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US rappers brand Lilley’s ‘S.mouse’ “offensive, uninspired”

A potential US backlash on Chris Lilley's Angry Boys gets an early start.

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What will Americans think of Angry Boys when they get sight of rapper S.mouse?

There isn’t any official date for the HBO series yet, but Australian entertainment website The Vine decided to get in early, and asked some musos working in the rap industry to take a look at Chris Lilley’s character.

The reaction was almost universal: negative. They criticised the ‘blackface’, the intent, the tone and said it parodied rap as it was performed in the 1990s.

What isn’t so clear is how much of the series they viewed, but given the show hasn’t finished airing in Australia, it’s safe to assume not all of it. The Australian series is also produced by US-born producer Laura Waters, something that probably escaped them. But by the sounds of their anger, it probably doesn’t matter. Or maybe in their eyes that’s even worse?

What is clear is that the show will very probably trigger a reaction when it does air in the US.

But then, isn’t that what comedy is supposed to do?

Here are some select excerpts:

Zilla Rocca, MC – 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers (Philadelphia)
He picked rappers who record dumb songs, talk like illiterates, and live up to the stereotypes of rappers my mum frowns upon: obsessed with money/hoes/clothes with no real street cred and proud to be ‘hood’ all in the same. Sadly, this is not the current state of the American Pop Rapper. He is ten years late on his ‘clever’ takedown. With the internet and invention of smart phones, it’s no excuse.

It’s a very basic principle he violated: white people can only mock black people and black culture if there’s a black person around saying it’s OK.

S.mouse goes way too far and only interacts with black people who are hired to read their lines, not act as the audience’s conscience.

Open Mike Eagle, MC (Los Angeles)
Hell yeah it’s offensive. Blackface is not the kind of thing that just becomes acceptable one day. I don’t give a damn how ‘meta’ this cat thinks he is, it doesn’t give him a pass to exploit the history of race relations for a cheap laugh. The worst part was that the blackface was unnecessary. It didn’t add a damned thing to the presentation of the comedy. He could have done the same thing as a white rapper and stepped around the minefield. Instead, I couldn’t relax enough to find any of it funny. All I could think about is how big of an idiot this guy had to be to think that this was something to be done. Rap-wise it wasn’t offensive. It was uninspired and not at all creative, but it wasn’t offensive in its portrayal of the art or the industry.

Martin Douglas, Producer – 5 O’Clock Shadowboxers, contributor for Pitchfork (Seattle)
The satire would have been massively more effective if a) Lilley had done a little more research on hip-hop culture instead of making a halfhearted parody on something he obviously doesn’t understand, and b) if he would have brushed up on America’s shaky history with race before deciding to play a black character.

You can read more at The Vine.

46 Responses

  1. I love how “blackface” must, know matter in what way its being used, be automatically viewed as racist, but when a movie like “white chicks” comes out, no one bats an eye lid. As for Harry Connick jr., that hypocrite himself appeared in blackface on a Mad TV sketch.

    For those unfamiliar with the incident two years ago in Australia, Connick jr. felt the need to condemn 5 performers for a tribute to Michael Jackson’s ever-changing appearance which necessitated using blackface. The funny thing was, the performers were all non-white themselves, of mixed origin, so to use that incident as evidence of white racism is wrong.

    How are we supposed to get over the racial inequality of the past if we can’t all have a laugh together about it now?

  4. I take it all the people telling the Yanks to get over it would also have no problem with the Simpsons episode Bart Vs Australia.
    I know quite a few people who still are not over that one. Personally it is one of my favourite episodes but some people don’t seem to have a sense of humour when it’s coming the other way. : )

  5. Wearing makeup to sincerely appear like a black person is quite a distance from blackface.

    s.mouse is a terribly unfunny character anyway. Not offensive, not cringeworthy, just lame.

    @Mike: ridiculous generalisations. You’re less on the money than Lilley is with s.mouse.

  7. @Adam, I was generalising as opposed to stereotyping. I also highlighted their considerable success, which by implication takes a fair degree of business acumen.

    A parody sends up and exaggerates the original and that is what (IMO) Chris lill has achieved

  10. You do realise that these rappers that are saying this aren’t famous and are not very well known at all so most people in America would not know who they are so they would definitely not know the show.

    You can tell that everyone here has never actually listened to rap music besides what is on TV or in the 90s when it was really popular, barely any rappers claim to be a gangster anymore most of them say they have gone to college and stuff because gangster rap and chains is no longer cool.

  11. I’m a huge Lilley fan however do think S.Mouse was a mistake. The season is a little disappointing especially as it was an Aus/US/UK coproduction..

    Confident he’ll be back better than ever.

  13. I agree he nailed it, and those comments confirm it. I actually think S.Mouse is as spot on as the other characters, and it should make most americans laugh. The character captures beautifully the predictable nature of a rapper’s “name”, the repetitive nature of the music, and the carry on about their lifestyle/bling etc. I interviewed an American DJ once and asked him about the growing rap scene (late 90s), and he said “Rappers? What so many people don’t understand outside of the US is these guys were nerds at school with no friends who want to get cool so they get Dad to buy them a song from a producer and record it and invent a story of growing up on the streets and call themselves a rapper.” Now I’m not saying this is all rappers, but it sounds like Chris and his co producers absolutely nailed it.

  15. @ APM
    The difference being the creators of south park realise that if its considered ok to make fun of white americans its ok to make fun of black americans. This is how south park views comedy, you cant say its wrong to joke about one thing and not another, if its ok to joke about gay people its ok to joke about disabled people.

  16. This character is the reason why the series is a dud. Smouse should have never made it to air and been replaced with the Asian Mother. Oh well too late now

  17. so its ok for the creators of South Park to be overly racist and offensive every season?! they not only stereotype blacks but ever other race as well as making fun of the crippled as well as every other subject they can make fun of but an Aussie puts black face on and its offensive? guess its ok for them cause its a cartoon then. so if a black person puts white face on its ok then right? so sick of the Americans and this racist stuff!

  18. I’m pretty sure you would get the same type of responses if you asked teachers what they thought of Mr G; Tongans what they think of Jonah, Surfers what they think of Blake, or the Japanese what they think of Nathan’s Mum.

  19. Am I too late for another anti-American bashing? Where are we up to, guys? It’s nice to see a couple of rappers are now speaking for an entire country – they’d be happy to hear that.

  20. The thing that so called “smart people” miss about Lilley’s shows is that the humour isn’t always in the outrageous, there’s a hell of alot of exactly what you hear people say on the street, I know Tiger Mums and bogan idiots like the twins, and Lilley’s portrayal is spot on, it’s a brilliant p*ss take of society.
    As for the S’Mouse character, Isn’t he just a lost, lonely kid? Isn’t that the point of his character?

    If it takes an idiot like me to see past the d*ck and fart jokes then maybe “smart people” aren’t so clever after all. It’s realllllly easy to write something off at first glance.
    I’m not saying the show is poignant or anything, I’m just saying there’s more to it than offensive humour. Because if you go out and listen to people in the shopping centre aisles or even just at a party, people are always saying stuff that ultimately can be offensive most of the time without realizing it, it’s just he’s put it on tv for us to laugh at ourselves. we’re too up tight and ninny now.

    As for blackface, so it’s ok for robert downey jnr to do it for comedy? He used shoe polish didn’t he? hypocrisy.

  21. Every time a commercial rap / hip hop song is on now all I can hear is ‘smack yo elbow’. They all sound the same.

    Agree Smouse is weakest

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