"I'm on my feet like Tough Actin'® Tinactin®."

April 17, 2014 9:27 PM

How many rappers have name-checked Tough Actin' Tinactin brand anti-fungal skin products? More than you would think.
posted by not_on_display (25 comments total)

Considering the number I'd think would be none: true.
Hip-hop (or rap) isn't my thing, but I am ever so pleased to see someone investigating this.

It just seems like a fun thing to do.
posted by Mezentian at 9:52 PM on April 17, 2014

"Tough acting" isn't a compliment.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 10:28 PM on April 17, 2014 [3 favorites]

This seems like a good time to mention one of my favorite videos ever: Rappers Love Jewish Lawyers
posted by Itaxpica at 10:53 PM on April 17, 2014 [11 favorites]

You give your product, whatever product, a tough-sounding rhyming trademark phrase, and I'd assume you'll get name-checked by half the rappers today. More so if you can come up with a brand name that rhymes with 'motherf***er' or 'n***er'.
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:14 AM on April 18, 2014 [1 favorite]

Cock ... Glock : $500
Henessey ... Enemy : $700
Actin ... Tinactin : $2000
Truvada ... lambada : $15000
Fat ... Orlistat : $25000
Sixteen ... Vincristine : $30000
Lab ... Palivuzumab : $90000
posted by benzenedream at 12:35 AM on April 18, 2014 [5 favorites]

This bodes well for my new blinged-up hairpiece store: Bigga Wiggas
And my chain of grilled fast food stores: Pukka Ducka. It's off the chain.

(Generally, I thought various beverages, cars and weapons and clothing brands were favoured by our wandering minstrels of the street, but anti-fungal treatments? Nope. Never considered it).
posted by Mezentian at 12:36 AM on April 18, 2014

Considering that P Funk was asking is 7 up all the way back in 1976, the idea that rap makes use of all sorts advertising catch phrases, even ones as naff as this, shouldn't come as a surprise.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:58 AM on April 18, 2014

I guess antifungal creams would be a natural fit with sneaker culture. If your lifestyle involves wearing a pair of nonbreathable plastic dunks at all times, you'd want to invest in a way to keep your feet from getting too gross.
posted by acb at 1:54 AM on April 18, 2014 [3 favorites]

Well it's surprising to me!
posted by Mezentian at 2:00 AM on April 18, 2014 [2 favorites]

Went to the Rite Aid
to pick up some Calamine
Cause out in the woods
no mosquito's a pal of mine.

And while I was shopping,
a whole different itch
Told the whole world I
should have used Preparation H

Now I'm Campho-Pheniqueing
I'm Vagisil seeking
I'm Zonaloning, Unisoming
Proctofoaming, Tronolaning
I'm the king and the queen
Of everything Unguentine
Cause the devil's Old Scratch,
But the bitch is the itch.
posted by pracowity at 2:05 AM on April 18, 2014 [24 favorites]

I'm not so sure that I buy the idea that rappers lifted that pun from older rappers. If MetaFilter has taught me anything about the human mind, it's that many think of puns constantly. We've witnessed races to be the first to make puns that are a lot less obvious than "tough acting like Tinactin." I think most of these examples are probably by people who thought of it themselves. Same goes for the Keith Sweat pun that was covered in a previous entry. However, it's clear that the people who don't actually understand how the pun works are stealing it and deserve condemnation, but I think that being reduced to stealing puns you don't understand is a harsh enough fate and one I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies.
posted by Kattullus at 2:32 AM on April 18, 2014 [2 favorites]

But every song's like foot cream, powder, spray to help the scratchin'
Lamisil, Lotrimin, tough-actin' Tinactin
We don't care, we don't need antifungal creams

But everybody's like cornstarch, moleskin, odor-eating insoles
Tea tree, bleached socks, surgery for ingrowns
We don't care, we practice good foot hygiene
posted by Metroid Baby at 4:23 AM on April 18, 2014 [13 favorites]

"Tough acting" isn't a compliment.

I knew before I even checked your profile that were not American.
posted by srboisvert at 5:24 AM on April 18, 2014 [4 favorites]

Boom!
posted by box at 5:41 AM on April 18, 2014

If MetaFilter has taught me anything about the human mind, it's that many think of puns constantly.

Well, but if MetaFilter has taught me anything about hip-hop (also: listening to hip-hop for more than like a minute), it's that references to older songs are a huge part of the idiom. I think TFA takes this as a given.
posted by clavicle at 6:03 AM on April 18, 2014

TIL that someone rhymed "Tinactin" with "Kraken", which may very well be the wind beneath my wings today.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:54 AM on April 18, 2014 [3 favorites]

Does nobody have sympathy for the epidemic of jock itch that threatens to wipe out a generation of our nation's rappers?
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 6:59 AM on April 18, 2014 [2 favorites]

I'm not surprised at all. But this is still neat to read.
posted by cashman at 8:33 AM on April 18, 2014

"Tough acting" isn't a compliment.

Um... there's a WWII Half Track ouside filled with the likes of Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, John Cassavetes, Tele Savalas, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, Jim Brown, and a bunch more, and.. oh, shit... it looks like Danny Trejo is driving. They've already well into their second case of whiskey, and would like to have a word with you.
posted by chambers at 9:48 AM on April 18, 2014 [3 favorites]

Rappers Love Jewish Lawyers

S'all good, man
posted by iotic at 10:14 AM on April 18, 2014 [6 favorites]

Brilliant, iotic.
posted by knownassociate at 11:29 AM on April 18, 2014

Thanks, though I just happened to know that's the origin of the name
posted by iotic at 12:03 PM on April 18, 2014

It could easily be an insult though...I thought you could interpret "tough acting" two ways...one, like "straight acting", just presenting as tough, and the other as genuinely tough...the referenced lyrics seem to be split both ways, too.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 2:29 PM on April 18, 2014

Damn irony gets you every time... I defend the honor of people who may or may not have stolen jokes, and later that same day some motherfucker blatantly steals a joke I made... and gets it slightly wrong!

I reconsider my stance, burning's not severe enough for jokestealers.
posted by Kattullus at 5:04 PM on April 18, 2014

Hip-hop's not my favorite genre; I prefer that shweet Scholl music.
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:07 PM on May 4, 2014