G-Unit's Tony Yayo Hits The NYC Streets, "We Plankin' In The City"

G-Unit's Tony Yayo has joined the planking movement as the latest celebrity to get caught in random spots, specifically throughout the New York City area.

Going on a planking spree, the "Talk of New York" spent a day hitting up local Manhattan areas for "still" shots.

"Yeah, it's the Talk of New York, Tony Yayo, we here live in Manhattan and I know y'all heard about the new phenomenon," Yayo said in a video. "We plankin' in the city. Talk of New York, you know what we doing. We plankin' in New York City -- I'm plankin' in New York City...Let me plank on your [taxi] cab. It's kind of hot -- plankin' on the cab. You're trying to kill me! You're the man. It's real hot on there too but that's why I'm doing this for y'all, the people. That's a plank...You know what's crazy about planking? I didn't know anything about it and then I went online and I just seen everybody plankin' in the weirdest places, man." (XXL Mag)

Despite its popularity, West Coast rapper-turned-actor Xzibit has slammed the planking movement.

"Planking is THE dumbest sh*t ever," he tweeted July 6th.

"#Planking was a way to transport slaves on ships during the slave trade, its not funny. Educate yourselves."

"Dont get it twisted. I care less where your dumb a**es lay face down and take pictures of the sh*t, I'm just telling you where it came from."

"I'm having a full blown town meeting with people trying to defend planking. Lol. I wish this was about something important." (Xzibit's Twitter)

A few weeks ago, the Washington Post ran a piece suggesting planking could relate to slavery.

But the term does have a connection to the slave trade, said Marcus Rediker, a professor of Atlantic history at the University of Pittsburgh and author of "The Slave Ship: A Human History." "To plank" was not necessarily a verb used by slave ship merchants and captains, Rediker said in an e-mail. But the planks "of the lower deck are precisely where millions of Africans were forced to lie and sleep on the Middle Passage, in conditions of utter horror that defy description," he said. (Washington Post)

In addition to musicians like Justin Bieber and Chris Brown, the trend has even taken over Hollywood.

Rosario Dawson, bless her, might have outdone her famous planking co-horts, having shown her skills now on both "Chelsea Lately" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live" while promoting her new movie "The Zookeeper." She even planked on an elephant. "I just discovered it last week," Dawson told Chelsea Handler while on her show. "You lay face down and you have your hands at your sides and you point your toes." (All Headline News)