Jim Burke, known professionally as Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer,. is a British

parodist A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

who performs "

chap hop Chap hop is music originating from England that mixes the hip hop genre with elements from the Chappist or steampunk subcultures and stereotypical English obsessions such as cricket, tea, and the weather.Frances RobinsonIn 'Chap-Hop,' Gentlemen ...

" — hip hop delivered in a

Received Pronunciation Received Pronunciation (RP) is the Accent (sociolinguistics), accent traditionally regarded as the Standard language, standard and most Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestigious form of spoken British English. For over a century, there has been ...

accent. Mr.B raps, or "rhymes", about good manners, dressing with style and dignity, sophisticated society,

pipe smoking Pipe smoking is the practice of tasting (or, less commonly, inhaling) the smoke produced by burning a substance, most commonly tobacco, in a pipe. It is the oldest traditional form of smoking. Regular pipe smoking has been cited to carry serious ...

and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

while playing the

banjolele The banjo ukulele, also known as the banjolele or banjo uke, is a four-stringed musical instrument with a small banjo-type body and a fretted ukulele neck. The earliest known banjoleles were built by John A. Bolander and by Alvin D. Keech, both ...

. The character is described as having grown up in

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to tw ...

and attending

Sutton Grammar School for Boys Sutton Grammar School (formerly Sutton Grammar School for Boys) is a selective state grammar school for boys aged 11-18 with a Mixed-sex education, coeducational sixth form. Located in South London, the school's main site is in Sutton, London, ...

Background

Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer is an alter ego of Jim Burke, a rapper with the

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

group

Collapsed Lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve is ...

whose most famous song was 'Eat My Goal'.. Burke started performing as Mr.B in late 2007, playing at

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

clubs, and venues across the UK including the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

and club NME in Paris, and performed as part of the 2010

Edinburgh Fringe Festival The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

.. He has performed on radio including the

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with the BBC radio station BBC Radio 6 Music. Early life He attended The Ramsey Academy ...

show and "Introducing with

Tom Robinson Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...

" for the BBC. He has also been named as a 'Band of the Month' on the Kooba Radio podcast.. His debut album "Flattery Not Included" was released in 2008 for the Grot Music label, which includes the track "Chap-Hop History" which is a

reworking of some well-known hip hop classics. Its accompanying video has received over 1.5 million views on YouTube. Another track from the album, "Timothy", is about the unique vocal style of BBC Radio's

Tim Westwood Timothy Westwood (born 3 October 1957) is a British DJ and presenter. He is often referred to by other DJs and artists appearing on his shows simply as Westwood. He was described by ''The Guardian'' in 2022 as "a veteran of the hip-hop scene ...

. Perhaps his best-known track, "Straight Out of Surrey", is a parody of

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip hop group whose members were among the earliest and most significant popularizers and controversial figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, and the group is widely considered ...

's "Straight Outta Compton" and purports to show "the extent of iscricket knowledge." Mr.B has appeared as a guest on the Zero Day album by

MC Frontalot Damian Hess (born December 3, 1973), better known by his stage name MC Frontalot, is an American rapper and web designer. Hess began releasing music as MC Frontalot in 1999. His first successes came through Song Fight!, an online songwriting and ...

, playing the

and providing additional vocals on the track "Better at Rapping".MC Frontalot, Zero Day, Album Lyrics and Credits
Retrieved 6 July 2010 He and fellow "chap-hop" artist

Professor Elemental Paul Alborough (born 1 June 1975), professionally known as Professor Elemental, is a steampunk and chap hop musical artist. Career Professor Elemental began his career as Emcee Elemental. The character of Professor Elemental arose from a plann ...

were jokingly engaged in a feud for some time.Frances Robinson
In 'Chap-Hop,' Gentlemen Rappers Bust Rhymes About Tea, Cricket
''The Wall Street Journal'', 4 April 2011. Retrieved 5 April 2011. However, Professor Elemental had a short appearance in Mr.B's music video for the song "Just Like a Chap", of which Professor Elemental said "Much as I hate to admit it, I bloody love that video and am jolly glad r. Blet me gate crash.". The "feud" was settled on Professor Elemental's 2012 album ''Father Of Invention'' on the track "The Duel," on which Mr. B appeared, and they have made occasional appearances together since. As well as his work as The Gentleman Rhymer, Burke has also released works of "chapstep" under the name Mr.B The Gentleman Selector, and self-described "terribly English electronica" as The Major.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Flattery Not Included ''Flattery Not Included'' is the debut album of Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer, the chap hop musician and satirist. It introduces Mr. B's notion of chap hop, a form of hip hop performed in Received Pronunciation with banjolele accompaniment and cha ...

'' (2008) * ''I Say!'' (2010) * ''The Tweed Album'' (2012) * ''Can't Stop, Shan't Stop'' (2013) * ''Mr.B's Christmas Album'' (2015) * ''There's a Rumpus Going On'' (2016) * ''Dandinista'' (2019) * ''A Thoroughly Modern Existential Crisis'' (2020) * ''Chop Happy: Mashups And Bootlegs Volume One'' (2021)

Compilations

* ''O.G. Original Gentleman'' (2011) ''(Digital release / Released on CD in 2013)'' * ''Acid Ragtime: Chapstep Volume One'' (2014) * ''Chapstep, Vol. 2: Olde Jack Swing'' (2017)

Singles & EPs

* ''Oh, Santa!'' (2012) * ''The Chap Trilogy (EP)'' (2016) * ''Paper Plates (EP)'' (2018) * ''I'm Getting The Blame For Christmas (EP)'' (2020)

References

External links

Mr.B The Gentleman Rhymer's homepage
{{Authority control Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) Living people People educated at Sutton Grammar School English male singer-songwriters Musical groups established in 2007 Musicians from Brighton and Hove