The Utah House of Representatives made a rap video about how a bill becomes law, and somehow it’s worse than you would expect pic.twitter.com/Dq3U7RwGBu
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) March 1, 2018
First of all, before anyone points out the incredibly obvious thing that the entire Utah House Of Representatives somehow missed: Yes, there was already a rather catchy and successful song about how bills become laws. It came out on Schoolhouse Rock over 40 years ago, it was called “I’m Just A Bill,” and it was objectively as entertaining as it was educational. This… is decidedly neither (I mean, other than in an extremely schadenfreude kind of way).
So, the video, filmed in the House of Representatives Chamber and its accompanying offices, finds various Utah reps doing their best to rap over the classic beat of the theme song from The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. The rhymes are forced, kind of off-beat, and yes, delivered by extremely corny old white people (not there’s anything wrong with white rappers), but that’s probably not even the most egregious part.
https://twitter.com/UtahReps/status/968894820658724864
Unfortunately, on top of all of the above faux pas, there’s a “follow the bouncing ball”-style lyrics scroll at the bottom — and it’s in comic sans, which is just completely unacceptable. Comic sans is the official font of people who want everyone to know they’re having fun, but aren’t really having any fun at all and are probably being forced to write the invitation to the boring office party no one wants to attend.
Look, hip-hop is officially the most popular genre of music in the US and learning about the political process is deathly important in our fraught, increasingly partisan climate. Rap can be educational, as well. This is not the way to go about educating people, and raps are better left to the professionals. It’s fun to point and laugh, but this is most certainly not entering any school’s curriculum or pop radio rotation, and under no circumstances is it ever replacing “I’m Just A Bill.”
