5 times ‘The Office’ was referenced in hip hop
5 times ‘The Office’ was referenced in hip hop
Move over New York, Scranton is hip hop’s real spiritual home.
When you say hip hop and television, you think Exhibit’s ‘Pimp My Ride’, Nick Cannon’s ‘Wild n Out’ and even the recently revived ‘Top Boy’.
But no one talks about the influence of one of comedy’s most bingeable shows. Believe it or not Michael Scott wasn’t just the manager of the greatest paper company North-East Pennsylvania has ever seen. He also left an imprint in the world’s most popular genre. His management style, Prison Mike persona and bars in ‘The Electric City’ have influenced people from Childish Gambino to Pro Era.
Head down to the lobby grab some pretzels, a take out from Chillis or whatever delicacy your prefer and lock into the best Bears, Beets and Battlestar Gala… eh music influenced by The Office.
Divine Council – Decemba (Remix) ft. $ilk Money, André 3000
Showing an appreciation for all things Scranton, Divine Council invited one of the best in the game for a remix of their hit song ‘Decemba’. Andre 3000 jumped on an instrumental that would fit neatly into Tyler, The Creator’s early catalog and provided his trademark off-the-wall bars.
There’s an innate chemistry on the track, with rhymes smoother than a Jim x Dwight sales call. Divine Council spitter $ilkmoney is assured, confident and financially savvy. Think Bob Vance with Bars.
$ilkmoney has annotated the bars on Genius saying, “I don’t do shit in my crib but watch Hulu and Netflix and smoke dope and make music. I didn’t fuck with ‘The Office’ at first but I get to the second or third season and I’m fuckin’ with it full time.”
Hahahaha jk? – Das Racist
King of the beets and safety officer extraordinaire Dwight Schrute got name dropped cleverly on Das Racist’s ‘Hahahaha jk?’. If Michael heard this line you already know everybody is getting called to the conference room to dissect it.
Never would’ve pictured Dwight and hip hop’s pill poppin’ cultur crossing paths, but here we are.
Nyck Caution – “NYUK” (Bodak Yellow Freestyle)
“OK IT’S HAPPENING EVERYBODY STAY CALM.”
You thought Denzel Curry and JPEGMAFIA were hip hop’s modern necromancers of chaos? Think again. Pro Era spitter Nyck Caution channeled this chaotic energy in his Bodak Yellow Freestyle by sampling the mayhem from Dwight’s fire drill “test” in series five. The Brooklyn native pays homage to Michael Scott comparing his humble studio abode to the Scranton paper company.
“The studio is my office, this is Dunder Mifflin, calm down and listen”.
I Be On That – Childish Gambino
Get this man a dundee.
Having acted on NBC’s ‘Community’ and written for ’30 Rock’ it’s not a surprise that Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino referenced another of the network’s shows.
The track has the kind of focus Kevin could only dream of when carrying his legendary chilli.
On My Grind -Joe Budden
Joe Budden is known more for his podcast than his music. You’ll probably recognise ‘Pump It Up‘, but outside of that there aren’t many notables. He did however, come through with a nod to Pennsylvania’s best paper company and for that he’s in the good books.
It’s unsurprising that the same line about Dunder Mifflin and collecting paper keep reappearing, it feels like Dwight repeating a ‘That’s what she said’ joke that Michael already made.
But much like the security blanket of binging and rewatching The Office, the repeated references are more like a comforting rendition of ‘The Scarn‘ rather than an irritating ballad from the nard dog.
Arizona – Rich Brian
Has Rich Brian created some of the greatest The Office fan fiction of all time?
We have no idea what the young rapper is talking about in this skit at the very end of his album ‘Amen’. ‘Arizona’ Features fellow 88 Rising member August 08, production from Channel Tres and is a bit like Michael and Jan’s relationship: strange, nonsensical, but we are here for it.
