Cha Cha Slide
Encyclopedia
The "Cha Cha Slide" is a song often played at dance clubs, school dances/proms
, parties, skating rinks, bar mitzvahs and weddings in the United States
, Canada
, Australia
, New Zealand
, Ireland
and the United Kingdom
(the song reached number one in the latter country in 2004), created by Chicago
's DJ Casper
(Willie Perry aka Mr. C the Slide Man). The Cha Cha Slide is a contemporary American folk line dance
with called instructions.
movement. Around June 12, 1999, Perry recorded a second version of the song, entitled “Casper Slide Part 2,” at the home studio of Fred Johnson with the help of Hollywood Scott, band leader for the Platinum Band. Perry recorded and released the song at his own expense and manufactured copies and distributed them with the help of Gardner Douglas (“Cisco”), owner of the Cisco’s Music World record stores in Chicago, Illinois. The song was played at various night clubs and was used by Perry’s nephew, a fitness trainer at Bally Total Fitness Health Club in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, as the music for a step aerobics class.
radio station
s (and later mobile DJs) played the song continuously, particularly in Chicago
, Houston, Atlanta, Arkansas
, Memphis
, and Detroit.
and St. Louis Cardinals
used part of the song to excite their crowds. Since then, other Major League Baseball teams, such as the Washington Nationals
, Philadelphia Phillies
and especially the New York Yankees
, have also regularly used the song.
used the song in a television commercial in which a young boy dressed in old school hip hop
fashion listens to the song while enjoying a meal with his family.
's "Chop Chop Slide", which appeared on the green cover variant and "Nuclear Edition" of the album Bang! Pow! Boom!
. Also in 2009, Crazy Frog
released the "Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now
.
released "The Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now
.
Prom
In the United States and Canada, a prom, short for promenade, is a formal dance, or gathering of high school students. It is typically held near the end of the senior year. It figures greatly in popular culture and is a major event among high school students...
, parties, skating rinks, bar mitzvahs and weddings in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(the song reached number one in the latter country in 2004), created by Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's DJ Casper
DJ Casper
DJ Casper is an American songwriter and DJ.DJ Casper was raised in Englewood, and is known as Casper because he almost always wears white clothing on stage, but he is also known as Mr C - The Slide Man or simply Willie...
(Willie Perry aka Mr. C the Slide Man). The Cha Cha Slide is a contemporary American folk line dance
Line dance
A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Line dancers are not in physical contact...
with called instructions.
Origin and history
Willie Perry Jr. wrote the lyrics for, and recorded his performance of, the original version of the Cha Cha Slide around April 1, 1998. The song was heavily inspired by the Chicago steppingChicago stepping
Stepping is an urban dance that continues to evolve defining its unique style and culture within in the context of mainstream Swing dance. Stepping has gained popularity, particularly but not limited to the urban neighborhoods of America...
movement. Around June 12, 1999, Perry recorded a second version of the song, entitled “Casper Slide Part 2,” at the home studio of Fred Johnson with the help of Hollywood Scott, band leader for the Platinum Band. Perry recorded and released the song at his own expense and manufactured copies and distributed them with the help of Gardner Douglas (“Cisco”), owner of the Cisco’s Music World record stores in Chicago, Illinois. The song was played at various night clubs and was used by Perry’s nephew, a fitness trainer at Bally Total Fitness Health Club in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, as the music for a step aerobics class.
The Cha Cha Slide takes over the US
Willie Perry enlisted the help of Jerome Haywood and M.O.B. Music Publishing (Men On Business) to produce, edit, and engineer the final version of the Cha Cha Slide Part 2. Men On Business also produced several other accompanying songs to produce the entire "Slide Album." The Slide Album consisted of: Cha-Cha Slide [Radio Edit] 3:46, Cha-Cha Slide [Club Edit] 7:44, Bus Stop/Electric Slide (Charles Green Hudson Beaudy) 4:45, Casper Cha-Cha Slide (Live Platinum Band) 6:27, Step To This (Colta) 5:29, Unworthy (Colta) 4:47, Unworthy (Colta) 4:25, Bus Stop[Original]/Electric Slide[Original] (Charles Green Hudson Beaudy) 7:55, DJ Eric-B Slide (D.J. Eric-B) 9:45, Step To This (Colta) 5:29, and R-U-Here (Colta). Willie Perry and Men On Business licensed the Slide Album to Universal Records and the album was released September 19, 2000. Once it was Universal's project, "we made some instructional 'Cha-Cha Slide' dance videos and distributed them to clubs," says Senior VP of Urban Promotion Michael Horton. "We also promoted the song at various black functions, such as homecoming events at black colleges." The song then made its made way to R&B/Hip-Hop station WGCI-FM in Mr. C's hometown of Chicago. The following year (2001), the dance caught on around Canada and the USA, where urban contemporaryUrban contemporary
Urban contemporary is a music radio format. The term was coined by the late New York DJ Frankie Crocker in the mid 1970s. Urban contemporary radio stations feature a playlist made up entirely of hip hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica such as dubstep and drum and bass and Caribbean music...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
s (and later mobile DJs) played the song continuously, particularly in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Houston, Atlanta, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, and Detroit.
Long lasting impact
By 2003 the "Cha Cha Slide" was being played at urban venues and clubs in the Western United States. During NBA basketball games, the portion of the "Cha Cha Slide" where DJ Casper says "Everybody clap your hands" followed by the clapping synthesizer sounds are played on regular rotation when the home team has possession of the ball.UK debut
In 2004, the Cha Cha Slide was released in the UK and reached #1 on the UK charts. Its success in the UK was helped by Scott Mills of BBC Radio One who pioneered the song on his weekday afternoon radio show. The song continues to be popular at primary and secondary school dance events in the UK.2005
In 2005, the Cha Cha Slide was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.2006
During the 2006 NLCS, both the New York MetsNew York Mets
The New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
and St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
used part of the song to excite their crowds. Since then, other Major League Baseball teams, such as the Washington Nationals
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...
, Philadelphia Phillies
Philadelphia Phillies
The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
and especially the New York Yankees
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
, have also regularly used the song.
2007
In 2007 McDonald'sMcDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
used the song in a television commercial in which a young boy dressed in old school hip hop
Old school hip hop
Old school hip hop describes the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music , and the music in the period preceding it from which it was directly descended . Old school hip hop is said to end around 1983 or 1984 with the emergence of Run–D.M.C., the first new school hip hop group...
fashion listens to the song while enjoying a meal with his family.
2009
In 2009, the song served as the inspiration for Insane Clown PosseInsane Clown Posse
Insane Clown Posse is an American hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. The group is composed of Joseph Bruce and Joseph Utsler, who perform under the respective personas of the "wicked clowns" Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. Insane Clown Posse performs a style of hardcore hip hop known as horrorcore...
's "Chop Chop Slide", which appeared on the green cover variant and "Nuclear Edition" of the album Bang! Pow! Boom!
Bang! Pow! Boom!
Bang! Pow! Boom! is the 11th studio album by American hip hop group Insane Clown Posse. Released on September 1, 2009 by Psychopathic Records, it was the group's second album with producer Mike E. Clark since his return to Psychopathic Records, and the first album to focus on the Dark Carnival...
. Also in 2009, Crazy Frog
Crazy Frog
Crazy Frog, originally known as Adam King, is a computer-animated character created in 2003 by Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl in 1997 while attempting to imitate the sound of a...
released the "Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now
Everybody Dance Now (Crazy Frog album)
Everybody Dance Now is the third album from Crazy Frog, and has been released on 19 August 2009. "Daddy DJ", "Cha Cha Slide", and "Safety Dance" were the three singles released from the album...
.
2011
On July 1st, 2011, the Cha Cha Slide launched a new website. Also on July 1st, 2011, the official Cha Cha Slide Facebook Fan Page was launchedand a Twitter account was started.Slide Album
| Charts (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
64 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
83 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
24 |
Cha-Cha Slide [Radio Edit] 3:46
| Charts (2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
Gold Certification
| Artist | Title | Release Date | Certification Date | Label | Award Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr. C The Slide Man | Cha-Cha Slide | Sept 19, 2000 | Nov 4, 2005 | Universal | Gold | Album |
Crazy Frog version
On August 25, 2009 Crazy FrogCrazy Frog
Crazy Frog, originally known as Adam King, is a computer-animated character created in 2003 by Erik Wernquist. Marketed by the ringtone provider Jamba!, the animation was originally created to accompany a sound effect produced by Daniel Malmedahl in 1997 while attempting to imitate the sound of a...
released "The Cha Cha Slide" for his new album Everybody Dance Now
Everybody Dance Now (Crazy Frog album)
Everybody Dance Now is the third album from Crazy Frog, and has been released on 19 August 2009. "Daddy DJ", "Cha Cha Slide", and "Safety Dance" were the three singles released from the album...
.
Charts
The song entered the French Singles Chart at number 19, and peaked to number 18.| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|