About

The Lil Uzi Vert "Just Wanna Rock" Dance is a viral dance trend and challenge using rapper Lil Uzi Vert's song "Just Wanna Rock" that trended on TikTok in October and November 2022. The dance involves side-stepping, cross-stepping, hip-shaking and hip-pounding, similar to the Blick and Notti Bop dances. Creators and TikTokers with large followings participated in the trend, such as iShowSpeed, Kai Cenat and Adin Ross, among others.

Origin

On September 14th, 2022, TikToker^[1] getoffmyblick215 and TikToker^[2] spencetiktoklegend posted the same video to each of their channels that showed the original "Just Wanna Rock" dance that they choreographed for Lil Uzi. TikToker^[1] getoffmyblick215's video received roughly 141,900 plays and 4,400 likes in two months (shown below, left) and TikToker^[2] spencetiktoklegend's video received roughly 1.2 million plays and 87,400 likes in the same time period (shown below, right).

Spread

In late September 2022, other TikTokers started doing the dance challenge, gaining increased engagement as time went on. For instance, on September 20th, 2022, TikToker^[3] drewjeeezy posted himself doing the challenge, gaining roughly 14 million plays and 1.7 million likes in two months (shown below, left). On October 3rd, 2022, verified TikToker^[4] therealcalebmclaughlin tried the challenge, gaining roughly 37.7 million plays and 6.9 million likes in one month (shown below, right).

On October 24th, 2022, Lil Uzi themself posted a TikTok^[5] in which they performed the dance in a music studio. Over the course of 11 days, the video received roughly 19.6 million plays and 3.4 million likes (shown below, left). On the same day, Twitch streamer and notable influencer Kai Cenat posted a TikTok^[6] of himself doing the dance, gaining roughly 5.1 million plays and 979,400 likes in 11 days (shown below, right).

During a livestream, iShowSpeed and Kai Cenat had a dance-off while performing the challenge, which was then reposted to TikTok^[7] on October 27th. Cenat's promotion of the dance and song notably landed him a spot in Lil Uzi's "Just Wanna Rock" music video.

Multiple videos surfaced on November 3rd, 2022, of Kai Cenat and Lil Uzi shooting the music video in New York City. For instance, on November 3rd, TikToker^[8] semajmcl3od posted a video that showed a crowd of people running through New York City, gaining roughly 14.7 million plays and 3.9 million likes in one day (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[9] semajmcl3od posted another video of Cenat getting "a lil sturdy wit it," earning roughly 1.6 million plays and 208,800 likes in one day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References