By Jason George
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 5, 2006

Ever waved for catfish? How about screamed for ribs?

Then you, like countless others, have probably fallen under the spell of the long-running jingle from Moo & Oink meat company.

"Give me a wave if you like catfish. Jump up if it's your favorite dish!"

"Wave for catfish--Moo & Oink!

"Scrrrrrrrream for ribs--Moo & Oink!"

The printed word doesn't do justice to a song styled somewhere between classic soul and yodeling. For 24 years, the jingle has run on Chicago radio and television stations--a millennium in advertising--and has stuck in listeners' heads like ribs stick to your bones.

The jingle became central to the 150-year-old company's identity, and in turn Moo & Oink became part of Chicago's cultural landscape. Just last year, Saturday Night Live did a skit about all things Windy City and cast members declared "Moo & Oink" their place for meat.

But even nostalgia, it seems, has an expiration date. The company asked Moo & Oink fans, yes fans, to create a new jingle, hoping to find a tune equally memorable but appealing to younger shoppers.

And the winner is ... "Shop at Moo & Oink" by Kenlo Key, a.k.a. Kent Jones, 22, a Country Club Hills rapper.

"It's catchy," he said of the old version. "But it sounds like the '80s--it sounds like Prince."

While such fighting words can lead to, um, beefs in the world of hip-hop, Richard Pegue, who wrote the original jingle's music, said he's old enough to take the high road.

"They talk a different language," the 62-year-old disc jockey said of youth today. "I'm more into the classics."

A panel of judges representing both old and new schools of music picked Kenlo Key's jingle last week from a list of 10 finalists.

In the parking lot of the Hazel Crest Moo & Oink were hip-hop producers such as Eric "Emmaculate" Welton and Chris Hearon, and officials such as Hazel Crest Mayor Robert Donaldson, who provided a karaoke version of the old jingle.

All ages seemed to agree that "Shop at Moo & Oink," with its thick bass beats, surely sounds more like what you hear on the radio today. But they wondered if it, too, can become a jingle classic?

Barry Levy, Moo & Oink CEO, said he remembers like it was yesterday when he and his secretary, Lillian Bassett, wrote the lyrics to the original jingle.

"My secretary at the time started a little poem and we came up and wrote two thirds of the lyrics," he said.

The "wave for catfish," "whistle for chicken wings" and "scream for ribs" were taken from signs Moo & Oink employees would wave at the crowds during the South Side's annual Bud Billiken Parade. Pegue later put the words to music.

Over the years the jingle was cut and recut into updated advertisements, but the music never changed. It was not until last year's 4th of July holiday that a 17-year-old temporary worker at the Hazel Crest store helped bring Moo & Oink into the world of modern hip-hop.

Korey Isbell's job that weekend was to collect shopping carts in the Moo & Oink parking lot, but he ended up doing much more. He impressed two of Levy's children, Rob and Mollye, who were helping out during the holiday, with his rap skills and effusive personality.

The three made an unlikely trio. Isbell, who is black, grew up with a father in and out of prison and a mom who said she's had a hard time holding a steady job. The white Levy siblings, both in their 20s, attended Cornell and Duke Universities and have enjoyed a life flush with the benefits of the family business.

But Rob Levy, 26, who had quit working at the Chicago Board Options Exchange, was starting an entertainment management company and saw potential in Isbell as a performer.

"Everything about it was just, oh my God," Rob Levy said of Isbell's raw talent.

He started transforming Isbell into Shorty K, and they have been recording and developing Shorty's career since.

In the midst of this, as the story goes, Rob Levy found out one day that Shorty K had begun rapping at age 6 to the Moo & Oink jingle. That produced a light bulb above everyone's head: Moo & Oink should have a new jingle and Shorty K should announce a contest for it, which he did in a commercial and on the company Web site.

"It's a difficult time for the business. We're being dominated by the Wal-Marts and the billion dollar corporations," Rob Levy said of Moo & Oink. "We're trying to capture this new generation with what's in and this is it."

As Shorty K's new single "I'm a Stunna" blared from huge speakers at the Hazel Crest event, Pegue contented himself off to the side by playing CDs of soft jazz versions of songs by artists like Marvin Gaye. He said he's made his peace with the fact his tastes no longer mirror the pop music charts.

"It's like `Star Trek' and `Star Trek: The Next Generation'."

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To listen to the 10 jingles that made the finals, visit http://moo.d1tv.net/promotions/jingle_winners.html ----------

jageorge@tribune.com