Comedy Rap – The Next Big Thing?

Words: Zwelake Chibumba

Jazzie & Arnold Jorge

Photo - via Twitter

With the recent success of the likes of Michael Dapaah, Mo the Comedian, and before them Kayode Ewumi, comedy has come back to the vanguard. Something the three aforementioned stars have all used, as a medium for their comedy is music. Whether it’s the short and snappy Instagram videos featuring one of Mo’s many characters, Kayode’s ‘R.S’ character or Michael Dapaah’s ‘Big Shaq’ - all three have achieved varying degrees of success from that stylistic choice. Whilst Mo may not have taken it to the same levels as Michael and Kayode, choosing to imitate rather than create a unique rapper persona, rap and comedy have been linked for a long time now. Whether it was caricatures based on real-life rappers, parodies of situations involving rappers, or even the simple parody covers of popular tracks - comedy has consistently drawn on and interacted with hip-hop culture.

Undeniably the reason this style of comedy has come to the attention of many is because of the Big Shaq character. It is important to note for anyone out of the loop that Big Shaq is just a character, or persona if you prefer, he’s not a real artist. Big Shaq was simply one of many characters Michael Dapaah developed in his highly successful #SWIL series alongside others like Dr. Ofori and MC Quakez. But it was Big Shaq that stole the show when Dapaah was invited down to Charlie Sloth’s Fire in the Booth. At the time of writing, the video currently sits on 2.7 million views, having only come out in October. On top of this, the follow-up video of Man’s Not Hot has amassed 213 million views at the time of writing.

This makes Man’s Not Hot the biggest song of the year from the U.K. These are the kind of numbers you would expect from the likes of Justin Bieber, not a comedian having a stab at music. Beyond that in the official video, there are appearances from world-renowned artists like DJ Khaled further showing the heights reached by Dapaah. What this shows is that there is a demand for it - but only when it’s done right.

To further back this up we can look at Kayode, who did almost the exact same thing beforehand. Kayode created the single character of R.S for his series #HoodDocumentary. The character was a self-proclaimed multi-talented creative and ladies man. As such of course the R.S character dabbled in rap, this was even explored in the #HoodDocumentary series itself. Again off the back of this success, Kayode was invited down to Fire in the Booth. We, of course, know what happened - it went viral. The video gained huge traction and likely played a roll in the BBC deciding to pick up Kayode’s #HoodDocumentary for a second season on BBC Three.

However, as mentioned before, this is nothing new. Long before the internet was the real dominant force for making or breaking stars, established comedians working the circuit were experimenting with the medium. Before YouTube was bringing in the enormous numbers it does now all too regularly, before Snapchat, Instagram & Twitter videos, and the now departed Keek and Vine platforms which we all became so familiar with, the chances of things going viral were not as high. This is not to say that things couldn’t go viral, there are plenty examples on YouTube from years ago that completely took over corners of the internet and crossed over into the mainstream, but these were few and far between. During this time just before social media really began to fast-track the process of videos gaining recognition, a few tried their hand at making comedy more accessible by putting it on sites like YouTube.

Yet it is almost as if this era of comedians has been forgotten or overlooked by the masses, maybe down to the fact that their work didn’t get that social media push that brought it to the forefront of people’s minds. But some excellent talent was pushing out diverse and engaging content paving a way for the likes of Michael Dapaah and Kayode Ewumi. This is not to take away from them either, as they in their own right have paved their own ways through their own content which they worked on and put out long before they achieved the successes that they have now. But before these guys, there was Eddie Kadi, Jazzie, Arnold Jorge (A Squeezy), Nicholas Marston, and more. All of who either developed a character that was a rapper or took part in parodying rap songs long before it was popular. Whilst parodies themselves are nothing new to comedy, having been an aspect

of the medium for as long as it has been around due to it being a simple but relatable and effective comedic tool, these are some of the few who really utilised the mediums potential. These early pioneers took over little pockets of the internet and now with the success of the newer comedians, it is a nice time to look back at the work of those who preceded them.

First up there is the phenomenal Eddie Kadi. Now out of all of the names mentioned he is the one most likely to be instantly identifiable as a comedian first and foremost, whereas the others have gone on to do other things. Kadi has been performing stand up since and has featured in films such as Anuvahood to improve its credibility in the comedy world. He has dabbled in music whether it was featuring in rappers videos – for example, his parking inspector character features at the

Beginning of G Frsh’s ‘Flygeria’ video, or performing comedy freestyles on Tim- WestwoodTV. He was one of the first to really do this and was definitely the first comedian in the UK to have performed on a well respected platform for rappers. In Eddie Kadi’s effort, he parodied the grime classic ‘Pow’ with his version being called ‘Pounded Yam’ putting his typical Congolese spin on things. Whilst not the most credited for taking this leap he was a true pioneer of the medium. He likely influenced fellow comedian Afrikan Boy into making his classic ‘One Day I Went To Lidl’.

Following on with some equally early starters in this comedy-rap blend was Nicholas Marston. He and collaborator KG created a number of sketches parodying not only rappers but more specifically the so called ‘hood’ rappers that became so popular around the same time. The pair would likely be most recognised for creating the Shadrack and the mandem series of sketches. This created a real storm especially their track Guns and Pork. The sketches worked on were some of the most interesting blends of comedy and rap due to the fact the lyrics don’t appear to be jokes until you listen more closely. Rather than genuine jokes it relies on satire and taking the image of what would today be called a “roadman” to its extremes. It is a more nuanced style of comedy but the videos really clear up that it is all in jest, as without the videos it could be quite confusing to those not paying close attention. It was likely ahead of its time but still has accumulated 1 million views showing that it has gained some recognition. There was once a time where whenever a huge track came out there would undoubtedly be two people you could rely on to parody it: A Squeezy and J Weezy. The pair is more commonly known as Arnold Jorge and Jazzie but it is as their alter egos that they were really reaching the heights of their recognition and popularity. Now whilst not as early as Kadi or Marston they still took things to new heights at a time where social media still wasn’t being used efficiently as a market ing tool and word of mouth was relied on a lot more. During this time they filled a vacant gap in the market in doing their parodies of songs and it was refreshing to see it done.

They did a number of tracks ranging from a cover of Rick Ross’ ‘F**k With Me You Know I Got It’, to Yungen’s ‘Ain’t on Nuttin’, Future’s ‘Jumpman’, and many more right at the heights of the successes of the tracks. This pushed not only themselves to the forefront of the minds of the audience very regularly but also shone a light on the existing tracks successes. They amassed well over 1 million views across their videos with most having hit over 100,000 views and quite a few being in the 700,000 views range. The two showed just how good a parody could be and the fact they don’t do them anymore has left a void in the market, the fact that no one has really taken over from them would suggest that the time of the parody is over. Hopefully, it is not and we’ll be treated with more in the future as they were hilarious and all in good fun and are something that is missing in the scene at the moment.

Now that we have taken time to celebrate the success of both the stars of the medium, past and present, let’s take a quick look at what we could have in store for the future. Of course Big Shaq, R.S and Mo the Comedian still have plenty of time to drop more music I think this group will avoid this angle so as not to get typecast as just one specific character. Case and point of this is Kayode Ewumi who has put his R.S character on hiatus twice, originally in December of 2015 in a a tweet stating “For now the #HoodDocumentary will take a break as we pursue other genres and explore our creativity” and since the release of the second season of #Hood- Documentary we have not seen ‘roll safe’ since. However this is not to say that comedians will shy away from the musical avenue, they may just take a different approach to it. The best speculative example of this is Yung Filly who is most recognisable from his YouTube videos where he asks members of the public trick questions. Filly has recently broadened his horizons into the musical lane with the release of his track ‘Take Time’. This has no comedy to it at all, it is almost just an expression of Filly flexing his creative skills almost as if to say that he can do everything. It is a great effort for him and the track itself is a bit of a sleeper hit. What’s extra impressive is the extent to which Spanish is used, which works perfectly with the smooth vibe of the track. What he shows here is that when it comes to comedians, expect the unexpected. Hopefully, we continue to get great content from these guys and more in whatever shape or form is next for them, just don’t be surprised if rap and comedy combine again at some point. Only this time, you’ll know all about the journey that made it the success it is.