MURAL #16 "Tribute to Carolina Shag"

"Tribute to Carolina Shag" will be installed at 100 N Lake Park Blvd. This mural celebrates SHAG dancing, the Ocean Plaza and Malcom Ray "Chicken" Hicks.  "Chicken" was a member of the Shaggers Hall of Fame and was instrumental in developing the dance known as the "Shag." He helped introduce 1940's R&B music to the beach community and gave dance exhibitions throughout the Southeast. Chicken was very active in getting young people involved in shagging and carrying his rhythm and "Camel Walk" step into the future. 

JEKS_NC- Brian Lewis aka JEKS

Graffiti/Mural artist JEKS is a pioneering member of Greensboro’s burgeoning street-art scene. Over the past 5 years he has made a name for himself globally with his jaw-dropping, hyper-realistic pieces. Growing up as a graffiti artist, his transition from graffiti to large format murals and fine art has been turning heads in the street art community consistently. A self-taught and now accomplished portraitist, JEKS’ portraits of musicians and pop culture icons have become viral social media hotspots and beloved landmarks in the cities where they are installed. Now a fully sponsored Monster Energy artist, JEKS is continuing to show immense progression in his career and if you as him he’ll say he’s “just getting started.” 

"Tribute to Carolina Shag" is fully sponsored by Donna & Rusty Hosaflook. 

Mural #16 will be installed at the south-facing wall at 100 S Lake Park Blvd. 

 According to Bo Bryan, a Carolina shag historian, the term "Carolina Shag" was coined at Carolina Beach, North Carolina. The Carolina shag is a descendant of Carolina Jitterbug, and its predecessor, Little Apple, which was the white version of the Big Apple (whose origins can be traced to Columbia, South Carolina in 1937) after whites sat (after "jumping the Jim Crow rope") in the balconies in the black clubs to watch the dancing.   

Malcolm Ray “Chicken” Hicks was an early pioneer of “shagging” or the “Carolina Shag.” Coastal historians credit him, along with Billy Jeffers, with its evolution and popularity throughout the 1940s–’50s. Chicken’s love of the R&B sound, then called “race music,” helped introduce this new genre to white audiences throughout Eastern beach communities. 

Malcolm Ray `Chicken' Hicks- was a member of the Shaggers Hall of Fame and was instrumental in developing the dance known as the "Shag." 

He helped introduce 1940's R&B music to the beach community and gave dance exhibitions throughout the Southeast, most recently at the Grand National in Atlanta on Memorial Day weekend. He was also very active in getting young people involved in shagging and carrying his rhythm and "Camel Walk" step into the future. 

This mural was installed in April of 2023 on the alley at 100 N Lake Park Blvd. 

The Federal Point Historic Preservation Society has printed several articles including oral history about Chicken Hicks and how R&B music played a huge part in this dance movement.