Novelty Rap/Hip-Hop

Hip-hop's origins lay in people boasting about themselves. With such pomposity and egotism at its core, parodies quickly emerged. The strange new genre drew both underground satirists like Frankie Smith ("Double Dutch Bus") and the Rappin' Duke ("Rappin' Duke"), and mainstream comics like Rodney Dangerfield ("Rappin' Rodney"). And even when hip-hop music rapidly turned serious and matured in the late '80s, funny storytellers like Biz Markie, Slick Rick and the Fresh Prince flourished. Today, novelty rap combines all those formative elements. It includes serious rappers willing to push themselves to comical extremes, like Insane Clown Posse and Mickey Avalon; unabashed jokers like Afroman and Die Antwoord; pop stars that play with the form like LMFAO, Ke$ha and Colt Ford; and professional comedians and actors who rap simply because they can, like the sketch comedy group The Lonely Island. While there may be a disturbing undercurrent of ethnic and cultural stereotyping in some of these recordings, at its best novelty rap shines a funhouse mirror on hip-hop's clichés and taboos.