"The tables have Turn-bulled, now it's Shorten's house".
So rapped Labor leader Bill Shorten on Friday morning, the culmination of an out-dagging competition taking place between the Opposition Leader and Prime Minister over the past week, as they traded policy for rhyme in the race to win Australia's popular FM radio and commercial television markets.
US rapper Macklemore's performance at the NRL grand final on Saturday has triggered more than just a national debate over freedom of speech and same-sex marriage.
It's pushed Mr Turnbull to suddenly "grieve for Tupac," and Mr Shorten to claim: "he's the cat, you're the mouse".
Mr Shorten, reading from the safety of a script on Nova radio on Friday morning, offered these gems: "Will I rap again, it's anyone's guess. But there's more chance of Tony Abbott voting 'yes'."
The 50-year-old had Fitzy and Wippa in raptures by "dabbin" - an arm-thrust dance move that stopped being popular in 2015.
Freestyling on Channel 10's The Project this week, Mr Turnbull didn't hold back either.
"Waleed, you are the man, you're the Tigers fan," he chimed.
When The Project co-host attempted to drive the discussion back to the same-sex marriage debate, the would-be rapper was having none of it.
'We are just having fun, Waleed. Why are you such a downer?' he said.
But for Mr Turnbull and Mr Shorten the raps are more than "just fun."
Both know they are deeply uncool. So, with that vote out the window, you up the dag quota.
Cue "Netflix and chill" Turnbull, Zinger Bill and a highly co-ordinated media strategy that results in both regularly making fools of themselves on commercial television and FM radio.
In August, Mr Shorten racked up 21 interviews on FM alone. The Prime Minister followed suit, doing almost as many FM radio station interviews in that month as he had done the whole year.
The shift has not come at the expense of tougher media in terms of air time, but on the more relaxed airwaves of Sydney and Melbourne's FM stations the PM becomes "just Malcolm", and the Labor leader "just Bill", as they flick between interviews with Fitzy and Wippa and Jonesy and Amanda.
So you can expect more middle-aged rap from our political leaders, more tables being "Turn-bulled" and more "dabbin" from Mr Shorten. They won't even wait until an election is called.
