The Cat Daddy dance is part of the choreography for the track of the same name from the mixtape by The Rej3ctz: TheFUNKtion vs theKICKback.
Upon its initial release, it was charted in different genres under Billboard’s rankings and was eventually recognized as platinum by the RIAA.
The dance itself was popularized by several artists who either included it in their performances or covered it for recreational purposes.
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Origin of Cat Daddy Dance
Reject Sam Awolope (member of The Rej3ctz) was credited as the creator of the Cat Daddy dance before they incorporated it in the released song. However, the soundtrack was much more popular than the dance at that time.
Somewhere between 2010 and 2011, “Cat Daddy” had a music video, and singer Chris Brown starred it in, doing the dance and turning it into a craze.
Along with the release on iTunes, this dance accumulated millions of views. From 2011 to 2024, the number has gone from 29 million to 90 million.
Check more: How To Do The Mashed Potato Dance?
Popularity
Although the song wasn’t an exceptional creation in terms of lyrics and meanings, the beat and the dance still received appreciation from the audience of its genre.
Aside from being one of the Jam of the Week, ranked by MTV, it remained in the Hip-hop and R&B chart of Billboard for 14 weeks straight during its peak year 2011.
There was also a parody of it called “Cat Daddy 2.0”, starring artists portraying themselves. It was part of Mario Van Peebles’ movie project “We the Party”, telling the story of The Rej3ctz auditioning for a company and realizing it was too stiff for them.
Kate Upton videos
Model Kate Upton once performed Cat Daddy while having her photoshoot break and photographer Terry Richardson filmed it.
Upton shared that she thought it was only for fun. So, she was genuinely freaked out when it went viral on the internet.
You might have seen it at some point because Kate Upton in a bikini dancing to “Cat Daddy” was viewed over 1 million times in just a day. The video was unfortunately banned by YouTube because they deemed it too suggestive to be floating online.
YouTube’s administration team had a discussion afterward about whether Kate’s dancing violated their policies on mature content, and they restored the video in the end. But with restrictions, according to Fox News.
However, while the video was under review from YouTube, it traveled around freely on Vimeo via Terry Richardson’s vlog (which was not permitted by Upton).
The man was well-known for raunchy content, and Vimeo didn’t have strict terms on this matter, hence it was simply perfect for him.
Despite the conflict between Upton and Richardson, The Rej3ct was extremely impressed and interested in collaborating with Kate, so they contacted her for work.
After all, she somehow helped promote and encourage people to be confident with their bodies.
On the show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Upton described the dance moves before performing them, of course, with a presentable outfit for public appearances but not less attractive at all!
As of 2024, the original video of Kate Upton’s “Cat Daddy” has gained over 28 million views. Numerous clips of the dance are now on YouTube, with Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez leading the view counts.
Moves
When Kate Upton appeared on the mentioned show, she described Cat Daddy moves as fastening your seatbelt and rolling in your wheelchair. It sort of has nothing to do with “cat” or “daddy”.
- Lift your right arm and swing it down your front like you are punching something down, while leaning to the left side and lifting your heel a bit for the bounce.
- Repeat on the other side. You can change the sides as you wish, but make sure you are in sync with other people if you are dancing in a group.
- Next, imagine you are gripping your wheelchair and moving your arms like it is stuck in something.
- You can add a slight body roll while moving your arms for a more interesting touch.
- Repeat the entire set of moves above on the other side.
You are free to sprinkle your flavors in, such as lifting your knee and coming back up at the last beat. There can be calculated slowing down or speeding up in the drops to make it more fun!
Conclusion
Now you know the Cat Daddy dance made famous by so many stars is much better! The name might sound a bit goofy and not even relevant to the actual steps, but hey, all dance crazes seem like that!
Moreover, the view count for this dance will increase over time, so are you ready to try it out and add your personalized touches to it?