Cha Cha Slide - DJ Casper

Lore & Background

DJ Casper (Willie Perry Jr.) originally wrote 'The Cha-Cha Slide' as a step aerobics routine for his nephew, David Wilson, who was working as a fitness trainer at Bally Total Fitness Health Club in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The song was inspired by the Chicago stepping movement. Casper 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 'Casper Slide Part 2.' Perry recorded and released the song at his own expense, manufacturing copies and distributing them with the help of Gardner Douglas ('Cisco'), owner of Cisco's Music World record stores in Chicago. It was publicly released on August 2, 2000. DJ Casper enlisted M.O.B. Music Publishing to produce, edit, and engineer the new version 'Cha-Cha Slide.' The song was licensed to Universal Records and released on September 19, 2000. In March 2004, 'Cha Cha Slide' was released in the United Kingdom and topped the UK Singles Chart, helped by Scott Mills of BBC Radio 1.

Reader's Guide

The song utilizes a four-on-the-floor house rhythm. The music video was shot in downtown Chicago. At the beginning, a news van arrives in front of a crowd doing the dance on a sidewalk. The reporter reports on the dance, then the video transitions to scenes including DJ Casper dancing with a group on a white background and different people in various locations doing the dance. Near the end, the news camera crew begins dancing, and in the last scene, the reporter dances with them.

Did You Know?

• In August 2020, in honor of the 20th anniversary, Google added an Easter egg where when 'Cha Cha Slide' is searched, a microphone appears next to the music video, and some lyrics play when clicked.
• 'Cha Cha Slide' is played during the eighth inning of San Francisco Giants home games at Oracle Park to ward off seagulls.
• In 2011, Willie Perry Jr. and Jerome Haywood filed a lawsuit against M.O.B. Productions, alleging that M.O.B. obtained a false copyright registration under the title 'Casper Cha-Cha Slide (Live Platinum Band).'