, but sometimes in a group of five) were Sophina, Savannah, Jay-Jay, [[TheDitz Scott]], Megan, Davide, Jake, Veronica, Katie, Kelli, Kendra, Colton, William, Elizabeth, Kiana, Tyler, and Hayden. They're backed up by a second group of children referred to in the credits as "background kids".
30
31	The show premiered on [[Creator/DiscoveryFamily Discovery Kids]] in September 2006, and aired on {{Creator/TLC}}'s Ready Set Learn block), and lasted until 2008, with two seasons and 26 half-hour episodes. It continued to air in reruns until the Ready Set Learn block ended on October 8th, 2010, and hasn't been on American TV since.
32
33	Surprisingly though, the [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIbzAiUycfuz4O0_gosBvxA YouTube channel]] of the show still actively posts videos daily, not just of the show but more recently videos of Hip Hop Harry today still doing various activities such as challenges and toy reviews.
34	----
35	!!You can't have a works page without some tropes:
36
37	* ABirthdayNotABreak: Pinky says it's her birthday, then says she has to go to dance practice. It makes Kelli sad, but Pinky says you have to keep a commitment even when it's your birthday. After Pinky heads off, Kelli decides that Hip Hop Central should throw a birthday party for her.
38	* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: Harry, a yellow bear.
39	* AsHimself: The child cast essentially play less competent versions of themselves.
40	* AudienceSurrogate: the best examples are when Veronicaa can't figure out what to do for a talent show, and Katie, who's trained in ballet, deciding to take her first hip hop dance classes at Hip Hop Central.
41	* BearyFriendly: Hip Hop Harry himself, who serves as a mentor to the children and provides the funkiest beats.
42	* BirthdayEpisode: One episode is about Kelli making up her mind to organize a birthday party for Pinky.
43	* BottleEpisode: Every single episode is this, taking place inside Hip Hop Central and no place else.
44	* CastHerd: Some cast members appear as a group on more than one occasion, apparently in the interest of ensuring they collectively exemplify diversity on the show. as a result, the only time certain members of cast are seen together and interacting with each other on screen are when they're all dancing to the hip Hop Center together in the opening credits and when they're dancing with each other and their families in the "Do the Harry" music video. Groupings include:
45	** Sophina, Davide, Scott, and either Megan or Kelli
46	** Jake, Veronicaa, Davide, and either Elizabeth or Katie
47	** Kelli, Colton, Kendra, and William
48	** Ryan, Veronicaa, and Elizabeth
49	** Kiana and Tyler and either Savannah and Jay Jay or William and Kendra
50	* ChekhovsGun: Elizabeth just happens to show up to Hip Hop Central on the day everyone is playing a game where they have to find objects starting with different letters of the alphabet. Guess what ends up saving the day when they get stuck.
51	* CircusEpisode: In "Hop Hop Big Top", Hip Hop Harry says the circus is coming to Hip Hop Central. Then, he and Dante said the kids will be putting on the circus themselves. Tyler and the girls perform different acts and William serves as the ringmaster.
52	* ClipShow: The last episode finds five kids who didn't typically appear together meeting up, with each of the kids taking turns to share events the others present missed.
53	* TheDitz: Scott frequently gets the "guy who doesn't know what to do so it can be explained for the audience" role. It gets taken a bit too far when he doesn't know what ''dried apples'' are (the answer's in the name, Scott).
54	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: The TitleThemeTune is performed by Harry and his friends.
55	* DropInCharacter: Hip Hop Harry's adult friends Pinky and Riddles, who enjoy especially close relationships with Jay-Jay and Kelli, respectively.
56	* EdutainmentShow: The show teaches children about social, emotional, and physical development through {{HipHop}} music.
57	* EveryEpisodeEnding: The final quarter of the episode begins with "I Love to Learn" where Harry and the kids recap what they learned. After that, Harry leads the "Hip Hop Harry Dance Circle" where he and the children get to show off their dance moves a final time.
58	%%* FakeInteractivity
59	* FestivalEpisode Sort of. The kids put on a Trinidadian-style carnival for Kendra's grandmother, who is visiting from the island.
60	* {{Filler}}: "Air Air Everywhere" has the most by far, with the dance circle lasting 1:44 and a song where every verse is sung twice in addition to some of them being recapped. The episode still runs for less than twenty-two minutes. "You Can Dance" also has a large portion of repeated material.
61	* FreezeFrameEnding: Every episode finishes with a freeze-frame of Harry and the kids doing their dance circle.
62	%%* FullyDressedCartoonAnimal: Hip Hop Harry.
63	* HonestyAesop: In "My Favorite Things", Kendra brings in her pet rabbit Ribbons and asks William to never open the cage. When he disobeys her and does open it, Ribbons escapes out and William lies to Kendra about what happened to her, in fear she would be mad. Harry helps William realize it's not right to lie to your friends and it's important to tell the truth, so he apologizes to Kendra for lying and does so, and she forgives him.
64	* InjuredLimbEpisode: In "Hip Hop Big Top", William has injured his leg prior to the episode and he's worried he won't be able to do anything when the circus comes to Hip Hop Central. Later on, he realizes he can do something and becomes the ringmaster who announces the events.
65	* KiddieKid: All of the kids, really. They make statements and ask questions which might be expected of children several years younger than they. Scott is notorious for it because he's one of the oldest kids.
66	* LastDayOfSchoolPlot: "Fun Memories" deals with the kids visiting Hip Hop Central one more time before it closes for summer vacation, and they reminisce of their favorite times at the center.
67	* LittleJimmy: Scott's ignorance leads to him asking what a dried apple is, among other rhetorical questions, so that Harry can answer them.
68	* MythologyGag: The unaired pilot deals with music in a more general sense, while one of the last episodes, "My Music is Your Music" has the kids, who are big fans of Hip Hop, trying out different styles of music.
69	* OncePerEpisode: "I Love To Learn", "Do The Harry", "The Hip Hop Harry Dance Circle", and "The Goodbye Song" are all song and dance numbers which feature in every episode as part of the format.
70	%%* NoFourthWall
71	* PromotionToOpeningTitles: [[PlayingWith/PromotionToOpeningTitles Zigzagged]]. In each of their appearances, members of the child cast are credited with [=ID=]s featuring their first name, a mid-shot clip of them posing, and a wide-shot clip of them dancing. If it's a group of four kids, they'll be featured one at a time as cued in the opening lyrics above, but if it's a group of five, they'll all be shown in succession, with their footage trimmed down slightly.
72	* SacrificedBasicSkillForAwesomeTraining: On a meta level: the kids are great dancers, and they can rap a bit, too, but their acting suffers for the focus on their dancing.
73	* SatelliteCharacter: Colton, in the sense that he only ever appears alongside his real life best friend William.
74	* ShoutOut: the episode "You Can Dance" is a shout out to ''Series/SoYouThinkYouCanDance'' and features a guest appearance by Shane Sparks, a choreographer who was working with ''Dance'' at the time.
75	* SlumberParty: The kids have a pretend one in one episode, wearing their pajamas over their street clothes. They try out popcorn with different toppings, learn about nocturnal animals, and discuss sleep and brushing teeth.
76	* SpectacularSpinning: Tyler is a b-boy, and in most of his appearances, he does some type of spinning move in the dance circle.
77	* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Veronica's actress spells her name with an additional A at the end.
78	* ThatsAllFolks: Each episode ends with the Hip Hop Harry Dance Circle, and the end credit sequence is very much this.
79	* ThemeNaming: Hip Hop Harry has adult friends named Farmer Fran, Wildlife Wendy, and Mail Carrier Carla. There's also Dr. Vinny the veterinarian, but he's not referred to by title in full like that.
80	* TotallyRadical: Despite being from the mid-2000s, Harry dresses and behaves like it's the 1990s. He was already out of date by hip-hop standards.
81	* VocalDissonance: Harry's deep, masculine rapper voice does not at all match his childish and youthful appearance.
82	* WasTooHardOnHim: In one episode, Sophina yells at Davide for not using a toy boat they're playing with properly. Hip Hop Harry sets her straight (with a song, of course) and has her apologize to him.
83	* WrapUpSong: Both "Do the Harry" and the dance circle songs, which serve as the final song-and-dance number for Harry and the children before signing off.
84	* WrittenInAbsence: Scott arrives late in some of his episodes; the reason given in-show is that he has basketball practice.
85	----
86	->''"[[ThatsAllFolks Okay, everybody, it's the end of the show]]\
87	I'm Hip Hop Harry and it's time to go\
88	I hope you learned something new\
89	And met a new friend\
90	And even though I'm going, you'll see me again!\
91	When I say good, you say bye!\
92	Good! (BYE!) Good! (BYE!)\
93	When I say good, you say bye!\
94	Good! (BYE!) Good! (BYE!)"''

Context Series / HipHopHarry