Still dabbing in 2017: A Mixmag retrospective

We're a week into 2017. The crippling pain of the post-New Year's Eve comedown has finally seeped away and we're back in the real world, ready to conquer another year. New year, new you, right?

These days you fire up Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and see people ‘dabbing’. The old you has seen this before and thinks, 'What? I don’t have time for these memes'. But there's no escape. From Premier League footballer Paul Pogba to Hilary Clinton, it seems like everyone's trying to perfect the head down, arrowed arms out move.

Let’s find out how the 'dab' has gone from niche to the normal.

The Origins

Simply, it’s widely disputed. Year zero of the dab is hard to come by. While it’s known the move originated in the Atlanta rap scene thanks to the likes of Migos, Skippa Da Flippa, Jose Guapo and Rich The Kid, who started it is up for debate. While Migos’ ‘Look At My Dab (Bitch Dab)' was the most popular track to first directly acknowledge the move, Skipper Da Flippa’s ‘How Fast’ had the rapper casually dabbing in 2014.

Even more hotly debated is how the dab came to be. Some say it was a simple reaction to the start of a beat in a song. Some say it’s fashion. What does seem to be clear, though, is that it has nothing to do with the practice of smoking weed. Lil’ Bow Wow felt the smackdown when he said it was to do with coughing after ‘dabbing’ marijuana before getting salty over how mainstream it had gone. Rich The Kid told him to STFU on Twitter.

How do you dab?

It’s basically just the correct way to sneeze.

Rich The Kid explains it in full.

OK, tried a couple? Dabbed on your co-worker or postman or local MP? Let’s get into our definitive timeline...

2015

While we know there was dabbing in 2014, 2015 was the year it went worldwide. Here’s why...

Migos release ‘Look At My Dab (Bitch Dab)’

Bitch dab, bitch dab

Bitch dab, bitch dab
Bitch dab, bitch dab
Bitch dab, bitch dab
Dab, dab, dab, dab, dab, dab

Look at my dab, dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Look at my dab, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Get in there, get in there, bitch dab
Look at my dab

You get the idea.

American sports stars take Dabbing mainstream

For America, this is where it really took off, when Carolina Panthers' star quarterback Cam Newton began dabbing on fools after his team had scored (although he wasn’t the first NFL player to do so). With a national audience, Newton dabbed with abandon and it quickly became his trademark touchdown celebration. He was even crowned the ‘Dab Daddy’ by Migos.

That was, of course, until the inevitable backlash. This guy wasn’t impressed with it. Then a mother of a nine-year-old boy wrote a letter of complaint to the NFL about it. Then the NFL banned touchdown celebrations.

By mid-2016, Cam said he would dab no more, but there are always more multi-millionaire athletes out there looking for a slice of the pie, as NBA star Lebron James, tennis player Victoria Azarenka and Paul Pogba, one of the world's most expensive footballers, prove below. Pogba's made such an impact, his celebration is now included on FIFA.

Tom Hanks dabs

Forrest Gump is out here dabbing!

2016

By the time 2016 rolled around, it wasn’t a case of 'would you dab?' It was a matter of how many times, for how long and how outrageous it was could be pulled out. Could it be…

During a basketball game dressed as a 12-year-old Scott Disick?

On a daytime television chat show as a presidential candidate?

Dressed as Squidward on a Spongebob Squarepants parade float?

Getting some alone time in an elevator?

After absolutely nailing that really hard word you were trying to spell?

As the fifth in line to become the king of a country?

Behind a prime ministerial candidate playing a delicate concerto on violin?

Dressed as Mr Peanut during a Thanksgiving Day parade?

2017

Oh, you thought it was over? Just this week, US Republican Paul Ryan was left flabbergasted by the concept of dabbing as the teenage son of an elected Kansas representative proceeded to dab at his father’s mock congressional swearing-in. While holding the freaking bible, obviously. Paul Ryan, this guide is dedicated to you, pal.

And this just in for 2017. The dab has reached the 'regal' and 'gentlemanly' realm of cricket (although the cricketer in question plays for Australia, a team generally uninterested in playing the game with those ideals in mind).

Usman Khawaja! The man who also tried to put his fingers up a teammates butt dropped a fairly restrained dab after knocking out a half-century and was promptly told he was being disrespectful by his cricketing peers.

Hey, wait! Finally, last but not least, we must take a moment to celebrate this work of art.

A video that embodies what it feels like when everything goes right in the world. A combination of not only the dab but also the viral bottle flip challenge. After watching this video, I promise, you will want to throw David, the Mona Lisa and all that renaissance shit in the fucking trash.

Have a fan-dab-stic 2017.

Louis Anderson-Rich is our digital intern. For more explosive takes on pop culture, follow him on Twitter here