No single person is universally accepted as the creator of the dab, but most sources trace it to Atlanta’s hip‑hop scene in the early 2010s, with several rappers claiming credit. It later blew up globally once Atlanta rappers and pro athletes started using it around 2015.

Core origin story

Most credible histories agree the dab began as a dance/gesture in Atlanta’s rap community, not as a one‑off invention by a single star. The move seems to have circulated informally in clubs, studios, and crews before anyone tried to brand it as “theirs.”

  • Atlanta is widely cited as the birthplace of the dab in hip‑hop culture.
  • Early uses show up around 2013, but it does not go mainstream until 2014–2015.

Who actually “created” it?

Different artists and camps have publicly claimed some level of ownership, which is why there is still debate.

  • Skippa Da Flippa is often named as the first or main creator by people inside the Quality Control/Atlanta scene.
  • Migos heavily pushed the dab with their 2015 track “Look at My Dab” and performances, and at one point claimed it, but later pointed back to Skippa Da Flippa as the true originator.
  • OG Maco and Rich The Kid have also said they helped create or shape the move, adding to the overlapping claims.

Some cultural write‑ups even suggest it may have started with unnamed young dancers in Atlanta and then got amplified by these rappers.

Spread into mainstream culture

Once the dab left local scenes, it turned into a meme, celebration, and global fad.

  • NFL and other pro athletes began using the dab as a touchdown or victory celebration around August 2015, which massively boosted its visibility.
  • Viral videos, memes, and YouTube explainers about “what is the dab” helped lock it in as a mid‑2010s internet and sports trend.

By late 2010s, articles were already writing about the “life and death” of the dab as a trend, treating it as a short but intense cultural moment.

Other “proto‑dab” claims

Some pop‑culture retrospectives point to earlier, dab‑like poses, but these are more fun trivia than solid origin proofs.

  • NBA player Dee Brown’s 1991 Slam Dunk Contest celebration involved a similar eye‑covering motion, which people now retroactively compare to a dab.
  • A 1990s episode of Martin with Martin Lawrence doing a similar gesture is sometimes cited as a visual precursor.

These moments show that the pose has older echoes, but the dance known as “the dab” is still rooted in the 2010s Atlanta hip‑hop wave.

TL;DR: The dab grew out of Atlanta’s hip‑hop scene, with Skippa Da Flippa, Migos, OG Maco, and Rich The Kid all linked to its creation and early popularization, but no single uncontested inventor exists.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.