"Unknown P, five foot three, the drill MC with immaculate grammar."
"Riding round in a Rover"
Unknown P, "real" name Percy Picklesworth, the UK's first (and presently only) posh drill rapper, is a parody rapper persona created by British comedian Munyaradzi "Munya" Oliver Chawawa— Unknown P, on Fire In The Booth
(born 29 December 1992) as part of his YouTube series of short comedy sketches featuring larger-than-life satirical characters. And that's where Percy's story might have ended, were it not for Munya's swiftly increasing popularity, especially after a viral appearance on DJ Charlie Sloth's rap freestyle show Fire in the Booth, and the fact that he genuinely can rap. This culminated in Unknown P getting signed to Atlantic Records.Since the Atlantic deal, he has released two singles, but the majority of 'Percy's' musical endeavours have been posh 'remixes' of various popular rap tunes, although during the COVID-19 Pandemic, he produced "Murking From Home", a series of collaborations with other (real) British rappers. Furthermore, Munya isn't exactly known for shying away from politics, and mixed in with all the silliness of P's videos are more than a few snippets of social commentary on elitism, cultural appropriation, and other issues: indeed, the music video for Pain Au Chocolat was a Take That! to many senior figures in the UK Government.
As of 2022, Unknown P has taken a back seat to Munya's work as a presenter and actor, with him appearing in DC League Of Superpets and The Sandman (2022) in cameo roles, and on the fourteenth series of Taskmaster.
Discography:
- Piers Morgannote (Single, 2020)
- Pain Au Chocolat (Single, 2021)
Riding 'round in a Rover, if I see tropes then it's over:
- Ambiguous Situation: Did Percy attend the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge? He mentions attending each in his songs.
- Ascended Meme: The whole character essentially is one. Following his viral Fire In The Booth, several popular memes of Unknown P were created, mostly featuring clips from the first freestyle with the caption "British rappers be like...", which helped the character to become better-known.
- Boastful Rap: Most of his songs. Alongside the standard bragging about his considerable wealth, the Cool Cars that he owns, and how he could easily steal your girl, he clearly considers himself better than everyone else because he's posh and went to Oxford University.
- Casanova Wannabe: Brags all the time in his lyrics about his many, many "admirers" and how he could easily steal anyone's girlfriend if he was so inclined... But as the "Unknown P x Likkleman's Valentine's Date" skit shows, he is hopeless at talking to women.
- Catchphrase: "Bugger Off Opposition!" was always said at least once during his early videos.
- Recently, "Wagwarn Marndem?" note has become another.
- Call-Back: If you listen carefully, after Percy mentions Charlie Sloth in his Daily Duppy lyrics you can hear him ad-lib "Seal!", referencing his very thinly veiled comments on the DJ's weight during his stint on Fire In The Booth.
- Camp Straight: Flamboyant, fashion-obsessed Percy certainly seems to fit the bill.
- Cringe Comedy: What you'd expect from a guy rapping about corgis, sea bass and the late Prince Philip.
- Damned By a Fool's Praise:
- Let's just say that Unknown P's endorsement of the Conservative party isn't intended to be taken as one from Munya.
- It's also how Piers Morgan manages to be both The Diss Track and not- Unknown P unironically considers Piers a role model, but Munya doesn't, and he's the one writing the lyrics.
- Drink-Based Characterisation: Is very partial to some Shloer- a posh, non-alcoholic, sweet, sparkling grape juice often given to kids in place of wine.
- Evil Poacher: Kind of. He can be a Jerkass but isn't exactly evil, however he has repeatedly mentioned that he enjoys fox-hunting, which is illegal in the UK and portrayed in an unsympathetic light.
- Fanservice:
- Percy wears an open shirt and shorts alongside various swimsuit-clad women in the Pain Au Chocolat music video. Somewhat of a Justified Trope given that the whole thing is a Parody of Love Island, a reality TV show (in)famous for featuring its contestants half-naked more often than not.
- And to a lesser extent, the lady in the semi-backless dress in the music video for Piers Morgan.
- Foodfight!: One breaks out between the guests at a swanky breakfast table during the Piers Morgan music video, however, in keeping with the character's humor, it is portrayed more like a Mob War battle.
- Fun with Subtitles: One of Munya's trademarks, which unsurprisingly appears in most Unknown P videos.
- Gangsta Rap: Parodied. Percy wants to produce this, but he's so posh that the closest he will ever get to a 'gangsta' would be if one mugged him. However, this is also intended to make a point over how the crimes of wealthy people like Percy are more likely to go unpunished.Unknown P: "Please stop bothering me // Did I dodge that tax? // Obviously!"
- Gosh Darn It to Heck!: No prizes for working out what 'Jiggar' is supposed to mean.
- G-Rated Drug: In keeping with the character's laughable attempts at being a 'tough guy', Percy 'pops' Smarties, snorts ground-up biscuits, and, in Piers Morgan, raps about 'bagging up' rosemary and thyme in a manner befitting a different type of herb.
- Hurricane of Puns: Given that it is rap, comedic and Britishnote , all of his music is practically guaranteed to be this.
- Hypocritical Humor: His third freestyle segment during Fire in the Booth is devoted to insulting Roll Safe and Big Shaq, because Percy can't stand comedy rappers.
- I Am Very British: Considering that he uses slang and raps without breaking the RP accent, this is very much Played for Laughs. Especially apparent on his Fire In The Booth, where Charlie Sloth takes a minute to realise that "gorsed" means "gassed" and that "marshup" means "mashup".
- I Minored in Tropology: Meta example. Munya has a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from The University of Sheffield. People who knew him as a college student in Sheffield in early 2010's wouldn't expect to see him as a famous comedian years later, while people who knew him from his posh drill rap videos wouldn't know about his degree unless they looked it up.
- Intercourse with You: While it's (unsurprisingly) somewhat flowery, Pain Au Chocolat certainly counts.Unknown P: "Man's got a crumpet you'll like the taste of"
- Kayfabe Music: Percy is a persona of his creator Munya Chawawa.
- Likes Older Women: Implied, given that among the ladies he has mentioned in his lyrics are Mary Berry, Judi Dench, Theresa May, Margaret Thatcher, and former UK Home Secretary Priti Patel.
- Insistent Terminology: Frequently refers to himself as "Middle-class". He's not fooling anyone.
- Piss-Take Rap: The 'genre' of all his music, given that the character's entire shtick is being a rapper BUT POSH! However it's somewhat subverted given that many people find the songs catchy and above-average compared to actual drill rap.
- Recycled Lyrics: Many of the bars in his Fire In The Booth were previously used in his early videos, Justified as they primarily appear in the second segment, which he stated was a mashup (well, "marshup") of his previous 'hits'.
- Reference Overdosed: Most of Unknown P's songs have some form of Shout-Out on practically every other line, but you probably won't notice and/or understand some of them unless you're familiar with British culture/rap/politics/memes, and even then a lot of the references are rather niche.
- Running Gag: Meta example: the comments for all the Unknown P YouTube videos are full of varations on the same joke: "He doesn't/isn't (trait or behaviour stereotypically associated with 'gangsta' rappers), he/he's (exactly the same thing but in Purple Prose).""Man's not a drug dealer, he's a street pharmacist."
- Sheltered Aristocrat: Percy grew up on the mean streets... Of Surrey, a affluent countryside area in the South East of England, and is from a presumably aristocratic background. While he might talk tough, it's clear he wouldn't last a day in an actually dangerous neighborhood.
- Signature Headgear: Never seen without a natty flat cap, especially one specific hybrid flat cap/baseball hat. He has mentioned he has to put the hat on to get into character.
- Song Parody: The majority of the character's appearances are these, including his namesake Unknown T's Homerton B ("Norfolk B"), Poundz's Opp Thot ("Opp Trot"), as well as Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion's WAP (which in Percy's case becomes "Wet-Arse Pony").
- Sophisticated as Hell: He raps about doing something posh in one bar, then beating up and killing his enemies (or "Opps" as he calls them) in the next. Perhaps best illustrated by this snippet from his Fire In The Booth:"And I never have porridge at Nan's, because it's oh so lumpy, and if opps want to throw some hands, then I just draw for the pumpy!"
- Spoiled Brat: His Daddy, a banker and allegedly the second-richest man in England, quite simply pays for everything Percy might possibly want.
- Stealth Parody: In a somewhat Spinal Tap-ish manner, somehow a fair few people (particularly Americans filming reaction videos) didn't realise that Unknown P's act was comedy and thought he was an actual wannabe rapper. This probably helped with the character's
Defictionalization. - Sucks at Dancing: In his video "Opp Trot" (a parody of "Opp Thot" by Poundz) he busts some excruciatingly cringeworthy moves while claming (via the lyrics) that they are, in fact, rather sexy.
- Upper-Class Equestrian: Frequenly brings up his interest in horses, and apparently owns ponies named Edgar and Tony.
- Upper-Class Twit: Considers himself as hard as nails despite growing up rich in the countryside, and having "Daddy's" money pay for everything, asides from having one hell of a superiority complex.
- Wealthy Yacht Owner: Boasts about being one of these, but spells it yatch.
- You Are Fat: Repeatedly mocks the weight of DJ Charlie Sloth, host of Fire In The Booth while appearing on the show, calling him "The Dalai Super-Llama", saying he's going to take him "To the chocolate factory" with his bars, and most unsubtly, claiming he looks like a seal.
