Founder rate ends 9th September.

We’re rebuilding theartsdesk to secure the future of real arts journalism. Be part of it by subscribing: if you do it now, the founders’ rate of just £40 yearly is yours FOR LIFE!

SUBSCRIBE NOW 

Chap-Hop, Straight out of Surrey

The rise of Chap Hop, this week's cultural sensation

share this article

"Hip-hop has been a commercial proposition since the release of 'Rapper’s Delight' in 1979. That’s 30 years, a long time for any genre," writes Sasha Frere-Jones in this week's New Yorker. The genre, according to Frere-Jones, is on the way out. Not so for Chap-Hop, however, which has been going for about six days since the video below was put up on YouTube, featuring Gentleman Rhymer Mr B.

The eponymous Mr B, who lives in Hove but comes from Surrey (of course) accompanies himself on his idiosyncratic banjolele, and manages in the video to telescope the history of hip-hop into five minutes. As Mr B says of his more gangsta rivals, "They do give respect really. They act tough, but generally speaking are awfully nice chaps." Mr B explains himself here.

When did you start performing cabaret/burlesque?

Quite by accident in late 2007. Having penned a few ditties purely for my own enjoyment, a friend asked me to play a full show at a do he was putting on. Went down rather well, so I thought, "I’ll have a go at this, seems a wheeze."

What defines your own brand of cabaret/burlesque performance?

I know not of too many hip-hop-based cabaret performers on the circuit. Beats, rhymes and manners, there’s the rub!

What is the best performance/backstage/business tip you have learned during your time on the circuit?

Politeness, manners and general gentlemanliness cost nothing and furthermore they oil the wheels of business quite nicely too!

(thanks to ShakeItDoll.com - putting the url into Burlesque).

rating

0

explore topics

share this article

Help secure the future of arts journalism

In this era of algorithmic recommendation, opaquely sponsored content and AI slop, theartsdesk’s mission to preserve real journalistic and critical values has never been more important.

If you like what you see here, please join us 
in this mission.

Subscribing to the site will help us in our coming 
redesign and expansion.


If you do this before the 9th September this will be at our guaranteed founder’s rate: 
your subs will never increase again.

Subscribe now for £5 per month. 
or yearly for just £40.

Or if you simply want to support us with a one-off donation, you can do so here.

more new music

A breathless half-hour takes in screaming, stop-start song structures and the odd hint of reflectiveness
The American singer's eighth album is rife with downtempo ruminations on love
A thrilling blast of deep rooted culture and devout belief
Two decades on from Patti Smith and the original pink sheep, the anniversary edition proved again that Latitude's real headliners are rarely at the top of the bill
From Korean bluegrass to gigantic Ugandan xylophones, the global diversity of musical life is here
A championing, but also perhaps a dilution, of South African innovation
The return of a punk-era landmark of British art rock
With a danceable rock feel she displays her burgeoning creativity
The garage rockers don't do themselves justice on new album