Here Are the Greatest MC Skat Kat Music Videos of All Time
Sep 1st, 2018
By MATTHEW DESSEM, Slate
The 1990s was a decade of cultural transformation for the United States, as brilliant artists like Nirvana, Tim Allen, and Mahir Çağrı broadened and deepened our very notion of what “art” could be. No figure was more central to that cultural sea change than rapper, dancer, and animated anthropomorphic feline MC Skat Kat, who, in a series of legendary music videos, exploded the worlds of music, cinema, and low-rent animation. Here are his greatest, and only, music videos, ranked from worst to best.
“Yakety Yak” (1991)
By far MC Skat Kat’s most ambitious collaboration, “Yakety Yak” saw the feline philosopher join forces with Tone Lōc, Lita Ford, Stevie Wonder, Barry White, and, of course, longtime champion of left-wing causes Charlie Daniels. It’s a testament to MC Skat Kat’s legendary generosity that he mostly stays back from the spotlight here, allowing the other voices to shine, even elder statesman—and MC Skat Kat rival—Bugs Bunny. But “ambitious” doesn’t mean “successful,” and although the “Yakety Yak” video speaks to MC Skat Kat’s character, it’s relatively low on actual MC Skat Kat content. Last place.
“Opposites Attract” (1989)
Historians now agree that the 1990s officially began in November of 1989, when MC Skat Kat released the single for “Opposites Attract,” laying down an artistic marker that would define the decade to come. Ostensibly a duet with American dancer, singer, and choreographer Paula Abdul, this is another example of MC Skat Kat tripping over his own generosity, as Abdul gets considerably more screen time. Nevertheless, there’s no denying the power of MC Skat Kat’s verse, in which he laments, “I’m like a minus, she’s like a plus.” No voice for the dispossessed ever Skat Katted harder.
“Skat Strut” (1991)
A searing exploration of MC Skat Kat’s troubled relationship with Paula Abdul, this video casts his protégé-turned-rival in the Chuck Jones role from “Duck Amuck.” As the lead (and only) single from MC Skat Kat’s landmark breakup album The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and the Stray Mob, it towers above later, paler imitations like Beck’s Sea Change and Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks. MC Skat Kat set the tone with the bleak artist’s statement accompanying the album. He was so disassociated by grief, he used the third person:
Skat Kat is a street philosopher with an alley Kat point of view. He’s a rapper droppin’ crazy science, and a dancer whose moves set the pace all over the place. He’s got an eye for the ladies, definitely on the Kat mac, but he never gets played or pinned down. Skat Kat remains on the smooth tip with an old school rap influence which adds the street with his new school hip hop. He’s livin’ all nine lives at once. Let the party begin!!!!!
Despite the heavy subject matter, there’s a reason “Skat Strut” has remained such a cultural touchstone, and it’s not Fatz’s beat boxing. It’s the heartbreaking scene in which MC Skat Kat cruises around in a limousine watching the video for “Opposites Attract” on the built-in television. As MC Skat Kat knew all too well, no amount of fame and fortune can insulate you from heartbreak; and as the cameo from a post-lip-sync-scandal Milli Vannili shows, even fame itself can be fleeting. But there is one shortcut to immortality: Rolling up all your strength and love and sorrow and pain into one song, one song that lets God know what you felt about your time on earth. For MC Skat Kat, that song was undoubtedly “Skat Strut.” As the years pass, and the musical paradise that was the early 1990s seems more and more lost, the shadow MC Skat Kat cast over the music world—indeed, over all human endeavor—only grows longer.
Filed under: Music