"Ronnie's Rapp" by Ron and the D.C. Crew

Happy April Fools Day, Dialophiles! 

To celebrate the jovial tone of the day, the Dial transmits a wacky novelty track from ‘87, one that my buddies and I in middle school couldn’t get enough of! Honestly, I have to believe that many of the Beltway insiders got a kick out of it as well… let us introduce… Ron and the D.C. Crew with “Ronnie’s Rapp”!

“Well, I’m the Big Gipper and I’m here to say, that I’m biggest rapper in the U.S.A.! Yeah, my name’s Ron with the D.C. Crew, going on record with a rap for you!”

Written by actor/comedian Mark Moseley, who in recent years, has provided the voice of “Donkey” in video games based on the Shrek film series, and “Mushu the Dragon” in all Disney Mulan projects except for the original film, Ronnie’s Rapp features Moseley’s spot-on impersonation of “The Great Communicator”, President Ronald Reagan (he was number 40, don’cha know).

“Rapp” adheres firmly to the time honored tradition of “boasting” raps, as Moseley’s Reagan trumpets his ’84 landslide defeat of Walter Mondale, his conferences with Gorbachev, and his daily naps, after signing a bill, of course. He also name checks his “veep” George Bush, his “best girl” Nancy, speaker of the house Tip O’Neill, his Hollywood classic “Bedtime for Bonzo”, and Billy Crystal’s SNL catch phrase “That’s the Ticket”. He even manages to sneak in lyrical references to the 1978 disco nugget “In the Bush” by Musique, and Newcleus’ 1984 hip hop classic “Jam On It”. The song opens with a replayed sample of the traditional Presidential theme “Hail to the Chief”.

“Met with Gorbachev in ’85, to talk about how everyone could stay alive, and though he seemed to be a guy with class, if he doesn’t play ball, we’ll nuke his COUNTRY!”

The above line stops short of the easy and expected rhyme with “class”, which is clearly part of the humor, but my middle school friend Matt didn’t… whenever he heard this verse, he would always loudly sing over the final word with a resounding “ASS”. Ahhh… middle school humor.

Ronnie’s Rapp was played quite a bit in the DC Top 40 market, (which makes perfect sense), but nationally, it only peaked at a barely noticeable US #93 in Feb ’87. I’m not sure if Moseley’s Presidential spoof caught the ears of any other markets across the fruited plain, but it was the number one requested song in Washington for a few weeks on the top 40 stations I listened to at the time.

“The current administration’s socio-economical and political policies are in direct cohesion with that which has been facilitated… In other words… YES!!! Yeah, that’s the ticket… awesome!”

Last year at this time, the Dial brought you “Macho Duck”, a disco jam featuring Donald, pulled from the 1979 Mickey Mouse Disco LP. This year, we decided to make a yearly tradition out of spotlighting a novelty track to commemorate April Fools Day, which led to this Presidential musical selection. Other songs in the running were “Jamaican Bobsled” by the Rock N Roll Animals, and Julie Brown’s “The Homecoming Queen’s Got a Gun”, but as both songs could be considered insensitive and non-PC in today’s world, (especially Homecoming Queen…) we leave it up to you whether you seek these songs out.

So regardless of whether you are politically minded or not, and no matter what party you affiliate yourself with, give “The Big Gipper” a spin, and enjoy a chuckle on us. Happy April Fools Day from all of us here at Kyle’s Radio Dial! Oh, and I’d love to hear a modern day rap artist sample or interpolate some lyrics from this classic… that’s right, I’m lookin’ at YOU, KANYE!!!

“I’m the Big Gipper, don’t mess with me, I’m the baddest rapper this side of D.C. With my best girl Nancy as my spouse, rappin’ to you from that big White House!”