Just when we thought we were caught up with all the latest dance crazes -- minus the Dougie -- the Rej3ctz are putting our feet back to work with a new jig.

As inventors of the Reject -- that tricky two step that transformed jerkin’ from an underground dance style to a movement -- the group, consisting of L.A. natives Mowii, Pee W33 and Bounc3, now wants you to do the Cat Daddy.

And to sweeten the deal, the group enlisted Chris Brown to help film the viral video for the accompanying single over the weekend at Venice Beach.

“We’re in an era where dancers are taking over. When you have the real deal, it’s authentic and not tailor-made,” Bounc3 said on the set of the video. “The dance is so popping, we just started doing it everywhere. It’s easy too -- my mama does it.”

The new dance, a less complicated take on jerkin’, has already taken off -- especially after Brown appeared on BET’s “106 & Park” show to promote his latest film, “Takers,” and put his spin on the dance. The singer took time Friday in between promoting the film to come help his friends shoot the video on the boardwalk, which proved to be a challenge within itself.

When the singer arrived to the set -- which was shot guerrilla-style -- there was no time to waste. A bevy of girls (including two gal pals who kicked off their flip-flops to run faster) had already ambushed the singer and the group quicker then you could yell, "Action." Echoes of screams (and a few obscenities hurled toward Brown, who will probably never be able to live down the Rihanna incident) rang out over Venice Beach as the crew made its way down the boardwalk doing take after take. A caravan of tourists armed with cellphones and cameras followed closely, getting all the action.

"Cat Daddy," the single, is featured on the Rej3ctz's mixtape, “TheFUNKtion vs theKICKback,” and will also be the lead single for the soundtrack off the new movie “We the Party,” directed by Mario Van Peebles and featuring the group.

“Nobody wants to see a rapper just rap. We’re taking it back to the days of Big Daddy Kane,” Mowii declared.

Take a peek at some behind-the-scenes footage below, and see whether you can pick up on the dance -- we’ve already dusted off our dancing shoes and started practicing.

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy
twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photo: The Rej3ctz, from left,  Pee W33, Mowii and Bounc3. Credit: Pierre Auroux

Video credit: Gerrick D. Kennedy / Los Angeles Times

 
Sure, pop stars, rockers and rappers are faced with some troubling commercial realities these days: plummeting album sales, diminished opportunities for commercial airplay, rampant Information Age bootlegging and a wildly oversaturated musical marketplace.

But at least they don’t have to worry about a certain bugbear that caused previous generations of performers untold sleepless nights. Acts from the bottom to the pinnacle of the pop strata no longer have to worry about losing their integrity by selling out.

As laid out by this story, which appears in Sunday’s Calendar section, selling out is no longer possible – at least within certain time-honored notions of that term. These days, hip-hoppers, rock stars and pop acts are lending their music and images to a variety of branded products and services in ways that would have been beyond antithetical in, say, the Woodstock era, the punk rock '70s or the slacker-era '90s.

It's unlikely that there's anything Chris Brown could have said on his new album -- his first since pleading guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna -- to convince listeners that he's still the sweetheart that early hits such as "With You" and "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" presented him as.

But if Brown's goal with "Graffiti" was to begin the rehabilitation of his damaged image, you have to wonder how he and his handlers convinced themselves that including the song "Famous Girl," in which Brown insists that his cheating on a pop-star girlfriend came after her own infidelity, was a good idea. "Should've known that you would break my heart," he sings at one point, prompting a presumably unintended question: Has pop ever produced a less sympathetic victim?

Brown spends most of the rest of "Graffiti" in upbeat party mode, which given the clumsy audacity of "Famous Girl" was probably a wise decision. In "What I Do" he's "throwing up [his] cash, acting like money ain't a thing," while opener "I Can Transform Ya" stresses spending power of an even more exclusive kind: "Whatcha need? You can have that," Brown promises over Swizz Beatz's robo-crunk groove, "My black card, they don't decline that."

A little singing, a little dancing from the performer in his first local show since his sentencing.

Chris Brown had already pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna earlier this year. But Wednesday night at the Avalon, in his first local performance since being sentenced to probation and community service in the February altercation in L.A., Brown still seemed to be offering up character witnesses in an attempt to prove, as he insists in a widely circulated YouTube video, that he's no monster.

First up was Keri Hilson, who appeared not long into Brown's hourlong set and sang her hit "Turnin' Me On." Hilson was followed by Ester Dean, whose song "Drop It Low" features a cameo from Brown. Later, the singer introduced a medley of Michael Jackson covers as a homage to his "homie, friend and loved one." And near the end of the show, during "No Air," Brown even pressed squeaky-clean "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks into service, trading verses with Sparks' recorded voice in a duet that has surely taken on new meaning in Brown's mind over the last nine months of smothering media scrutiny.

If the female-heavy crowd at the Avalon was serving as Brown's jury, the testimonials had their desired effect: This was precisely the sort of adoring audience Brown presumably intended to draw by calling his current trek, which launched last week in Houston, the Fan Appreciation Tour. The singer made no mention of the Rihanna incident; instead, he repeatedly announced that he was in the mood to party.

Wasting no time to return to the public eye, controversial R&B singer Chris Brown has confirmed a  date at the Avalon in Hollywood, promising an "intimate performance" on Nov. 18. The official announcement, oddly enough, comes on the same day that Rihanna released her new single, the stark "Russian Roulette."

In late August, Brown was sentenced to five years' probation and 180 days' community labor -- to be personally supervised by the chief of police in Richmond, Va. -- in connection with his attack on former girlfriend Rihanna.

Brown will soon see how forgiving pop audiences are of him. Tickets for his Nov. 18 performance, produced by Live Nation, will go on sale Friday via the promoter's website.The concert will promote his forthcoming release "Graffiti." 

L.A. Now is following the story: 

A plea deal has been reached between Los Angeles prosecutors and pop star Chris Brown, who is accused of assaulting singer Rihanna before the Grammy Awards.

Brown will plead guilty to a felony and receive six months in jail or community labor -- such as graffiti removal or trash pickup -- and five years' formal probation. He will also undergo domestic violence counseling. Judge Patricia Schnegg said he will be allowed to complete counseling, community labor and probation in his native Virginia, but is to be treated there like any other offender.

Stay tuned to L.A. Now for the latest updates. 

R&B singer Chris Brown today pleaded not guilty to a felony charge that he bit, punched, choked and threatened his pop star girlfriend, Rihanna.

A judge set a hearing for April 29, when a preliminary hearing could be scheduled.

Nearly 100 media representatives jammed the downtown courthouse entrance as Brown came through about 3:30. Deputies shielded Brown and escorted him to a freight elevator.

All available L.A. County Sheriff's deputies were summoned to the area. Although Rihanna's attorney was in court, the pop star did not attend the hearing.

Read more on L.A. Now.

Talk show hosts speak out. Colleagues speak up. In the midst of it all, the singer has withdrawn himself from the Kids' Choice Awards.

Chris Brown, who is facing felony charges for allegedly attacking his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, withdrew Wednesday from Nickelodeon's hugely popular Kids' Choice Awards.

The pullout further fuels an escalating public relations fire around the 19-year-old singer, who has become a renewed target of outrage, particularly among daytime talk show hosts, since the release of court papers last week that said the R&B singer punched, bit and choked his girlfriend after an exclusive pre-Grammys party on Feb. 8.

The departure spared cable's Nickelodeon, built on such kid-friendly rating successes as "SpongeBob SquarePants" and "iCarly," more embarrassment as pressure mounted from parents' groups this week to have the singer removed from the prestigious list of nominees, which also included Jack Black, Reese Witherspoon and Brown's 21-year-old girlfriend, Rihanna.

Last week, a Superior Court judge postponed Brown's arraignment until next month. The Virginia native, who is charged with assault and making criminal threats, faces a maximum sentence of nearly five years in prison if convicted.

Even as late as Tuesday, Nickelodeon officials had said they would not turn away Brown from the March 28 awards ceremony, which is as famous for attracting A-list celebrities as for dropping green slime on them.

The 19-year-old was nominated by kids' votes several months ago in the categories for favorite male singer and favorite song.

"Chris very much appreciates the support of his fans and the honor they have paid him in the way of nominations," said a posting on the singer's website. "Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding the incident last month has shifted the focus from the music to whether he should be allowed to be among those nominated.

Read more Chris Brown removes himself from kids' awards as public comment intensifies

Photo credit: AP

EXCLUSIVE:

Multi-platinum-selling record producer Polow da Don has exclusively confirmed to The Times that he has been in the studio recently with Rihanna and Chris Brown, recording an as-yet-untitled love song that is scheduled to appear on Brown's new album later this year.

Polow (government name: Polow-Freache Jamal Fincher Jones) -- who has crafted hits for a constellation of hip-hop and R&B stars including Ludacris, the Pussycat Dolls, Rich Boy and Ciara -- issued the following statement to The Times:

During a court hearing in downtown Los Angeles today, an attorney for Chris Brown postponed his arraignment until April 6. Brown also signed a "waiver of presence" that the judge agreed to, meaning that he would not have to appear in court for mostly procedural matters.

Brown signed the waiver in open court. The judge told Brown that he was ordered not to "annoy, harass, or threaten ..." (garbled). The judge asked [Donald] Etra if Rihanna required a stay-away order, to which Etra responded "Ms. Fenty does not require that type of order."

More on L.A. Now.

-- Richard Winton, Ari B. Bloomekatz and Harriet Ryan

Times reporters Richard Winton and Harriet Ryan are following the latest developments regarding Chris Brown's alleged Feb. 8 assault on Rihanna on news blog L.A. Now. The Times has posted the court documents filed this morning here.

As Winton and Ryan report, Brown has been charged with two felonies that carry the possibility of prison time. The document identified the victim in the incident as “Robyn F.” Rihanna’s full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty.

In the complaint, prosecutors alleged that Brown threatened “to commit a crime which would result in death” to Rihanna and that what Brown threatened “was so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate and specific as to convey ... a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution.”

She was in fear of her safety or the safety of her family during the alleged attack, according to the complaint.

Brown, who is free on $50,000 bail, is due to be arraigned on the charges this afternoon in Superior Court.

Check L.A. Now for the latest developments.

-- Reporting by Richard Winton and Harriet Ryan

Photo: Getty Images