Stanley Clarke and Kirk Whalum's saxophone riff goes viral

Grammy-winning bassist and composer Stanley Clarke and saxophonist Kirk Whalum are seeing their work become a major viral sensation on social media. A foreboding saxophone riff from the 1991 film ‘Boyz n the Hood’ has become an omnipresent sound used in millions of clips across TikTok and Instagram.

On TikTok, one audio containing the riff has been used in over 2.4 million posts, while a sped-up version appears in an additional 5.1 million clips. The trend has sparked a cultural revival for the film, with actor Morris Chestnut also participating in the meme. Clarke, a pioneering figure in jazz fusion and film composition, noted that while the clips often feature unrelated content, he finds the widespread popularity of the sound to be a positive development.