The electro-funk classic "Let It Whip" spent five weeks atop the Billboard R&B singles chart, won a Grammy Award and earned the
Dazz Band the key to the city of Cleveland.
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Singer/saxophonist Bobby Harris formed the Dazz Band (the name's a portmanteau of "danceable jazz") in Cleveland in 1976. Under its original name Kinsmann Dazz, the group signed to 20th Century Records and released a pair of LPs produced by Earth, Wind & Fire vocalist Philip Bailey before moving on to Motown Records and adopting the Dazz Band moniker for 1980's Invitation to Love. The title track was a minor hit, and a year later the act resurfaced with Let the Music Play, narrowly missing the R&B Top 40 with the single "Knock! Knock!"
The Dazz Band recorded the infectious "Let It Whip" for its third Motown album, Keep It Live. "We wanted to create a song that they could make a dance out of –– a song that was different in that it would be something that no one had ever really talked about on a record," Leon "Ndugu" Chancler, who co-wrote "Let It Whip" with producer Reggie Andrews, told the authors of The Billboard Book of Number One Rhythm & Blues Hits. "What kind of lyric content could we talk about that could end up being a dance? And Reggie came up with the idea of a whip." Chancler and Andrews then augmented the performances of the Dazz Band's Wiley brothers – bassist Michael and drummer Isaac - with electronic accouterments: "Reggie had the [Roland] 808 and I had the Linn Drum, and we used a Minimoog bass," Chancler recalled.
Motown released "Let It Whip" on Feb. 12, 1982. In addition to conquering R&B radio, the single reached number two on the Billboard Dance chart and number five on the Hot 100 on its way to claiming the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. When the Dazz Band headlined Cleveland's Front Row Theatre on New Year's Eve 1982, Mayor George V. Voinovich presented the hometown heroes an ornamental key to the city in recognition of their national success. The Dazz Band notched only one other big hit, 1983's "Joystick," but "Let It Whip" enjoyed new life in 2012 when it was performed in the hit Hollywood musical comedy Pitch Perfect. 
