The Dozens - in Media

In Media

In his 2012 book The Dozens: A History of Rap's Mama music historian and musician Elijah Wald says the term was first defined in a 1921 pop song - "Don't Slip Me in the Dozens, Please", recorded by the black vaudeville comic Henry Troy, composed by Chris Smith, who accompanied Troy on the piano.

In 1929, the boogie-woogie pianist Speckled Red recorded a song entitled "The Dirty Dozen", which includes lyrics such as "I like yo' momma — sister, too/I did like your poppa, but your poppa would not do./I met your poppa on the corner the other day/I soon found out he was funny that way." (Kokomo Arnold, one of the most popular American blues musicians of the 1930s, also recorded much the same song under the title "The Twelves" in 1935.)

In 1959, Bo Diddley released "Say Man" on Checker 931 (with "The Clock Strikes Twelve" as the B-side), which featured him trading insults with his percussionist Jerome Green. The lyrics are not sung, but spoken conversationally over a musical background; this track has been described as a precursor of hip hop music.

Richard Pryor referenced the dozens in his 1975 comedy routine That Nigger's Crazy saying that "white folks" did not know how to play.

Comedian-actor Eddie Murphy often based his stand-up routines on a reversal of the dozens, the purpose of which was boasting about oneself rather than insulting someone else. Examples of this can be found in his known comedy albums, Comedian, Delirious, and the soundtrack to the film Eddie Murphy Raw. Other examples of the dozens in reverse, from other comedians, can be found in the cable TV program Def Comedy Jam, which was a production of Def Jam founder Russell Simmons's company.

George Carlin also referenced the dozens in his Occupation: Foole album while talking about his upbringing in Manhattan: "You wanna play the dozens? Well, the dozens is a game. But the way I fuck your Mama, is a goddamned shame!"

In a 2010 strip of the webcomic Sinfest, the Devil challenges Jesus to a game of Dozens.