Ketchup Popsicle

The larger than life aliases under which rapper/producer Daniel Dumile performs are not incidental theatrics, and they are more than the headings of a filing system for his collaborative work. Though each moniker (MF DOOM, Viktor Vaughn, King Ghidora, Madvillain, to name a few) provides source material for the language and samples within individual projects, when considered in terms of Dumile's collective output the personas act as elaborations on his favorite themes: the dichotomy of art and commerce in rap music, the lack of role models for urban youth, and an exploration of Dumile's personal relation to rap music as told through album-long biographies of fictional tragic-heroes.

Like his alter-egos, Dumile's life was radically altered by both rejection and tragic loss. After finding some success in a rap duo with his brother, the two were dropped from their label due to conflicts over controversial cover art. Shortly after, his brother was killed in an accident, precipitating a nearly decade long stall in production. When he returned in 1999 with Operation: Doomsday (Fondle 'Em Records), it was as a self described enemy of rap music, whose ambition was to destroy the palaces of the industry vanguards, exposing their naiveté through his artistry and thereby undermining their claim to a divine mandate.

Whichever alias he is rapping under, Dumile verbally asserts his supremacy with a healthy mix of insults and brags, as well as with the slick use of meter and rhyme with which he delivers them. One of my favorite recurring brags emphasizes his skill with language in terms of the ability to sell a product. Common in the United States, the sale formula is familiar both in pop culture (in Tommy Boy (1995, Paramount) Chris Farley's father could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman in white gloves) and colloquially, as in some variation of the ability to sell a freezer to an Eskimo.

Generally speaking, the common element in the sale formula is the ability to confuse, persuade, or swindle non-violently, outsmarting the purchaser/victim. For Dumile, however, a recurring theme within the formula is the marketability, high-quality, and addictive nature of his lyrics and production. Most often this theme manifests itself through the metaphor of selling drugs. Dumile's lyrical strength, however, lies in his ability to stress the boundaries he sets for himself, both lyrically and beat related. In returning to explore the salesman metaphor, Dumile is able to make myriad implications about both his superiority and the inferiority of others who labor in his trade.

Though Dumile explores the buy/sell metaphor in other rhymes, the examples which follow primarily focus on those rhymes which most closely follow the sale formula, instances of the speaker asserting his ability to sell a specific product or relating the details of a past sale.

Samples:

"I sell rhymes like dimes/The one who mostly keep cash but brag about the broker times"
(Rhymes Like Dimes, Operation: Doomsday)

"Write a rhyme like a book report/Sell it to a rookie - you can tell by the hook he bought.
You ain't know he sell hooks and choruses?/They couldn't bang slang if they looked in thesauruses."
(The Drop, Viktor Vaughn is the Vaudeville Villain)

"V sell time to an inmate, and then/Tell him a rhyme for the hell of it just to demonstrate."
(A Dead Mouse, Vaudeville Villain)

"Big shot, sold a guy a pound of pig snot/Said it was proven to remove stains and ink spots."
(Mr. Clean, Viktor Vaughn is the Venomous Villain)

"So what? A low cut price and pro/V'll sell a bogus marriage liscense to a mo
Like sellin weed to a thug/Candy that baby gave me--"I need a new drug"
(Dope Skill, Venomous Villain)

"He sold scrolls, low and behold"

(Accordion, Madvillainy) 

"Chew an MC like El Chupa Nibre/Digest the group and sell the poop on ebay."
(El Chupa Nibre, The Mouse & The Mask)

"Wylin'. Get me every red penny/Sold the lonely only child an imaginary enemy"
(Monkey Suite, Chrome Children (various artists)