Dinner Theater: Sani Showbizz’s “Big Piece of Chicken”

Words by Jesse Serwer—

Reggae lends itself to parody perhaps more than any other music, but there’s one man elevating the spoofing of it to new heights: Sani Showbizz. An ’80s-style skat chatter in the Eek-A-Mouse mold, Sani has previously given us the legend-making “I Know” (No. 4 on our Toppa Top 10 Fake Reggae Songs list) and starred in a hilarious sequence of webisodes with “Jamaican Damian Hirst” L.A. Lewis.

For his latest release, “Big Piece of Chicken,” Sani taps into Jamaica’s obsession with KFC. Over the riddim from Snoop Lion’s Major Lazer-produced “La La La,” (which is really Ken Boothe’s “Artibella”),  he scolds ungrateful guests who take advantage of his kindness by going after the biggest pieces from his “Kentucky” bucket. (“If you ask me for something/And I give you chicken wing/No need to get upset because a breast you didn’t get”) The video, directed by Yosef Imagination, sees Sani, toting a custom bucket with his face in place of the Colonel’s, creatively evading chicken-craving zombie ingrates from Half Way Tree to an actual tree. But, behind the comedy, is  there a serious message here? Work for what you want so you seed and grow your own plant/Don’t be a freakin’ leech. Mmmmm, food for thought.