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"The Rapping Song" from the comedy show Look Around You is actually not bad [1]

['Jennifer Sandlin']

Date: 2025-07-21

I think I found my new favorite rap song, very helpfully called "The Rapping Song." Yes, I know it's not "real," it's from a comedy/parody show, and it's supposed to be a joke. Somehow, though, unexpectedly and against all odds, I keep catching myself rapping it throughout the day, so I'm gonna just succumb to it and admit that I think it's a banger and I love it, unironically.

The song, which is only about 15 seconds long, was featured in an episode of the comedy show "Look Around You," which was created by Robert Popper and Peter Serafinowicz as a parody of 1980s educational science-focused television shows and school films. The episode, called "Music 2000" was from the second season of Look Around You, which aired in 2005 on BBC. In the episode, which is supposed to be set sometime in the early 1980s, characters from various walks of life perform their vision of what they imagine music will be like in the year 2000.

While all of the songs featured in "Music 2000" are funny, my favorite is "The Rapping Song" performed by a character named "Antony Carmichael" (played by Chris Obi), a profiterole chef from London. Antony explains in his introduction that the secret to a good profiterole is "fresh cream and good ingredients," to which the host (played by Serafinowicz) replies that he hopes Antony has the "right ingredients tonight." The host then asks Antony to predict the music of the future and Antony replies, "There's a new type of music that's emerged from the streets of America, where people talk over the music." The host is incredulous, replying, "They TALK over the music?" And Antony further explains: "Yes, and the rhythm, and it's known as rap music." The host repeats, "Rap music." Antony continues: "And I definitely think we'll be listening to rap music in the year 2000." The host states, "Well, this is a first for me, because I've certainly never heard of rap music before." This hilarious exchange is made even funnier by the way both Antony and the host accentuate and over-enunciate the "p" at the end of "rap" every time they say it.

After the introduction, the scene switches to Antony on the Music 2000 stage, where there's a giant disco ball hanging from the ceiling. He's swapped his tan suit for some groovy pleather pants and a tight red sleeveless t-shirt. He grabs a mic, turns on his boom box, begins an awkward back and forth side step dance, and starts rapping:

I'm rapping all day and I'm rapping all night Rapping to the beat and I rap it up tight I rap in the morning and I rap till I'm done And everybody knows that I'm number one Cause I'm rapping, I'm rapping, I'm rap rap rapping I'm rapping, I'm rapping, I'm rappity-rapping I'm rapping, I'm rapping, I'm rap rap rapping I'm rap rap rap rap rap rap rapping I'm rapping all day and I'm rapping all night….[fades out]

[Spoiler alert!] While the audience members heartily clap and look very impressed, sadly Antony Carmichael did not win over the ghost of Tchaikovsky, who judged the contest. Contestants Antony and Tony Rudd (a music teacher who performed his song Machadaynu) were runners up, and the grand prize, a recording contract, went to theoretical physicist Toni Baxter, for her song Sexual Interface.

If you want to get Antony Carmichael's earworm, "The Rapping Song," stuck in your head, too, check it out here (the song starts at 1:18). And if you want to hear something truly excellent, here's a wild mashup of The Rapping Song and Eminem's "My Name Is." They actually go together perfectly, believe it or not! Enjoy!

Previously:

• 'Look Around You' comes to US cable this week

• Look Around You turns 10

• Looking back at Look Around You with Popper and Serafinowicz

• Sci-tech educational parody show 'Look Around You' now on DVD in the USA

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