[5] "Rappin' Duke"'s lyrics parody the hip hop bragging style popular at the time, wherein the rapper boasts of seniority, superior rhymes and flow in performance.
The song uses the hip hop vernacular to make numerous pop cultural references from contemporary hip hop musicians such as Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC, to parodying the opening of Chaka Khan's 1984 hit "I Feel for You", replacing references to Khan with Aretha Franklin.
[4] The lyrics also reference The Beverly Hillbillies TV theme song "The Ballad of Jed Clampett", while also alluding to the presidency of Ronald Reagan.
[4] The video opens with an African-American cowboy alternately walking and back-sliding onscreen with a boombox propped on his shoulder, obscuring his face.
Halfway through the song, the cowboy — his facial features always hidden — reappears poolside, together with a trio of swimsuit-clad women.