Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)
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"Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" is the debut single by English pop duo
Wham! Wham! were an English pop duo formed in Bushey in 1981 consisting of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. They were one of the most successful pop acts during the 1980s, selling more than 30 million certified records worldwide from 1982 to ...
on Innervision Records, released on 11 June 1982. It was written by Wham! members
George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...
and
Andrew Ridgeley Andrew John Ridgeley (born 26 January 1963) is an English musician, best known for his work in the 1980s in the musical duo Wham! consisting of Ridgeley and George Michael. Associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US, th ...
.


History

"Wham Rap!" was the first song written by Michael and Ridgeley following the breakup of their previous band, the Executive, but before Wham! had been fully established. The genesis of the song began in 1981 and was a result of Ridgeley making up his own words ("Wham! ''Bam!'' I am the man!") while dancing to "
Rapper's Delight "Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 rap song that serves as the debut single of American hip-hop trio the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's " King Tim III (Personality Jock)", "Rapper ...
" with Michael and Shirley in Bogart's nightclub in South Harrow. As they continued to work on the song an ultimatum to Michael from his father inspired the line "Get yourself a job or get out of this house". A demo of "Wham Rap!" was recorded by local music producer Paul Mex on 18 January 1982 along with "
Careless Whisper "Careless Whisper" is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter George Michael. Released as the second single from Wham!'s second studio album ''Make It Big'' (1984), it was written by Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, with Michael producing the ...
" on Mex's TEAC 4-track
Portastudio Portastudio refers to a series of Multitrack recording, multitrack recorders produced by TASCAM beginning in 1979 with the introduction of the TEAC Corporation, TEAC 144, the first four-track compact cassette-based recorder. A TASCAM trademark, "p ...
, with the resulting 2-song demo tape gaining Wham! their record contract with Innervision Records some weeks later. Innervision quickly arranged for a proper demo of the song to be recorded at Halligan Band Centre in Holloway (on 24 March 1982) using session musicians on bass and drums, which was then used by Michael and Ridgeley as a backing track for promotional performances at various nightclubs in preparation for their debut release.


Synopsis

Although rap was still an underground and almost exclusively American phenomenon in the early 1980s, Michael rapped—as the title implies—a number of verses about the joys of living every day to the fullest, reveling in unemployment and celebrating government assistance from the
Department of Health and Social Security The Department of Health and Social Security (commonly known as the DHSS) was a Ministry (government department), ministry of the Her Majesty's Government, British government in existence for twenty years from 1968 until 1988, and was headed b ...
(the initials "DHSS" are repeatedly chanted during the song). The explicitly political song flew in the face of the conventional British left-wing who were talking about the '
right to work The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or to engage in productive employment, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work, enshrined in the United Nations 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Ri ...
' at the time. The chorus asked the question "Do you enjoy what you do?", which brought about the bracketed section of the title.


Music video

The music video was filmed in London in February 1983 after the single was re-issued. The video shows Michael and Ridgeley as two unemployed youths who were spending their time teaching one another on how to live their life while roaming about the streets of London. They wear leather jackets, combining their moody image with a bright, effervescent choreography. The two are joined by Shirlie Holliman, Dee C. Lee, and their band in front of a white background with red letters reading 'WHAM!'. It is here that the group practises dance routines accompanied by background dancers.


Chart performance

The song, which had been tentatively released in June 1982 when Wham! were unknown, failed to make any impact and was later re-issued in January 1983 after the duo had achieved their breakthrough with "
Young Guns (Go for It) "Young Guns (Go for It)" (also listed as "Young Guns (Go for It!)" on some releases) is a song by English pop duo Wham! first released as a single in the UK by Innervision Records on 17 September 1982. Written and co-produced by George Michael, t ...
". The single subsequently reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart, the second release of four hits from Wham!'s debut album '' Fantastic''.


Versions

A remix of the song was made in 1986, combining some of the Unsocial mix with the album version. This version, entitled "Wham! Rap '86", was released on their American and Japanese album '' Music from the Edge of Heaven'', and as the B-side on the 7-inch single " The Edge of Heaven" in the UK, Australia and Europe. Uncharacteristically for Wham!, the Unsocial mix of the song contains multiple repetitions of the swear words " damn", "
bullshit ''Bullshit'' (also ''bullshite'' or ''bullcrap'') is a common English expletive which may be shortened to the euphemism ''bull'' or the initialism B.S. In British English, "bollocks" is a comparable expletive. It is mostly a slang term and a ...
", "
shit ''Shit'' is an English-language profanity. As a noun, it refers to fecal matter, and as a verb it means to defecate; in the plural ("the shits"), it means diarrhea. ''Shite'' is a common variant in British and Irish English. As a slang ...
" and "crap". All versions include "don't need this crap". These lines were included to illustrate the band's then-rebellious image, and future songs by Wham! would mostly refrain from using this type of language (although "Battlestations" does include an instance of "bullshit"). Both the Social mix and the ''Fantastic'' album version have different verses from the Unsocial mix; thus, there are three different sets of verse lyrics altogether. Before the release of the 2023 compilation album '' The Singles: Echoes from the Edge of Heaven'', only the album version has appeared on CD.


Track listing


1982 release

*Note: Due to an error in labelling, the "Unsocial mix" is listed as the single's A-side despite Michael specifically referring to it as the B-side in the song's lyrics: "Hey, everybody, now listen to me/Cut the radio bullshit, this is side B."


1983 reissue


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References

{{Authority control 1982 debut singles 1983 singles 1982 songs CBS Records singles Innervision Records singles Music videos shot in London Songs written by Andrew Ridgeley Songs written by George Michael Wham! songs