It's not fast or furious, but a new phenomenon known as ghost riding -- leaving your car in motion while getting out to dance -- is quickly becoming the latest craze among some members of the hip hop culture.

Usually on a residential street, a driver and any passengers jump out of a slowly moving vehicle to dance beside or on top of their "whip" (hip hop slang for car). Then, as the car drifts away, the driver runs back to the vehicle and regains control.

Popularized in the song "Tell me when to go" by California rapper E-40, the act spawned from the Hyphy Movement -- a style of music and dance that emerged from the San Francisco Bay Area's hip hop culture.

The popular rapper chants "Ghost ride the whip," and most of the videos posted online of ghost riding are accompanied by the song.

Popular video websites like YouTube have hundreds of clips of ghost riding where teens attempt the stunt on suburban roads, open fields, parking lots and even on the freeway.

One video shows a ghost-rider abandoning his truck as it plows into a utility pole and a fire hydrant, sending the latter flying onto the residential street.

The trend has quickly spread elsewhere, even to Nashville, where a pair of men decided to make their own ghost-riding video.

"We wouldn't have done it without the song. If you don't play that song you are not a ghost rider," said Jonathan Lovecchio.

He admits it's not a smart idea, but says he'd try it again.

"Ghost riding was started not to see people succeed, but to see people fail," Lovecchio said. "They want to see people run into trees, run over their foot."

While street racing has been around for a long time, getting out of the car adds yet a whole new risk to the subculture.

Police have blamed at least eight deaths on ghost riding and they have developed their own name for the act.

"The only name you can give it is stupid," said one officer.

With a report by CTV's Tom Walters in Los Angeles