I'm Rappin' It!

Rapping teens cited for disorderly conduct
By Elizabeth White, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY - A rap by four teenagers at a McDonald's has gotten them a bad rap in one Utah city.

The teens were cited by American Fork police earlier this week for disorderly conduct after they rapped their order at a McDonald's drive-through.

The teens said they were imitating a popular video on YouTube. They rapped their order, which begins with, "I need a double cheeseburger and hold the lettuce ..." once quickly before repeating it more slowly.



Spenser Dauwalder said employees at the restaurant told him and his friends they were holding up the line and needed to order or leave. The 18-year-old said nobody was in line. He and his three 17-year-old friends left without buying anything.

American Fork Police Sgt. Gregg Ludlow says a manager wrote down the car's license plate number and called police. The teens were later cited by officers at a high school parking lot outside a volleyball match.

"We thought, you know, just teenagers out having fun," Dauwalder told KSL Newsradio. "We didn't think it would escalate to that."

Disorderly conduct citations are issued when someone does something to cause annoyance or alarm, Ludlow said. The citation is an infraction similar to a speeding ticket, Ludlow said.

"It was not just that they were rapping, they continued to hold things up," Ludlow said.

Ludlow said the teens were asked several times to speak plainly and that ultimately the manager came outside.

The owner-operator of the McDonald's said in a statement that the issue was about employees' safety at the restaurant in American Fork, about 30 miles (50 kilometres) south of Salt Lake City.

"The employee in question felt that her safety was at risk as a result of the alleged actions of these individuals in the drive-thru, not as a result of them rapping their order," franchisee Conny Kramer said in the statement. "As such, she contacted the local authorities."

This story is quite a conundrum. When I read a much shortened version in USA Today my immediate reaction was that people in Utah are racist, afraid of black people not named Karl Malone or Darren Williams and when they hear rap they automatically feel threatened.

After reading this story I can understand that the situation would be annoying and a hassle for the McDonald's workers. I mean, they already work at a fast food joint. Now they've got some punk kids screwing with them in the drive thru. If I were the manager I probably would have gone outside and cussed them something fierce and then gone back inside. But the manager didn't do that. She called the cops when it wasn't really necessary. That leaves her open to criticism, most of which is going to paint her as culturally insensitive and paranoid. Especially her statements that she feared for the safety of her staff. When you say that kids rapping into a drive thru is threatening and you live in Utah you might as well burn a cross in your yard.

P.S. - What the hell is with kids these days? Don't they get drunk and steal lawn decrations and road signs anymore? Damn internet!