Baracksdubs | |
|---|---|
 Channel logo | |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2012–2019 |
| Genre | Comedy |
| Subscribers | 1.48 million |
| Views | 309.7 million |
| Last updated: October 5, 2024[ needs update ] | |
Baracksdubs is a popular YouTube channel and series that uses Barack Obama speeches to create cover songs, generally of popular songs. The channel was created by Fadi Saleh as a then-freshman student of the University of Tennessee. [1] [2] Saleh formed his own company, Spare Time Entertainment in 2015. [3]
Fadi Salah started the channel when he was a 19 year old freshman and biochemistry major at the University of Tennessee. [4] [1] He told the Daily Dot he came up with idea of having Barack Obama sing songs while in the shower in December 2011. His first video, which had Obama singing "Drink to That" by Rihanna, was posted the following January. [4]
Salah didn’t immediately advertise his involvement in the channel, in spite of the videos'popularity. It wasn’t until his video, "Born This Way", went viral that he shared the news with friends. By July 2012, the YouTube channel had 127,000 subscribers and an online merchandise store. [4] Each video took approximately three weeks to create and would sometimes include super-imposing the presidents face on the artists' body to create the effect of him dancing. [4] [5] [6] The videos have been shared on social media by the artists who’s songs were used, including LMFAO and Justin Beiber. [4] Videos would sometimes feature other famous figures. [7]
In September 2015, Salah announced his new company, Spare Time Entertainment, with the intent of turning his hobby into an online entertainment brand. By this time, the YouTube channel had amassed over 900,000 subscribers. [3] The September 1st announcement was followed by a relaunch of Baracksdubs the following week. Salah had incorporated proprietary technology that reduced video editing time from approximately 100 hours to a single day by searching for specific words in source material. [3]
In February 2017, following Donald Trump’s inauguration, Baracksdubs released a video of Obama singing Kendrick Lamar’s "Alright", who’s lyrics had been used as a protest chant against the new president. [8]
| Song | Artist | Released | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Drink To That" | Rihanna | January 4, 2012 | [1] [2] |
| "Born This Way" | Lady Gaga | January 10, 2012 | [9] [10] [11] |
| "Sexy and I Know It" | LMFAO | March 26, 2012 | [1] |
| "Call Me Maybe" | Carly Rae Jepsen | June 4, 2012 | [12] [13] |
| "Boyfriend" | Justin Bieber | June 24, 2012 | [14] |
| "What Makes You Beautiful" | One Direction | July 20, 2012 | [15] |
| "Hot n Cold" (sung by both Obama and Mitt Romney) | Katy Perry | October 15, 2012 | [16] |
| "U Can't Touch This" | MC Hammer | November 6, 2012 | [17] |
| "Deck The Halls" | Traditional | December 19, 2012 | [18] |
| 'SexyBack" | Justin Timberlake | January 21, 2013 | [19] |
| "Pokémon Theme" | Jason Paige | February 4, 2013 | [20] |
| "Get Lucky" | Daft Punk | June 24, 2013 | [21] |
| "All Gold Everything" | Trinidad James | July 15, 2013 | |
| "Blurred Lines" (sung only by Bill Clinton) | Robin Thicke | July 23, 2013 | [22] [23] |
| "Made in the USA" | Demi Lovato | August 13, 2013 | [24] [25] |
| "Best Song Ever" (sung only by co-anchors on the Today Show) | One Direction | August 23, 2013 | |
| "It's All Good" (sung by both Obama and his wife Michelle) | Ne-Yo | October 9, 2013 | |
| "Jingle Bells" | Traditional | December 9, 2013 | [26] |
| "Do What U Want" | Lady Gaga | January 9, 2014 | [27] |
| "Timber" (sung by both Obama and Hillary Clinton) | Pitbull | April 15, 2014 | [28] |
| "Birthday" (sung only by Ellen DeGeneres) | Katy Perry | June 10, 2014 | [29] |
| "Fancy" | Iggy Azalea | August 5, 2014 | [30] [31] |
| "Problem" | Ariana Grande | August 19, 2014 | [32] [33] |
| "Uptown Funk" | Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars | January 27, 2015 | [34] |
| "Shake it Off" | Taylor Swift | February 9, 2015 | [35] |
| "Anaconda" (sung only by the characters of SpongeBob SquarePants) | Nicki Minaj | May 18, 2015 | |
| "Can't Feel My Face" | The Weeknd | September 7, 2015 | [36] [37] |
| "Thriller" | Michael Jackson | October 28, 2015 | [38] |
| "Hotline Bling" | Drake | December 14, 2015 | [39] |
| "Jumpman" | Drake | January 5, 2016 | [40] |
| "Sorry" | Justin Bieber | January 25, 2016 | [41] [42] |
| "Panda" | Desiigner | April 26, 2016 | [43] |
| "No" | Meghan Trainor | May 3, 2016 | [44] |
| "All I Do Is Win" (sung only by Donald Trump) | DJ Khaled | May 23, 2016 | [45] |
| "Work" | Rihanna | May 30, 2016 | [46] |
| "Power" (sung only by Bernie Sanders) | Kanye West | June 6, 2016 | [47] |
| "One Dance" | Drake | June 27, 2016 | [48] |
| "FDT" | YG | July 26, 2016 | [49] |
| "Cut It" | O.T. Genasis | August 9, 2016 | |
| "Can't Stop the Feeling!" | Justin Timberlake | September 3, 2016 | [50] |
| "Stressed Out" | Twenty One Pilots | November 30, 2016 | [51] |
| "All I Want for Christmas Is You" | Mariah Carey | December 22, 2016 | [52] [53] |
| "Let Me Love You" | DJ Snake | December 26, 2016 | [54] |
| "Starboy" | The Weeknd | January 11, 2017 | [55] |
| "Alright" | Kendrick Lamar | January 17, 2017 | [56] |
| "Happy Birthday to You" | Traditional | January 23, 2017 | |
| "Missing you" | Erik Hassle | January 30, 2017 | |
| "Respect" | Aretha Franklin | August 18, 2018 | |
| "Money" (sung only by Bernie Sanders) | Cardi B | August 21, 2019 | |
| "Woah" | Krypto9095 | November 27, 2019 |
The videos have been featured on Huffington Post, [15] [17] [57] Gawker, [12] Rolling Stone, [13] Yahoo!, [14] Mashable , [58] and several other online news publications. [1] [16] [59]
