Whoomp! There It Is – Tag Team | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#2 for 7 weeks) & R&B (#1); 1993

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

Inspiration can strike at any time and the spoils go to those who act on it. For Cecil Glenn, pulling kitchen duty at Magic City in Atlanta, lightening hit one night when he heard the club deejay firing up the crowd with a chant used by basketball fans to urge on the home team: “Whoomp! There It Is!,” Cecil quickly persuaded a high school buddy, Steve Gibson, to write and record a song around the phrase.

The Magic City goers loved Whoomp! and , the duo – now called Tag Team – had copies pressed up and negotiated a distribution deal. In spite of some competition from 95 South’s Whoot, There It Is, Whoomp! triumphed, remaining in the Top 10 for six months, and selling over four million copies.

Tag Team continued to ride the Whoomp! franchise, recording knockoffs such as Addams Family (Whoomp!) and Whoomp! There It Went, to no avail. The original Whoomp! remained their one notable contribution to hip-hop history.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

  • Tag Team

Lyrics Written by:

  • Stephen Gibson
  • Cecil Glenn

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Ed Osborne

Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).