Some of us here at Dangerous Minds are big fans of “America’s greatest living art garbage movement” painter, Derek Erdman. In the past we’ve profiled his unique “outsider” paintings, as well as his hilariously bizarre soundboard phone pranks, and his punk dollhouse.
Erdman is a multi-talented individual, and one of his side-gigs that we’ve never discussed much here is his long-running “Rap Master Maurice” character which is the centerpiece of a lucrative “telephone rapping” business. Erdman claims the “Rap Master Maurice” character has earned him an average of $15,000 a year for the past nine years. Clients pay Rap Master Maurice the modest sum of $17 for him to call a target and deliver a rap.
Here we have a typical example of Rap Master Maurice’s lyrical skills:
According to Erdman:
The concept of the business is simple. The customer comes to you with a reason for a rap, either positive or negative. Address a grievance, wish a happy birthday, celebrate an anniversary; there are so many situations that call for a telephone rap. You then deliver the rap over the phone in the Rap Master Maurice character style, record the rap, and email the recording to the customer… The entire process is very simple from start to finish and never fails to make the customer happy.
It’s a proven money-maker, but Erdman has decided it is time to pass the character and business along—he has recently put the RMM concept up for sale on Ebay for the low, low price of one million US dollars.
The auction details the transition of ownership to the buyer:
The winner of this auction will take full possession of all intellectual property of the Rap Master Maurice character, thousands of past telephone rap audio recordings, all clothing and related costumes, rapmastermaurice.com + all data & traffic, the original landline telephone, three rhyming dictionaries, and a small handheld digital audio recorder. Also included is a five hour tutorial seminar that includes lunch.
Rap Master Maurice has been featured on ABC’s 20/20, MSNBC, The History Channel, The BBC Radio One, CBS This Morning, MTV2, E!, Fox News, SiriusXM, and more. Print media features have included the New Yorker, the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Utne Reader, Aesthetica, Art Monthly, the Atlantic, Beautiful/Decay, Juxtapoz, and many more.
The ownership transition will be as seamless as possible. You’ll be making telephone raps as a full time career in no time.
Anyone outraged over the asking price should be aware that Erdman is planning to donate 10% of the proceeds Amnesty International.
Here’s Rap Master Maurice appearing live on the fabulous Chic-A-Go-Go program delivering a political message about the 2008 election:
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Derek Erdman: America’s greatest living ‘Art Garbage Movement’ painter
DEVO meets the Jerky Boys: The prank call robo-porn genius of ‘Kathy McGinty’