About

#UNameItChallenge, also spelled You Name It Challenge, refers to a series of hip-hop remixes based on a video clip of American gospel singer Shirley Caesar naming off various Thanksgiving food dishes before loudly singing “you name it,” which is often accompanied by footage of professional dancers.

Origin

On December 5th, 2010, the Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music YouTube channel uploaded footage of Caeser performing the gospel song "Holy My Mule," which gained over 1.1 million views over the next six years before it was deleted (reupload shown below).

"I got beans, greens, potatoes, tomatoes, lamb, rams, hogs, dogs, chicken, turkeys, rabbits -- you name it!"

In November 2016, Instagram user RemixGodSuede posted a hip-hop remix of the video, which has since been removed from the site. On November 11th, singer-songwriter Chris Brown reposted the remix on Instagram^[1] with the caption "Grandma what you plan on cooking for Thanksgiving?" (shown below). Within four days, the video gathered upwards of 1.3 million views and 9,000 comments.

Spread

On November 12th, 2016, YouTuber remixgodsuede uploaded footage of a dance group along with the remix playing in the background. On November 13th, Twitter user @DrTGIF^[2] posted the original video of Caesar's gospel performance. The following day, Chris Brown posted footage of himself dancing to the remix while wearing a purple hoodie on Instagram.^[5] Over the next two days, the video garnered more than 1.9 million views and 12,800 comments.

On November 14th, Twitter user @TheShadeRoom posted a hip-hop remix of the video paired with footage of Beyoncé dancing in music videos and at live performances (shown below).

#BeyonceAlwaysOnBeat #UNameItChallenge pic.twitter.com/VtFaeM4k4I

— TheShadeRoom (@TheShadeRoom) November 14, 2016

Meanwhile, Instagram user airmaxjunkie^[3] uploaded a clip of himself performing a vegan-themed freestyle rap over a #UNameItChallenge remix. The same day, Instagram user _icomplexity^[4] uploaded a remix of the gospel accompanied by clips of various choreographed dance performances. In 48 hours, the posts gathered more than 68,000 and 150,000 views respectively.

Search Interest

External References