The crowd had their paws up for Moshow, the “cat rapper” of viral internet fame, at the Humane Society for Southwest Washington on Monday night as the organization hyped its upcoming Walk and Run for the Animals events.
Moshow, the Portland musician who garnered some fame for his music videos, which prominently feature his four cats and cat-centric lyrics, headlined the Humane Society’s party.
The annual walk and run is one of the Humane Society’s two big fundraising events, President Stacey Graham said. The actual walk and run isn’t until May 6, but building things up now gives people time to form teams and grow a friendly fundraising competition, she said.
In previous years’ kickoff parties, the Humane Society has brought in Elvis and Michael Jackson impersonators to start the fun.
Monday’s act, Moshow, Dwayne Molock’s stage name, moved to Portland in 2015, after growing up in low-income housing in Baltimore and attending college in Pennsylvania.
After college, he started producing rap videos in which he sings and dances with his cats.
“I’m just a rapper and I love cats,” he said.
His online fan base has grown to more than 60,000 followers on Instagram and 70,000 on Facebook. He’s been featured on local news outlets, in multiple write-ups for online news sites including The Huffington Post to Complex and, last year, he gave a live performance at the Portland Art Museum in front of a huge — and, according to the gallery, world’s greatest — cat painting.
His song and music video “Adopt a Cat,” which was filmed at the Oregon Humane Society, led to more than 150 new adoptions within days, he said. As Willamette Week put it, it’s a “much chiller Sarah McLaughlin (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) video.”
“Whatever you put out in the universe, it kind of comes back to you,” he said about his work with humane societies. “I put it out, they loved what I was doing and said, ‘Hey, we’re fans,’ and I’m like, ‘I’m fans of you guys.’ ”
Molock himself has four cats, but Sushi, Megamam, Ravioli and Tali didn’t make it Monday. A Humane Society staffer with a swaddled kitten did join the three-song set, though.
Graham said the Humane Society has organized the walk for 26 years, adding the run in 2014.
In 2013, the event raised $57,000 with 500 walkers (there was no race then) with 300 dogs. Last year, runners and walkers raised $192,000 for the Humane Society, according to the organization.
This year, she said, the Humane Society expects 2,000 walkers and runners and between 800 to 1,000 dogs, and the organization hopes to raise $210,000.
About 45 percent of the Humane Society’s budget comes from fundraising, she said, and the run and walk, along with the gala-style auction event, are the organization’s big events.
After the 3-mile walk along the Columbia River and 5K race through the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, there will be a party in downtown Vancouver’s Esther Short Park with vendors, face painting for kids, activities for dogs and a beer garden by Ghost Runners Brewery.
“It’s just a big party for dogs, and of course it supports the cats, too,” she said.
The Humane Society houses at any given time about 250 to 400 animals, depending on the year. That’s usually dogs and cats, but they’ll take anything without hooves.
Last year, the Humane Society took in 7,400 animals and went through more than 100,000 pounds of dry dog and cat food.
