When Goodie Mob released “They Don’t Dance No Mo’” in 1998— it sounded as if they were simply imploring screw-faced wall flowers to bust a move. They were onto something about the lack of dancing in hip-hop, I thought.

It took me some time to realize that Goodie Mob wasn’t simply talking about the waning popularity of great hip-hop dances like the Wop, the Biz Mark, the Fila, and the Steve Martin. (Okay, maybe some of those dances weren’t so great.)

Big Gipp, Khujo, T-Mo and Cee-Lo weren’t really talking about stepping in the club at all. The song is thick in metaphor, admonishing gun-shooting in place of shooting the fair one (i.e. “dancing”). Despite the bouncy beat, the bare-knuckled message didn’t make you want to bust a move. A head nod, a bounce, a shake, yeah. But no big dancing.

Now, I’ve got nothing against dances or the rappers who create them. I’ve tried to crank that dang Soulja Boy a few times myself. Who can resist hopping on one leg and leaning to one side then the next for a happy-faced yuuuule? (We all know Lyfe can’t).

Plus, Souja’s latest Shoot Out dance-where partners point and shoot make believe guns at one another-is a clever remix of the Shot Gun dance groovy teens used to rock back when. In the video, Soulja Boy and crew shoot each other’s imaginary brains out and live to do it again…and again.

Harmless enough, I think. But my inner grump can’t help but connect these playful routines and all their 1, 2, 3, 4 steps, with a few line dances I refused to try like, say, the Cha Cha or Electric Slide. (Not even at weddings)

This brings us to the present episode of “The Parker Report,” in which we—Lyfe, Project Pat, TJ , Yung Berg and I—ask if there is too much of this stepping going on? While we poke fun at the multi-stepping dance demands of Soulja Boy and others, there is no doubt that it’s a better day when hip-hop kids can find joy in a simple dance step (or four).

After all, when the last record is played at the club, I’d rather see Soulja Boy Crank that dance than crank that gat. And 10 years later, I’m sure Big Gipp, Khujo, T-Mo and Cee-Lo would prefer Souja Boy’s “Shoot Out” dance to the real thing.

Even if all they do is this.

…Or this!