Put some respek on my autoritah - Hip Hop in South Park
Warning! This article may contain spoilers and controversial content due to the nature of the topic.
The fifth episode of the 21st season of the iconic cartoon South Park once again showed that its creators are aware of the importance of Hip Hop culture as a part of the American lifestyle.
From time to time, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are reaching for a rich repertoire in a rap library and put it in the episode's plot or parodying some of the most famous artists.
Here are some more or less obvious examples where South Park drew inspiration for Hip-Hop.
1. S08E08 "Douche and Turd"
This episode is a brilliant metaphor that clearly shows the true face of politics and the flaws in the system. Due to the demands of the Eco-terrorists of PETA, South Park students are forced to change the mascot of their football team. Two new proposals for a joke give rise to an immediate split. When Stan Marsh, torn between decisions, decides to give up his vote, no one other than P. Diddy himself (known then as Puff Daddy) arrives with the help and faces Stan with a simple choice: vote or die. This situation is a follow-up to a real statement made by Sean Combs in 2004, who wished to persuade (or more threat than persuade) US citizens to take an active part in the electoral fight over the slogan 'Vote or Die'. At the time, George W. Bush defeated John Kerry in the last round of the elections. Sometime later, Diddy withdrew from his position, claiming that the elections were a stumbling block.
2. S10E11 "Hell on Earth"
Only in South Park could Satan organize his favourite Halloween feast in the style of idiotic programs reflecting human vanity and greed, i.e. "My Super Sweet 16". On his infernal party placed in the Earth's exclusive Marriott hotel, there must have been famous guests, including the Notorious B. I. G. presented as a horror character and a city legend, Candyman. Brought down from behind the grave by Butters, who broke the taboo and said 'Biggie Smalls' three times in front of the mirror, he tries to get to the party of the devil, who is becoming more and more spoiled (wearing Britney Spears' costume, from her clip to '. . . Baby One More Time'). In the episode, P. Diddy appears again but only mentioned in the conversation referring to his famous loud events at which there were everything except a cake in the shape of Ferrari.
3. S13E05 "Fishsticks" and S17E10 "The Hobbit"
Kanye West is one of the most accurate and the most absurd parodies of the series. He is also one of a few characters that appeared more than once, but he is a genius and an artist of all times. This fact had to be appreciated. Lack of sense of humour, megalomania, interrupting important speeches. Stone and Parker could have said: " Nailed It". The real Mr. West, however, understood the joke and proudly swallowed up an insult. During his first adventure in South Park, he was looking for revenge on the creator of a joke in which tagline suggested that Kanye loves fish and making him a " Gayfish". In the end, he believed in that and came back home (ocean). The second time he had to prove against a growing list of evidence that his current wife Kim Kardashian is not a hobbit. Gayfish appears in the latest game South Park: The Fractured But Whole, but it's no longer like West, but a normal fish. However, this is still Yeezy's case, as the stage with his participation shows, which resembles a game on the iPhone he was working on.
4. S18E09/10 "#Rehash" and "#HappyHolograms"
In these two story-line episodes, the music industry has become one of the targets for all the cheap tricks that are squeezing popular music audiences through today. Apart from the parody of Nicky Minaj and Iggy Azalea, who conflict due to different artistic visions with Lorde (in the South Park world alter ego of the favourite character of many people, Randy Marsh), several holograms of deceased artists appears including Michael Jackson, Kurt Cobain and Tupac Shakur. This refers to the first concerts performed in 2012 and 2014 by hologram versions of 2Pac and Jackson, which were received by the audience with quite mixed feelings. Positive opinions were confronted by voices accusing of feeding on the fame of legends for profit only purposes.
5. S19E07 "Naughty Ninja"
The inhabitants of Colorado, outraged by the brutality of the police against national minorities, decide to express their opposition. There is probably no other track that can better send the message than NWA's "Fuck Tha Police," accompanying the protests that Sergeant Harrison Yates and his South Park crew will have to deal with, once they have finished their preparations for traditional Hawaiian rituals with complex names.
6. S21E05 "Hummels & Heroin"
The episode mentioned at the beginning contains a lot of references to Hip-Hop and music in general. Beside the song "They Got Me Locked Up In Here" which features Killer Mike from Run The Jewels, the playlist presented in a ridiculous way of a style dating back from the 1920 to refresh the memories of home residents of (not entirely) calm old age is also worthy of looking at.
These classic set included "Insane in the Brain" by Cypress Hill, "Milkshake" by Kelis and "Rape Me" by Nirvana.
There are probably a few more examples, such as Eric Cartman, who thinks that Chef (to whom Isaac Hayes, a soul artist who performed a chorus in "I Can't Go to Sleep" by Wu-Tang Clan, gave his voice) is his father, styled like Flava Flav from the Public Enemy (S01E13) or the typical redneck Jim Bob, who replaces Alexa (a Siri-like device from Amazon) and play Kendrick Lamar's 'Humble' (S21E01). Since Parker and Stone are not very worried that they could hurt someone, they have a lot of freedom of using different cultural sources. Who will be potentially offended we will see in next, probably last season of South Park.
