Meet The High School Student Behind The 'Bronx Whine' Dance Craze
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A dance craze has been spreading like crazy thanks to a local teenager who is heating things up in the Bronx.
As CBS 2's Cindy Hsu reported, the dance is called the Bronx Whine. The accompanying song was released just this week by Latin artist Farruko and Carlos Almonte, 16, known in the music world as rapper "BB Bronx."
The video has been such a hit that Almonte and his classmates are dancing in the halls at Bronx Lighthouse Charter School in the South Bronx.
While the dance style came from Jamaica, Almonte said the Bronx Whine is making a huge comeback.
"They use to dance it like with their heads and stuff like that, but now, the Bronx Whine is now mainly like body parts -- using hands, feet, like that," Almonte said.
"BB Bronx" stands for "Baby Bronx," because Almonte was such a baby when he started freestyle rapping. He began honing his craft when he was just a kid in the Dominican Republic.
Almonte moved to the Bronx when he was 12 years old, and his rap video went viral.
Almonte's teachers were shocked to learn about his music career, because they know him as their straight-A student who is always studying.
"He is the hardest worker that I know," said Lighthouse Charter School English teacher Ali Heffner.
"He was still learning English, but by the end of the, year he was actually able to write, in English, a 10-page paper on Walt Whitman," added English teacher Jess Conway.
Almonte sometimes stays at school until 10 p.m. -- after basketball practice five days a week.
"One day, he actually got in trouble for sticking around the school just because he wanted to finish working on some extra assignments and keep the grades the way they were," said Lighthouse Charter School basketball coach Scottie Richards.
But Almonte said he values school over all else.
"School has always been first," he said. "Every time I try to do something, I know school's got to be first, then (other priorities.)"
But now that the Bronx Whine is making such a huge comeback, even Almonte's teachers have been lining up to learn.
And Almonte is hoping the craze will keep on growing.
While Almonte has been offered opportunities to leave school so he could spend more time pursuing music, he plans to graduate. And her teachers are hoping he will head to college before taking the stage full time.
