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Social media has been a godsend for amateur musicians. Vine, the app where users can share six-second clips, has been a tremendous aid for acts who used the platform to achieve mainstream success. The obvious example would be Sen. Robert "Bobby" Shmurda (D-NY) who used a viral Vine clip to go from sweatpants-clad Shmoney Dancer to major label recording artist in little-to-no time. Tunes like O.T. Genasis's "CoCo" and RiFF RAFF's "TiP TOE WiNG iN MY JAWWDiNZ" get so much exposure on the site because A: they're catchy songs and B: most of the other music on Vine is mediocre. Like mostly every other site that relies on user-generated content, you'll have to wade through the unfunny (and downright racist and misogynistic at times) crap to find the gems. Rather than waste countless hours watching variations of That One Guy You Went To College With playing a stirring cover of the latest Ed Sheeran tune on his acoustic guitar, I've compiled some of the best songs that originated on Vine in 2014.
Nikeboi: "shake that ass in the living room"
You're probably asking: why would anyone want to shake that ass in the living room? My rebuttal: Why would you want to shake it anywhere else? We should all take the initiative to shake that ass in non-traditional places! Besides, the living room could use some positive PR. It's usually a cold and neglected place with plastic on the furniture and photos that conjure long-suppressed memories of that one family reunion where Uncle Leon got drunk and kept singing "Backstabbers" all offbeat...uh, sorry. I got off track. Basically, it's a tie between this and "We Dem Boyz" for "Song I listened to most this year".
Dominique Davis: "Can you dance for me or nah?"
Completely disregarding the diabetic coma this adorable little girl sends me into every time I watch this clip, we should really be giving her more credit for coming up with such a fire hook off the top of her head. (Your move, Tinashe.)
Landon Moss: "She just favorited my tweet"
You haven't done this dance before when that special someone liked a status or favorited a tweet of yours? Stop lying.
Travis Porter: "Andalay"
A bit of a technicality here: This one wasn't exclusively released on Vine, but it counts because for the life of me, I hadn't see a single sentence or review about the London on tha Track-produced (he did T.I.'s "About the Money") "Andalay" (or hell, ANYTHING about the Atlanta group's Music, Money, Magnums 2 mixtape, which came out this summer) until I frantically Googled what song was bringing this little boy so much happiness. Just saying, you haven't seen a video of any little kids looking this excited about the War on Drugs album, have you?
The Real Hartaway: "She's a Thot"
An informative tune spotting the tendencies of the North American Thot via smooth R&B delivery. Actually, "Don't trust anyone who wears Timbs when it's hot out" is good advice for anyone.