The Unkut Guide To Beeper Rap

Beeper’s seemed pretty great – although I never had cause to own one – what with the whole not having to speak to people until you can be bothered finding a phone booth thing. While there are dozens of songs that name check these trusty telecommunications devices, only a handful were savvy enough to actually utilize the distinctive sounds of the pager itself. Feel free to let us know if any other examples have been overlooked…

Update: Twelve new entries thanks to Rap Twitter and the comments section.

Sir Mix-A-Lot – Beepers

Then he had to go and spoil everything with that damn ‘Square Dance Rap.’

Beeper reference: “Just another page, just another freak”

Kings of Pressure – You know How to Reach Us

Bless the funk that Chuck D decided to use his beeper for percussion. One of the hardest rap tracks in existence.

Beeper reference: “My phone bill was so much, I bought a red beeper!”

A Tribe Called Quest – Skypager

Mildly amusing b-side which may have netted the 5 Footer a free box of batteries as a result of the name-check.

Beeper reference: “Beeper’s goin off like Don Trump gets checks”

The Notorious B.I.G. – Warning

Say what you might about the guy, but Biggie flaunted the kind of vocabulary that would have impressed T La Rock back in the day.

Beeper reference: “Who the fuck is this? Pagin me at 5:46 in the mornin'”

Gang Starr – Code Of The Streets

The video features both a shot of a pager and the sound. Outstanding! [spotted by Mr. Drummond]

Beeper reference: No sir.

Diamond D – Red Light, Green Light

Diamond finds his “late night stint” rudely interrupted by a stunt’s pager constantly blowing up. [Spotted by LosGeez]

Beeper reference: “Then her beeper went off – I didn’t pay it no mind but it beeped five more times”

Heltah Skeltah – Operation Lockdown

E-Swift from Tha Alkaholiks throws a beeper sound into the beat at various points to keep us on our toes. [Spotted by erik k.]

Beeper reference: No, but the video is pretty bugged.

These next three additions are courtesy of Scribe from the comments:

Big Daddy Kane – Here Comes Kane, Scoob And Scrap

Beeper reference: “I get more beeps than a Roadrunner”

Another entry into the triumphant genre known as Rap Dancers Who Rap, word to Stezo.

Too $hort – It’s All Good

Remember when the term “it’s all good” was Oakland slang and not something that every jag-off who serves you coffee says every five seconds?

Beeper reference: “You beeped me 20 million times, made my beeper blow up”

Tha Alkaholiks – Can’t Tell Me Shit

I’m assuming J-Ro is getting paged by Billy Dee Williams to check if he wants to order another case of Colt 45.

Beeper reference: “Oh there goes my beeper, what the hell do Billy want?”

Father – I Beeped You

He may have dropped the “MC” from his name by 1993, but Father took Beeper Rap to the next level by sampling the actual Skypager voice recording and getting a chick to mime it in the video. [Spotted by hotbox]

Beeper reference: “Every time I’m at a show, my beeper goes off!”

Gravediggaz – Hidden Emotions

The into skit for this track includes both a beeper sound and the return phone call. Visionary stuff, indeed. [Spotted by Johnny Blaster]

Beeper reference: “Who the fuck is this, with this stupid 911 shit?”

Three 6 Mafia feat. La Chat – 2-Way Freak

Ahh, the good old 2-way. A device which could not only send and receive messages, but could be used to write raps on. Ayo, technology. [Spotted by Sleepy]

Beeper/2 way reference: “I’m bout to throw this Motorola out the window”

Naughty By Nature – Feel Me Flow

Kay Gee is presumably asking some chick to come and meet him when his beeper goes off at the start of this video, so he acts like it wasn’t his so that she doesn’t get jealous? Then everyone catches a charter bus up a mountain so that they can cool off from the heatwave in the snow, because apparently that’s easier than finding a swimming pool in Jersey. [Spotted by ceedub]

Beeper reference: “No it wasn’t my beeper. I don’t know, somebody else’s”

Caddillac Tah – POV City Anthem

Ja Rule’s weed carrier raps over a loop from a 2-way pager tone and talks about how “we can SkyTel tag until I get you in the back of the Jag.” [Spotted but not co-signed by Blitz]

Beeper reference: “Coke’ll open her crazy, now all day she two way me”

Hijack – No Hold Hostage [original mix]

Not 100% sure this is an actual beeper, but until proven otherwise I’m saying that Ice-T‘s chums from Bristol Brixton qualify.

Beeper reference: Nah, guv.

Honorable Mentions:

The Gap Band – Beep A Freak

While not technically hip-hop, it does feature some rhyming and is easily the greatest song ever made dedicated to electronic paging. [Spotted by Timothy Moriarty]

Beeper reference: “I went downtown and I got my freak a little beeper!”

Dishonorable Mentions:

Dr. Dre – The Watcher

The noise may actually be the alarm on old Casio digital watch from Dre’s World Class Wreckin’ Cru days.

A$AP Rocky – Pretty Flacko

Sadly this isn’t a beeper either, apparently it’s the sound effect of a bomb about to go off in the Counter-Strike video game.

The Count & Sinden feat. Kid Sister – Beeper

Beeper reference: “Don’t get it twisted when you paging me”

Hideous example of Hipster Rap garbage that makes me want to gring broken glass into my exposed ear drum.

The Cool Kids – Gold and a Pager

Doesn’t qualify as it lacks any beeper, digital watch or video game explosive sound effects.

Fam-Lay – Da Beeper Record

See above. So many wasted opportunities.