The first Wham! single was indeed a rap, with George Michael busting rhymes about the joys of unemployment (Michael worked an array of odd jobs; his Wham!-mate Andrew Ridgely really was unemployed). It didn't get far in America but launched them in the UK, where it climbed to #8 and earned them lots of press attention.
According to Rob Jovanovic in his 2007 biography of George Michael, the song "depicted the world as they saw it" although it was "hardly a rap as we know it today." The message is that if you're young and unemployed, have fun. Of course, most people who are faced with especially long term unemployment find life a struggle, but youthful optimism certainly paid off for this dynamic duo. David Austin and Paul Ridgeley (Andrew's brother) added backing vocals.
It's not clear if Wham! is named after this song, or the other way around, but they happened around the same time. George Michael and Andrew Ridgely met at school when they were 12 and formed a ska-ish band called The Executive when they were 16. When that group folded, they formed a duo and wrote "Wham Rap!," which became their first single. The punchy name framed their image as new-breed pop stars you can't ignore. It earned them a record deal with Innervisions, a new label set up by another classmate, Mark Dean.
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