MC Skat Kat is an animated cat character who appeared with

Paula Abdul Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American singer, dancer, choreographer, actress, and television personality. She began her career as a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers at the age of 18 and later became the head choreograph ...

in the video for her song " Opposites Attract" in 1989.

History

MC Skat Kat was created by

Michael Patterson Michael Patterson may refer to: *Michael Patterson (animator), American director and animator, creator of MC Skat Kat *Michael Patterson (English footballer) (1905 – after 1931) *Michael Patterson (Australian footballer) (1941–2002), AFL player ...

and performed by the Wild Pair duo of Bruce DeShazer and Marv Gunn on "Opposites Attract". MC Skat Kat's rap was written and performed by Derrick Stevens, although Romany Malco, who did the majority of the writing for the M.C. Skat Kat & the Stray Mob album, is often mistakenly credited for being the voice of the rap on Opposites Attract, a story perpetuated by Abdul herself. Derrick Stevens also provided vocals for the character in the MC Skat Kat solo album. Patterson got the idea for Skat Kat from the

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American actor, dancer, singer, filmmaker, and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

movie '' Anchors Aweigh'', in which Kelly's character dances with Jerry, the mouse from the '' Tom and Jerry'' franchise. Patterson would originally play small gigs dressed in full cat attire, though soon after become a studio musician with the character becoming fully animated by members of the Disney and Warner Bros. animation team, working outside the studios between major projects, under the direction of Chris Bailey. The character released the album ''

The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob MC Skat Kat is an animated cat character who appeared with Paula Abdul in the video for her song "Opposites Attract" in 1989. History MC Skat Kat was created by Michael Patterson and performed by the Wild Pair duo of Bruce DeShazer and Marv Gunn ...

'' in 1991 on

Kings Records Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

made an appearance in the music video of the only single "

Skat Strut MC Skat Kat is an animated cat character who appeared with Paula Abdul in the video for her song "Opposites Attract" in 1989. History MC Skat Kat was created by Michael Patterson (animator), Michael Patterson and performed by The Wild Pair (duo), ...

". The single peaked at No. 80 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in late October 1991, and stayed on the chart for four weeks. "Skat Strut" reached No. 11 on the New Zealand Pop Singles chart, No. 9 on the Norwegian Pop Singles chart, No. 28 on the Dutch Pop Singles chart, No. 31 on the Swedish Pop Singles chart and No. 64 on the UK Singles Chart. MC Skat Kat also featured in "

Yakety Yak, Take It Back ''Yakety Yak, Take it Back'' is a 1991 celebrity charity music video film aimed at encouraging recycling using a combination of live action rock stars, rappers, and animated Warner Bros. characters. The film originally aired on MTV in a shortened ...

", an all-star public service music video produced by Warner Bros. in 1991 for the

Take It Back Foundation A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each s ...

. The music video featured appearances by numerous celebrities, along with Bugs Bunny,

Melba Moore Beatrice Melba Hill or Beatrice Melba Smith (sources differ) (born October 29, 1945), known by her stage name Melba Moore, is an American singer and actress. Biography Early life and education Moore was born Beatrice Melba Hill or Beatrice Melba ...

as both herself, and the voice of

Tibi the Take it Back Butterfly Tibi can refer to: * Tibi, Alicante, a municipality in Spain * Tibi (footballer) (1951–2021), Portuguese footballer * Ahmad Tibi, Israeli Arab politician * Bassam Tibi, professor of International Relations * Eitan Tibi (born 1987), an Israeli ...

, and

Dr. John Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter. His music encompassed New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B. Active as a session musician from ...

as both himself, and the voice of

Yakety Yak "Yakety Yak" is a song written, produced, and arranged by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller for the Coasters and released on Atco Records in 1958, spending seven weeks as #1 on List of number-one rhythm and blues hits (United States), the R&B chart ...

, for a new version of the song "

" with a message about recycling. MC Skat Kat later appeared in ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first television ...

'' season 13's sixth episode "Kiss Kiss Cam Cam", on February 29, 2016. MC Skat Kat makes a cameo appearance alongside

in '' Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers''.

''The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob''

''The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob'' is a 1991 album from MC Skat Kat. The album came about as the result of

's successful " Opposites Attract" video of 1990, which was directed by

and Candace Reckinger. The Stray Mob consists of cartoon characters Fatz, Taboo, Micetro, Leo, Katleen, and Silk, the first three of whom appeared in the "Opposites Attract" music video. Two music videos for the album were directed by Patterson and Reckinger, only one of which was released. The only single from the album, "Skat Strut", samples

Earth Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

's 1981 hit "

Let's Groove "Let's Groove" is a song by American band Earth, Wind & Fire, released as the first single from their eleventh studio album, '' Raise!'' (1981). It is written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White. The song was a commercial suc ...

", with Abdul making a brief appearance in the video. Unlike the "Opposites Attract" video, the animation on the "Skat Strut" music video used

digital ink and paint Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Pro ...

. It only reached number 80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 but fared better overseas, peaking at numbers 9 and 31 on the Norwegian and Swedish charts, respectively. The vocal style and length in the music video differed from those from the album version.

Reception

The album was poorly received and it failed to chart. In 1999, ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cr ...

'' deemed it the "least essential" album of the 1990s, calling it "a product of clueless committee thinking and

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, ''All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as '' Girl You Know It's True'' ...

-style studio hackwork at its most cynical", and concluding that "never has a mass-produced album been demanded by so few."

Track listing

# "Big Time" – 3:53 # "I Ain't No Kitty" – 4:37 # "No Dogs Allowed" – 5:28 # "Gotta Get Up" – 4:00 # "Kat in the Casino" – 4:36 # "On the Prowl" – 4:06 # "Skat Strut" – 3:41 # "Kat Stories" – 4:02 # "So Sweet So Young" – 3:47 # "I Go Crazy" – 3:21 # "New Kat Swing" – 4:03 # "Skat Kat's Theme" – 4:39

Discography

Albums

* ''

'' (1991)

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mc Skat Kat Fictional cats Fictional characters introduced in 1989 Male characters in animation Fictional rappers Paula Abdul Fictional characters invented for recorded music