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"The Hustle"
#1 weeks: 1
weeks: 1975-07-26
genre: disco, r&b
artist: Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony
album: Disco Baby
writers: Van McCoy
producers: Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore
label:
lengths: 4:10

"The Hustle" is a hit disco song by songwriter/arranger Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony. The song was a huge crossover hit. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Soul Singles chart during the summer of 1975. It also peaked at #9 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) and #3 in the UK. It would eventually sell over one million copies and is one of the most popular songs of the disco era. The song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1976.

While in New York City to make an album, McCoy was inspired to record the song after his music partner, Charles Kipps, watched patrons do an elegant dance called "the hustle" at the Adam's Apple club. The sessions were done at New York's Media Sound with pianist McCoy, bassist Gordon Edwards, drummers Steve Gadd and Rick Marotta, keyboardist Richard Tee, guitarists Eric Gale and John Tropea, and orchestra leader Gene Orloff. Producer Hugo Peretti brought in piccolo player Philip Bodner to play the lead melody.

In Futurama, Fry protests to get his dog Seymour back from a museum, and protests by performing his 'people's native dance', which is dancing to The Hustle.