Baracksdubs
YouTube channel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
Baracksdubs | |
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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] | |
History
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.[5] 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 superimposing the president's face on the artist's body to create the effect of him dancing.[4][6][7] 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.[8]
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", whose lyrics had been used as a protest chant against the new president.[9]
Episodes
Media coverage
The videos have been featured on Huffington Post,[16][18][58] Gawker,[13] Rolling Stone,[14] Yahoo!,[15] Mashable,[59] and several other online news publications.[1][17][60] Following Barack Obama's reelection in 2012, Today announced Baracksdubs first post-election video of U Can’t Touch This by MC Hammer.[61]