“Louis’ Rap Battle” by Louis Theroux
It has been noted that Louis Theroux, who is not a musician by profession, does possess a genuine affinity for rap. And this song (“Louis’ Rap Battle”), which is only a single verse, is sort of a parody of the genre. Or let’s say that the piece consists of two main elements.
First, Louis sticks to the traditional-rap music formula (being mentored by some prominent figures in the game, such as Master P) of boasting about wealth. But secondly, the truth of the matter is that he is a well-educated White dude from England, i.e. far from what is considered to be a standard rapper. So Theroux goes about making fun of himself a bit. For instance, he brags of “riding in (his) Fiat”, which isn’t the type of car that is espoused by rappers. And overall, this piece does read a lot like a freestyle, something that he never intended to make any noise.
But the reason we’re writing about it today is because in 2022, some two decades after the fact, this verse did manage to go viral on TikTok. More specifically, a particular line in which he talks about his money ‘not jiggling’ (as in loose change) but rather ‘folding’ (i.e. being more valuable paper currency) has been heavily utilized on said platform.
In actuality Louis Theroux is a British filmmaker. Apparently, he specializes in creating documentaries dealing with subcultures. When you couple that with the fact that he’s had a long-standing interest in hip-hop, then by the looks of things he has covered the rap community in his works numerous times.
Even though this song didn’t go viral until 2022, it dates back to the year 2000, when the vocalist performed it on an episode of his television program called Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends.
