by Jody Rosen for Slate.com
Check out this honky rapping—isn’t that a riot?
Well, maybe it was in 1983. That was the year of “Rappin’ Rodney,” in which Rodney Dangerfield reeled off a series of borscht-encrusted one-liners over a thumping beat. Shortly thereafter, Doonsbury creator Garry Trudeau masterminded “Rap Master Ronnie,” a mildly—very mildly—amusing spoof of President Reagan.
In other words, this joke is almost as old, and precisely as funny, as “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Yet it continues to get told and told again. Weird Al Yankovic has been working the white and nerdy hip-hop angle for at least a decade. Every time Saturday Night Live’s writers are stuck, they disgorge a bit like “Palin Rap.” (“My name is Sarah Palin/ You all know me/ Vice-prezzy nominee/ Of the GOP.”)
FOR THE REST OF THE STORY CLICK HERE
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I was with her until Rosen listed Andy Samberg as one of the best white rappers. Really, chica? U serious? Please, say Atmosphere, Brother Ali, somebody with some credibility please! That lets me know she’s writing on a subject she’s just not familiar with. She’s a fan of comedy and happens to like Samberg–but she’s not a fan of hip hop. Otherwise would she really have called Slim Thug “a good black” rapper? She must be kidding. I hate when white writers get out of lane because they figure no one with authoritative knowledge (no heads) read their publications. I’ve got a serious mind to register on Slate just to blast that ass.