Rappin' Duke

Infobox Single
Name = Rappin' Duke


Artist = Shawn Brown
from Album = ¿Que Pasa?
Released = 1984
B-side = "Rappin' Duke" (Instrumental) (6:20)
Format = 12"
Recorded =
Genre = Hip-hop, Pop, Pop-rap
Length = 6:09
Label = JWP Records
Writer = Greg Brown, Shawn Brown
Producer = H. B. Barnum
Certification =
Last single =
This single = "Rappin' Duke" (1984)
Next single = "Duke is Back" (1986)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption =
Type =


Cover size =
Lower caption =
Border = Extra tracklisting
Album = ¿Que Pasa?
Type = studio
Tracks =
# "Wake Up" (4:28)
# "Rappin' Duke Is Dancin'" (6:32)
# "You Can Make It" (5:29)
# "Message From The Duke" (0:09)
# "Rappin' To The Beat" (5:28)
# "Rappin' Duke" (6:36)
# "Da Ha's The Word" (5:22)
# "Trail Mix" (9:38)

"Rappin' Duke" is a 1984 hip-hop novelty song by Shawn Brown performing as The Rappin' Duke. The conceit of the song is that actor John Wayne (a.k.a. "The Duke") is performing the rap. (Wayne had died in 1979.)

"Rappin' Duke"'s lyrics pay loving homage to Wayne's cowboy movie persona, boasting that he was the original rapper: "So ya think you're bad with your rap? / Well I'll tell ya, Pilgrim, I started the crap. / When you were in diapers and wetting the sheets, / I was at the Ponderosa, rappin' to the beat." The song's constant refrain is "duh-ha, duh-ha," a parody of Wayne's laughter, sung to the music's slow beat. The song uses the hip-hop vernacular to refer to contemporaneous rap musicians like Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC, and also parodies the opening to Chaka Khan's 1984 hit "I Feel for You": "Aretha Franklin! Aretha Franklin! / Aretha Franklin! / Let me rock ya, / Let me rock y'aretha Franklin! Let me rock y'aretha Franklin, / that's all I wanna do, 'retha Franklin." Lyrics also allude to Ronald Reagan's presidency.

"Rappin' Duke" was widely played in 1985, peaking at 73 on the 1985 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs "Billboard" chart; and also charting on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales for 1985. The song's success led to Brown opening in 1985 and 1986 for such groups as Bobby Brown and Stevie Wonder. [ [http://www.shawnbrownshow.com/bio.asp Shawn Brown bio on The Shawn Brown Show.] Retrieved Sept. 2, 2008.]

"Rappin' Duke" shares the beat from Too Short's "Blowjob Betty". [ [http://www.discogs.com/release/526666 PappaWheelie, "Rappin' Duke, Discogs (Nov. 18, 2005).] Retrieved Sept. 1, 2008.]

Music video

The video opens with an African-American cowboy sashaying onscreen with a boombox propped on his shoulder, obscuring his face. He is replaced by various images from old cowboy movies: gun battles, rope tricks, and the like. Halfway through the song, the cowboy — his features always hidden — reappears poolside, surrounded by a trio of bikini-clad women. He shows them a few tricks, including moonwalking in his cowboy boots, and then ends up in the pool with the girls. The video fades out with the cowboy walking into the sunset.

In popular culture

* The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 song "Juicy" alludes to the song, when he says "Remember Rappin' Duke, duh-ha, duh-ha..."

Charts

Notes

Sources

* [http://www.discogs.com/release/526666 "Rappin' Duke" at Discogs]

External links

* [http://www.lyricsondemand.com/r/rappindukelyrics/rappindukelyrics.html "Rappin' Duke" lyrics]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfUSIerJ-8c "Rappin' Duke" video on YouTube]