Impressions of Other People or Characters
Sometimes MCs do impressions of other MCs or other famous people or characters. This is almost always done for entertaining or humorous effect, as they usually aren’t actually trying to convince listeners that they are that person; they’re doing it because it’ll sound interesting or funny.
Eminem has a number of tracks in which he does impressions of other people or characters. These include an impression of Snoop Dogg on the track “Bitch Please II” (02:32) (the lines beginning, “Oh no, big Slim Dogg . . .”); Triumph the Insult Comic Dog on the track “Ass Like That” (01:10) (throughout the song, for example in the lines “For I am Triumph, the puppet dog, I am a mere puppet, I can get away with anything I say, and you will love it”); and characters from the television show South Park on the track “The Kids” (00:01).
Del the Funky Homosapien: Everything helps. I grew up doing impressions and stuff, like “Heavens to Murgatroyd!” [said in the voice of the cartoon character Snagglepuss]—I grew up watching a lot of cartoons. It helps making it entertaining, like that voice, Snagglepuss, I just did it on a song I did [recently]. Gave it to my girl, she was, like, dying laughing. So anything you could throw into the pot adds more to your personality. I would say you better try to get every bit you can, every little bit and nook and cranny inside you, and try to throw that in the pot, because anything you throw in there is just going to make it more likely that you will succeed.
Other cartoon characters are impersonated by Funkdoobiest, imitating Sylvester the Cat’s catchphrase, “Sufferin’ succotash” on their track “Super Hoes” (02:38) and Fu-Schnickens performing an Elmer Fudd–styled line of “Come back here, bunny wabbit” on their track “Sum Dum Munkey” (01:31). Shock G’s alter-ego voice (looked at further on p. 93) is based on a cartoon character.
Shock G, Digital Underground: “Hip Hop Doll” (00:11) was the first time I tested what later became the “Humpty” voice, and I was actually imitating the Warner Bros frog [Michigan J. Frog, singing “Hello My Baby”], who himself was imitating the oldies pop singer Bing Crosby.
Doing these types of impressions often requires a sense of humor and a willingness to let go and not care how you may be judged for it.
Shock G, Digital Underground: I think my predominant essence is like that of a comedian, because my natural at-rest mental state is more giggly-goofy-jokey than it is “need people to take me serious” [or] “[I] need to fit in” minded. But most rappers want to be taken seriously, and it’s the pursuit of that serious respect that doesn’t allow for any “silly” impressions or any visible break in their serious “true” self—that concern that it could make them appear weak to the fans and therefore jeopardize the mission!
Del the Funky Homosapien: Some people is, like, too good for that, they don’t wanna do that, but I feel like if you let loose and you’re just loose sometimes, it engages people more. It allows people to feel kinda comfortable, and like, “OK, it’s not that serious.” I try to keep the mood of it [like], “OK, I got something to say, but it ain’t that fucking deep.” It’s not that serious—I’m just trying to have some fun with you for a minute and then you can go back to whatever you were doing. You don’t [always] want somebody to listen to your [music] and they feel like it’s a drag—like, man, this is like the doom of the world. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve done songs, I’m sure, where the feel was like that, but naturally I just got a sense of humor, so that’s the way I come about it. You gotta be loose and open and free enough, because if you’re not, them ideas won’t come out. You’ll be too scared to do it.
Sometimes this is done in homage to another MC or person, such as on A Tribe Called Quest’s “If the Papes Come” (00:24) when Q-Tip quotes and mimics the beginning of Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story.” This is also done at the beginning of Wyclef Jean’s “Bubblegoose” (00:11) mimicking the same Slick Rick song (“Hey kids, gather around, I got a story to tell, here we go”).
Akil the MC, Jurassic 5: If you have a knowledge of different types of MCs, then that helps you be able to pick your lane, or helps you create your own lane, as opposed to just driving recklessly over lanes that are already there.
