Who first rapped "my name is __ and I'm here to say..."

July 16, 2006 2:34 AM

In what rap song do we first hear this much-imitated lyric pattern? "my name is ____ and i'm here to say... [followed by a line that rhymes with 'say']" Was there an actual sincere use of this rhyme by a hip-hop artist, or was this conceived of as a joke from the start? It may be hard to have an answer for sure, but perhaps we can approach the origins by listing examples and dates for the examples. One of the more ridiculous instances I've seen is the Sushi K rap in Snow Crash.
posted by k7lim to media & arts (15 comments total)

I remember a commercial for the Flintstones Cereal called "Fruity Pebbles" that had a rapping Barney singing,

"My name is Bareny Rubble and I'm here to say, I love Fruity Pebbles in a major way!"

...and then Dino breaks up the turntables with his tail or something.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 3:03 AM on July 16, 2006

I think you are referring to Rappers Delight, although the line in question goes:

see, I am wonder mike and I'd like to say hello

posted by qwip at 3:25 AM on July 16, 2006

"I'm Chiquita Banana, and I've come to say
Bananas must ripen in a special way"

1944.
posted by ikkyu2 at 3:38 AM on July 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Not a hip-hop tune, but the Chiquita Banana Song dates to 1944. I always figured the "I'm... and [I've come] to say..." thing started there.
posted by Opposite George at 3:44 AM on July 16, 2006

Damn you, ikkyu!
posted by Opposite George at 3:44 AM on July 16, 2006

I don't think that real hip-hoppers used this sincerely for very long- it's such a simplistic rhyme, hip hoppers of the late 70's and early 80's quickly outgrew this wordplay- if you listen to the Threacherous Three's New Rap Language for example, from 1980, they would run circles around this sort of rhyme. After that point anyone who used the "My name is "x" and I'm here to say" is using it ironically or they're clueless:

For example the Barney Rubble rap was more on the lines of:
"I'm the master rapper and I'm here to say
I love Fruity Pebbles in a major way!
The bedrock yellow orange purple lime and red
But to get that fruity taste, I gotta trick Fred!"

and then of course there's Homer Simpson's plow rap:

Boom-chi-ca-boom-chi-ca-boom-chi-boom
I'm Mr. Plow, and I'm here to say,
I'm the plowin'est guy in the USA.
I got a big plow and I'll move a lot of things,
Like your cow if you have one.
posted by jeremias at 6:40 AM on July 16, 2006

I can't find the lyrics online but I remember the Fat Boys rapping on the Sun City album something like, "We're the three Fat Boys and we're here to say, we're gonna stop apartheid in our own way." That was in 1985.
posted by octothorpe at 6:41 AM on July 16, 2006

Mel Brooks' 'Htler Rap' was a single associated with the re-make of To Be or Not to Be from 1983. It begins with

My name is Adolph and I'm on the mike
I'm gonna hip you to the story of the new Third Reich

It's apparently been covered by The Whitest Kids You Know.
posted by Rash at 7:27 AM on July 16, 2006

Also, no real origin point seems to exist but there may be some clues in Kurtis Blow's History of Rap collection

My guess is that this was a cliche before the first hip hop singles or albums were ever made.
posted by jeremias at 7:37 AM on July 16, 2006

Well, they call me Sweetness, and I like to dance
Runnin' the ball, is like makin' romance
...
We didn't come here looking for trouble
We just came here to do the Super Bowl Shuffle
-- 1985 Chicago Bears
posted by Eddie Mars at 8:57 AM on July 16, 2006

Well my name is DMC, the all-time great
I bust the most rhymes in New York state
-- Run DMC, Run's House

My name is DMC, the one ya know,
the all time great gonna steal the show,
-- Run DMC, Bounce

My name is DMC, I tell no lie
And I graduated from Cooley High
-- Run DMC, Together Forever
posted by Prince Nez at 9:52 AM on July 16, 2006

"My name is Peaches
And I'm the best
All the DJ's want
To feel my breasts"

- from the movie "Coming to America", rapped by a girl in a club to Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall
posted by Asparagirl at 2:42 PM on July 16, 2006

Rapper's Delight, as mentioned above, probably inpsired more of these nods than the Chiquita Banana song. In the same way that "ho-tel, mo-tel, holiday innnn" became a hip hop trope. Simplistic, yes, but you also get credit for respecting the old school, so it pops up a lot.
posted by anildash at 5:19 PM on July 16, 2006

I'm glad you said it was from 'Coming to America,' Asparagirl, because, otherwise, I would've guessed the Canadian electroclash-or-whatever artist.

"I'm DMC, in the place to be/
I went to John Jay University/
And since kindergarten I acquired the knowledge/
And after twelfth grade I went straight to college."
-- Run-DMC, Down With the King
posted by box at 6:28 AM on July 17, 2006

"We're J.J. Fad and we're here to rock
Rhymes like ours could never be stopped"
-J.J. Fadd, Supersonic, 1988
posted by teg at 7:31 AM on July 17, 2006