"Cha-Cha Slide" (or "Casper Slide Part 2") is a song by American musician Mr. C the Slide Man (also known as DJ Casper). The song was released as a single in August 2000 and spent five weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number 83. Four years later, "Cha-Cha Slide" became a hit in Europe and Australia, especially in the United Kingdom, where it topped the UK Singles Chart in March 2004.
As a line dance song, "Cha-Cha Slide" is often played at dance clubs, school dances and gym classes, prom nights, birthday parties, ice-skating rinks and roller rinks, B’nai Mitzvahs, Quinceañeras, weddings, and sporting events in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other countries.
History
"Casper Slide" Parts 1 & 2
DJ Casper (Willie Perry Jr.) originally wrote "The Cha-Cha Slide" as a step aerobics routine for his nephew, David Wilson, who was working at the time as a fitness trainer at Bally Total Fitness Health Club in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. In its original form, the song was just a set of instructions that Perry wrote for his nephew to call out in his Orientation class at the club. Wilson's class grew so popular that Perry decided to set his instructions to music. Perry recorded his performance of the original version of the song, titled "Casper Slide Part 1" in January 1998 using "Plastic Dreams" by Jaydee as the musical track.[2]
The song was inspired by the Chicago stepping movement, where DJ Casper cut a notable figure in the clubs. Wilson went so far as to compare his uncle's dancing prowess to MC Hammer.[2] Because Casper did not own "Plastic Dreams", he hired a band to record an instrumental track at the home studio of Fred Johnson with the help of Hollywood Scott, band leader for the Platinum Band. He called this version of the song "Casper Slide Part 2."[3]: 3
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.
"Cha-Cha Slide"
DJ Casper enlisted the help of M.O.B. Music Publishing to produce, edit, and engineer the new version of the song "Cha-Cha Slide". Men On Business also produced several other accompanying songs to produce the entire Slide Album. DJ Casper and Men On Business licensed the Slide Album to Universal Records, and it was released on September 19, 2000.
Universal's Senior VP of Urban Promotion Michael Horton recalled, "we made some instructional 'Cha-Cha Slide' dance videos and distributed them to clubs...We also promoted the song at various black functions, such as homecoming events at black colleges." Horton claimed many radio stations initial response to the song was, "There's no way we're playing it," but Universal's promotion department was persistent and finally got it on the air. The song then made its way to R&B/hip hop station WGCI-FM, in DJ Casper's hometown of Chicago. Horton accurately predicted the future of the song: "It's like a novelty that will eventually die down, but it will never go away completely—just like the electric slide and the bus stop are still around."[4]
In 2001, the following year, the dance caught on around Canada and the United States, where urban contemporaryradio stations (and later mobile DJs) played the song continuously, particularly in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Arkansas, Memphis, and Detroit.[5] In March 2004, "Cha Cha Slide" was released in the United Kingdom and went on to top the UK Singles Chart.[6][7] Its success in the United Kingdom was helped by Scott Mills of BBC Radio 1, who promoted the song on his weekday afternoon radio show.[8]
In 2020, in honor of the 20th anniversary, Google added a Easter egg where, when "Cha Cha Slide" is searched for, a microphone appears next to the music video. Some lyrics from the song are played when the button is clicked.[9]
Music video
The music video was shot in downtown Chicago.[10] At the beginning of the video, a news van arrives in front of a crowd of people doing the dance on a sidewalk. After that, the reporter reports about the dance. Then, the video transitions to several scenes, including DJ Casper dancing with a group of people on a white background and different people in various locations doing said dance. Near the end of the video, the news camera crew begins dancing a bit. In the last scene, the reporter dances with them.
Lawsuit
In 2011, Willie Perry Jr. and Jerome Haywood filed a lawsuit against M.O.B. Productions.[11] The suit alleged that M.O.B. obtained a false copyright registration under the title "Casper Cha-Cha Slide (Live Platinum Band)".[3]: 5
Album
The song was also part of an 11-track album, Cha-Cha Slide: The Original Slide Album, released in September 2000.[6]
