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VIDEO | Hip-hop artists praise fast-food nation with their odes to Americana

November 13, 2009

Late last month four teens were cited for disorderly conduct in American Fork, Utah, after repeatedly (and, some would argue, hilariously) rapping their order at a McDonald's drive-through.

"There've been quite a few media outlets that have tried to make it about the rapping," says American Fork police Sgt. Gregg Ludlow, "but that's not the case. It was the fact that they pulled in, they interrupted the business, they were swearing at the employees ... and just causing public annoyance or alarm," he alleges. "If they had just pulled in and done their rap thing, they'd have probably been OK."

The kids were imitating a homemade rap video, now wildly popular on YouTube, in which two teenagers freestyle their order into the mike at a McDonald's drive-though.

It's called the "McD's Rap."

And it's not the first time Mickey D's raps and other online musical homages have proliferated wildly. From lone crooners to gospel groups to girls goofing in a cafeteria, those eager to bust a fast-food move have seized on McDonald's as their sing-songy eatery of choice.

"I think there's a number of influences that are bringing this all about," says Mark Carlson, senior creative director for McDonald's USA. The company's worldwide headquarters are in Oak Brook. "No. 1 is that McDonald's is so iconic and a part of Americana that it's just kind of a natural progression for people to include it in what they do. And the popular thing now is to do stuff musically on YouTube. McDonald's just seems to be a natural inclusion. And part of that is because music is such an important part of our brand heritage, from the jingles that people know from the '70s and '80s that still have a life today."

One of the latest songsters to flaunt their McDonald's melodiousness are Chicago rappers Prentiss Harris (stage name: Upmost) and Zimbalist Griffin (stage name: Trygic) of the duo Dude 'N Nem. The twentysomethings are signed to Beat Bangers/the Orchard, and included the sexy single "We Are Going to McDonald's" on their recently released CD "Tinted Incubators." In terms of views, it's not yet a YouTube smash sensation, but that could soon change.

A romantic ballad for that special lady, the tune has an easy groove, soothing piano chords and goes like this:

"Girl, you deserve the best in life/ so tonight I'm gonna treat you right/ Girl, I hope you have an appetite/ 'cause we're going to McDonald's."

That's a joke, right?

Not entirely.

"We just chose McDonald's because everybody loves McDonald's," says Harris, who claims he hadn't seen other McDonald's videos online before co-penning the song a couple of years ago. "Everybody in the world has been to McDonald's, I don't care who you are. But it's like a double-edged sword, because [on one hand], if you take a girl to McDonald's, it's like, an insult. Or if you tell a girl, 'I'm gonna take you out to eat,' she's like, 'We're not going to no McDonald's. You're gonna have to take me somewhere else, like Red Lobster or a real expensive place.' McDonald's has always been that spot that everybody goes to, that everybody's been to. It's just, you don't want to work there or you don't want anybody to take you there for a date."

Another odemeister who arguably helped start the Golden Arches rap craze is Thomas Middleditch.

"I won't be so bold as to say I ushered in a whole new era," Middleditch says. "I hope I didn't."

Formerly a Chicago improviser, the New York-based actor (his comedy film "Splinterheads" is now showing in some cities) and his fellow Second City Conservatory mate Fernando Sosa devised an on-the-spot, hip-hoppy McNuggets ditty while eating the processed poultry before a show one night. They ended up doing their McRap onstage.

"We were making fun of McDonald's attempted appeal to urban culture," he says, "because a lot of their ads are like, 'Yo! Doesn't matta! I'm eatin' McDonald's!' [singing] Ba-dap doo-doo-doo!' It's really trite and it's so gross to watch sometimes, when you can just picture the pitch room and all these fortysomethings are like [imitating a clueless advertising square], 'Yeah, that's cool. That's hip. I dig that.' "

Their teacher encouraged them to film the farce (which they did, in front of the McDonald's by Wrigley Field) and put it on the Web. Before long, they were viral superstars. A year and scads of views later (the count now stands at more than 2 million), they were tracked down by a Boston ad firm, which pitched their video to McDonald's, which bought it for a commercial. It aired in 2007, with only minor tweaks, in East Coast markets including Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

Before that happened, though -- before "nice" but not nutty McDonald's money rolled in -- Middleditch was a bit conflicted. The most effective McDonald's jingles stick in your brain if those performing them "are doing their job," he says.

"It's just a matter of, do you want to be doing that job? My big conflict, especially before we were getting paid, was, 'Oh, man, I'm giving this company -- that, in my eyes, is a great source of negativity -- free [publicity]. Not to say that I haven't had a Big Mac or a Double Cheeseburger."

But while he might not be lovin' it, plenty of folks obviously are. Cyberspace is full of their quirky and impassioned serenades.

Because let's face it, rapping about Red Lobster is totally lame.