Article in the Guardian about the connection between Rap and TV

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Here it is....


Ever since Big Bank Hank hooked up his fancy colour TV to watch his beloved New York Knickerbockers play basketball on The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 hit Rapper's Delight, rappers have remained glued to the idiot box. Big Daddy Kane bragged that, for sheer entertainment, his rhymes were "better than Dynasty or Hill Street Blues", while other emcees have found kindred spirits in specific characters, with Redman earning "respect like The Fonz" and the more humble Jeru The Damaja getting "props like Norm Peterson". TV theme tunes, too, have been raided, from DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince debuting their brand of playful pop rap over I Dream Of Jeannie's signature 60s song to D-Block threatening to "take everything you got" with a gloriously gangsta reworking of the Cheers ditty.

Listening to Wale, however, is less like channel surfing, more like settling down with a DVD box set of the DC rapper's favourite TV show. Not content with releasing 2008's Seinfeld-celebrating The Mixtape About Nothing – featuring soundbites from the peerless 90s sitcom as well as an enthusiastic, foul mouthed cameo from Elaine Benes herself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Wale last week dropped More About Nothing, a similarly Seinfeldian sequel that even boasts a song inspired by (and sampling) the Soup Nazi.

Wale's not the only rhyme-spitter who enjoys a spot of Seinfeld (Greg Nice, Lupe Fiasco, Das EFX, Chubb Rock and The Last Emperor have all referenced the show's characters) and, though hip-hop's infatuation with the exploits of a perma-smirking Jewish comedian may at first glance seem odd, the show was always ripe for rap reappropriation. Consider the evidence: an urbane New Yorker known for rocking mics, hitting skins and sporting pristine Nikes – all while exhibiting the same smug superiority and penchant for wordplay as many a rap legend – Jerry is as quintessential a 90s hip-hop icon as Grand Puba or the young Jay-Z. Then there's his posse: Kramer's a spaced out sidekick in the Flavor Flav mould, George Costanza's as antisocial and self-loathing as Eminem, and Elaine fits the same sexy yet down-with-the-boys template as Eve or Foxy Brown. With storylines about masturbating, dead fiances, menage a trois and racial faux pas, Seinfeld and Larry David's baby also shares hip-hop's disdain for political correctness – little wonder that David's Curb Your Enthusiasm would later give us fictional, cunnilingus compliant rapper Krazee-Eyez Killa, himself subsequently immortalised in verse by LA crew Dilated Peoples.

Rap-types aren't just into slap-bass-heavy sitcoms, either. Britain's own Kano revealed his 24 fandom with Jack Bauer: The 7 Day Edition, an 11-track mixtape crafted within the titular self-imposed timeframe. "I named it that because I felt like Jack from 24, working to a deadline to get this **** done," explained Kano. We don't remember Kiefer's CTU agent fighting against the clock to find a functioning pair of headphones or select which Drake track to freestyle over though.

Showing a greater adherence to his favourite show's convoluted canon, 88 Keys recently paid his respects to Lost with the song Baggage Claim. Imagining himself as a survivor of the ill-fated Oceanic Flight 815, Keys charts his mainly fraught interactions with his fellow castaways: "I'm not taking orders from Jack, like I'm his soldier/I don't trust Katie as far as my arms could throw her," he rhymes on the song. He's not a fan of Jack's rival, either ("Locke don't give me that philosophical crap/I know is gonna spew from your oesophagus tract").


Wale's 2008 release, The Mixtape About Nothing, featured soundbites from Seinfeld, and a cameo from Julia-Louis Dreyfus.
While Keys has used his musical talents to insert himself into a rap rendition of his favourite show, bigger name hip-hoppers now use their varying acting abilities to appear in actual programmes. 1990 saw Will Smith begin his ascent to Hollywood mega-stardom in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the success of which would later spawn sitcom vehicles for LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and Eve. These days, of course, LL plays it straight in police procedural NCIS: Los Angeles while his one-time enemy Ice T flashes a badge in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The eternally childlike Biz Markie (who cut his distinctive teeth on Keenen Ivory Wayans' early-90s hip-hop sketch show In Living Color) is down with the kids on Yo Gabba Gabba!, while Public Enemy's Flavor Flav is now known as that clock-wearing crazy from reality show Flavor Of Love. As for fellow rap legend turned reality star Reverend Run, we'll chalk Run's House up to The Lord working in mysterious ways.

Record label politics may have prevented vaunted New York emcee Saigon from ever releasing his debut album, but the rapper's fictional decision to put his career in the hands of Turtle on Entourage has at least given him a decent acting show reel. By contrast, Ghostface Killah is so prolific he even hit 30 Rock to bless Jenna Maroney with guest vocals on her Muffin Top track.

Then there's Ghost's fellow Wu-Tang clansman Method Man, who bounced back from an aborted, clownish sitcom with co-collaborator Redman to grab a small part in The Wire, the show which arguably best illustrates the symbiotic relationship between hip-hop and TV. Just as Meth plied his husky voiced charisma as the brilliantly named Cheese Wagstaff, so his musical peers have predictably peppered their verses with references to the show's street-savvy characters and plotlines. Gay stick-up man Omar Little alone has been the subject of rhymes both action-packed ("I had you on the run like Omar in The Wire" – Tony Yayo) and er, homophobia-packed (D.I.R.T, Heltah Skeltah).

Part-time rapper Idris Elba may have wisely turned down offers to resurrect The Wire's drug kingpin Stringer Bell in the recording booth (with name-checks from Eminem, the character's hip-hop immortality is assured) but Detroit rapper Finale summons up the spirit of shady senator Clay Davis on The Senator from last year's Pipe Dreams And A Promise album. Boasting a recurring, stroke-of-genius sample Davis's trademark "Sheeeeeeiiiiiitttt", Finale reminds rivals that they ain't saying, well, sheeeeeeiiiiiitttt.

Still, Virginia-based punchline maestro Skillz already laid down the definitive audio tribute to The Wire when the show ended, chronicling the events of all five series in his handy The Wire Wrap-Up. If it's a crash course in Seinfeld you're after, we'd suggest that Wale is truly Master of his Domain. Don't worry – he'll explain that gag, too.

More About Nothing is out now

Rappers Radio Times

CHiPs

"I used to watch CHiPs, now I load glock clips", rapped Nas on his 1992 debut Halftime.

Taxi Rappers love sitcoms and smooth jazz kingpin Bob James. Cue Souls Of Mischief sampling Angela, James' classic theme from Taxi, on Cabfare

The Dukes of Hazzard

"I'm swinging my Dukes of Hazzard just like Bo, Luke and Daisy," rhymed Das EFX, while Roscoe P Coldchain paid homage to Boss Hogg's beleaguered second-in-command. Yeeeee-haww!

The Simpsons

Masta Ace flipped the theme on Spread It Out, Ludacris did his best Homer impression on My Chick Bad and Jazzy Jeff collaborated on Do The Bartman.

Clarissa Explains It All On their swansong Curtain Call, revered Carolina crew Little Brother went out referencing Melissa Joan Hart's pre-Sabrina 90s kiddie-com. Way cool.

Knight Rider

Busta Rhymes, Panjabi MC and Timbaland all sampled the show's theme.

Home Improvement

"Hammer on my waist, Tim the Tool Man Taylor" sneered E-40's crony Stress, putting a sinister gun-related spin on Tim Allen's anodyne DIY expert.

Married With Children

Rapper Intuition named a song after Al Bundy, and the Young Black Teenagers lusted after airhead daughter Kelly. "I hold my old like Bud Bundy with no date," rhymed AG of Al's lad, but Bud's real-life alter ego David Faustino struggled to hold his own as a rapper.

Hill Street Blues

Kool G dropped Ill Street Blues and Cam'ron sampled its theme for Harlem Streets. Square eyes Cam'ron's also rhymed over themes from Magnum PI, Night Court, Facts of Life and more.