Here's An Idea: A Ban On White People Rapping
Posted Friday 10/24/2008 6:16 PM in
Blender Blog
by
Neil Drumming
Below is a music video parody of John McCain rapping about his controversial vice presidential choice to the tune of Snoop Dogg’s “Murder Was The Case.” I post this clip not because it’s particularly funny—it’s not—or because it offers anything more than the usual tired slew of McPalin jokes—it doesn’t—but because I think now is an ideal time to propose a moratorium on white-folks-rapping parody songs. Seriously, people in comedy, we get it: Senator McCain is rich, white, Republican, and old, therefore it is unexpected that he would spontaneously break out into a hot sixteen. What a hoot! Amy Poehler is a short white woman from Burlington, Massachusetts, but—check it out—she’s cuffing the mike and spitting like Kanye West. Isn’t that hilarious?
Not necessarily.
Just because something is counterintuitive doesn’t automatically make it funny. Sure, several people have, in recent times, had success with this gag. But unless you’ve got adorable-ass Natalie Portman handy or an angle deeper than “Hey, a white person is rapping!” give it a friggin’ rest already.
And how counterintuitive is it, anyway? We know there are white people that rap and rap well. So why are we still trading on the old ‘white folks got no soul’ paradigm? It’d be like being expected to laugh every time a white dude picks up a basketball or a black guy gets a decent job and moves to the suburbs.
Enough. We can start slow. First, we cut out all the political parodies. Any Palin or McCain impersonators observed uttering the word "gangsta" get fined. Then we work on the horrible fast food commercials and "Lazy Sunday" rip-offs.
(I realize that such a ban could drastically restrict Weird Al Yankovic’s earning potential, but he’ll be fine. He’s probably still spending that “My Bologna” money.)


