"Man's Not Hot" is a

comedy hip hop Comedy hip-hop or comedy rap is a subgenre of Hip-hop, hip-hop music designed to be amusing or comedic, compared to artists who incorporate humor into their more serious, purist hip-hop styles. Satirical hip-hop is a variant of comedy hip-hop d ...

novelty song A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and w ...

by British comedian Michael Dapaah, in character as the fictional

UK drill UK drill is a subgenre of drill music and road rap that originated in the South London district of Brixton from 2012 onwards. While being sonically distinct from Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous ...

rapper Big Shaq. It samples an instrumental by GottiOnEm and Mazza, which was first used on 86's "Lurk" and later on "Let's Lurk" by 67 featuring Giggs. The song saw commercial success, peaking at number three on the UK Singles Chart. The song has been certified platinum in the United Kingdom by the BPI, indicating 600,000 combined sales and streams. The music video has gained over 429 million views on YouTube as of June 2024.

Background and release

On 10 May 2017, Michael Dapaah uploaded a sketch to his

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featuring his character Roadman Shaq " freestyling" to the instrumental of "Lurk" by UK drill group 86 (also used on the 2016 song "Let's Lurk" by UK drill group 67 and rapper Giggs). On 19 July, an extended version of the freestyle appeared in episode six of the first series of his mockumentary ''SWIL'', when he performed it in front of 67 as Roadman Shaq. On 29 August, Dapaah went on

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

as both his characters MC Quakez and Roadman Shaq for the

Charlie Sloth Charlie Ian Paul Rouillon (born 20 August 1981), known professionally as Charlie Sloth, is a British DJ, hype man, producer and TV presenter. Early life YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and resulting in the creation of many

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s. In response to the unprecedented popularity of the segment, Dapaah changed his character's name to "Big Shaq" and converted the freestyle into a commercial single called "Man's Not Hot", released on

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

on 22 September. The song was covered by American hip hop band

The Roots The Roots are an American Hip-hop, hip hop band formed in 1987 by singer Black Thought, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Questlove, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''T ...

on ''

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'', when retired American basketball player

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

appeared as a guest on 10 October 2017. On 16 October, O'Neal released a

diss track A diss track, diss record or diss song (an abbreviation of ''disrespect'' or ''disparage'') is a song whose primary purpose is to verbally attack someone else, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feu ...

criticising Dapaah for calling himself "Big Shaq". On 15 December 2017, ''Man's Not Hot (The Remixes)'', an album comprising remixes of the song by various artists, was released, alongside a "Christmas edition" of the song. An "MC Mix" of the song, featuring British rappers

Lethal Bizzle Maxwell Owusu Ansah (born 14 September 1984), known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is a British rapper from Walthamstow, London, of Ghanaian origin. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew, with their grime single "Oi!" c ...

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Krept & Konan Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990, Gipsy Hill) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989, Thornton Heath), the son of Delroy Wilson ...

and Jme, was released on 29 December. In June 2018, the song trended in

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Critical reception

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'' listed "Man's Not Hot" at number 93 on their list of the 100 best songs of 2017, opining that it "joins in a tradition of songs (e.g. the Darkness' "

I Believe in a Thing Called Love "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is a song by English rock band the Darkness, released as the third single from their debut studio album, '' Permission to Land''. When released as a single in September 2003, it peaked at number two on the ...

") that so expertly lampoon their chosen genre they become part of its firmament."

Remix

American rapper Futuristic released his remix of the song on 13 January 2018.

Music video

Dapaah released the music video for "Man's Not Hot" on 26 October 2017. It begins with a phone call from someone called Asznee, who is later revealed to be entertainer Chunkz. It then features Dapaah rapping the song in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, wearing his trademark jacket. The video features cameos from American rappers

Waka Flocka Flame Juaquin James Malphurs (born May 31, 1986), known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. He first became known for his 2009 single "O Let's Do It", which entered the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and led him to ...

Lil Yachty Miles Parks McCollum (born August 23, 1997), known professionally as Lil Yachty, is an American rapper. He first gained recognition in August 2015 for his viral hit "One Night (Lil Yachty song), One Night", the lead single from his debut extend ...

Jim Jones James Warren Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was an American cult leader, preacher and mass murderer who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955 and 1978. Jones and the members of his inner circle planned and orchestrat ...

, Dutch rap group Broederliefde and American producer

DJ Khaled Khaled Mohammed Khaled (; born November 26, 1975), known professionally as DJ Khaled, is an American DJ and record producer. Originally a Miami-based radio personality, Khaled has since become known for enlisting high-profile music industry ar ...

, who calls Dapaah's character a "legend".

Commercial use

In 2022,

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used the song for a holiday commercial.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{authority control 2017 songs 2017 singles Internet memes introduced in 2017 Island Records singles Viral videos British hip-hop songs British novelty songs Comedy hip-hop songs UK drill songs 2017 YouTube videos Music videos shot in Toronto 2017 in Internet culture