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The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is a parody song popularized as a Flash music video based on the original Star Wars trilogy. It was created by the BentTV group, and currently appears on AtomFilms as part of the Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.

History

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap first appeared on the internet as an audio-only file, produced by Bentframe. It was written by Jason Brannon and Chris Crawford, with vocals by Jason Brannon, drum machine by Chris Crawford / Brian A Leonard and keyboard by Brian A Leonard (who also created the current version which does not have music and sound samples from the films as the pre-original versions did).

Animator Thomas Lee discovered the rap in 2000 and used it as a basis to practice his developing Flash skills. After showing the results to Bentframe, they together formed BentTV. This became the first widely seen version of the video, and remains faithful to the audio version, except for the omission of a single line.

In 2004, BentTV created an improved version of the video, referred to as the Special Edition. The song was not changed (sound effects from the movies were added), but the animation was completely redrawn with improved color and shading, smoother lines, and more detailed motion, all while emulating the relevant scenes in the movies much more closely. The improvement in animation is analogous to Industrial Light and Magic's 1997 Special Edition film touch-ups.

Visual synopsis

(This description corresponds to the original version, with references to the lyrics corresponding to the transcript in the next section.)

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap loosely mixes the plotlines of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, satirically recreating several well known scenes and dialogue passages. It is quite similar in construction to a typical gangsta rap track in its backing instrumentation, the method in which the characters quickly trade off lines, and the overall exact styling of the rap.

The music video begins in a camera pan across the back of a Star Destroyer. As Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader trade off their lines in the Spoken Intro, the camera pulls back to reveal three additional Star Destroyers patrolled by swooping squadrons of TIE Fighters.

The first verse uses minimalist backgrounds of dark imperial gray, accented briefly by a silhouette of Luke with a lightsaber, until Vader boasts "We got Death Star!" Images of the Death Star flash in the background, composited with a line of Stormtroopers, who do a gangsta rap wave, finally climaxing in the explosion of Alderaan.

The spoken interlude cuts to the Lars moisture farm on Tatooine, with Uncle Owen shouting commands at his nephew from the recessed farm courtyard. Luke then raps the second verse, with C-3PO and R2-D2 waving for a brief cameo for "I cleaned the droids...".

The bridge into the third verse superimposes the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi over Luke's X-Wing flying to Dagobah. In the third verse, Yoda hops down off a log, and raps to the camera until the end of his opening when he lifts the X-Wing. Luke and Yoda trade off raps about whether or not he should go to Cloud City, the floating metropolis appearing in the background for the corresponding line, before cutting to Luke's X-Wing taking off from the surface of the planet.

The second interlude takes place inside Luke's cockpit as he enjoys a "mighty good gin an' tonic". When he arrives at Cloud City, he and Vader duel with their lightsabers, battle-posing in time with the beat of the rap, until they begin the fourth verse. A series of close-ups frames their exchange until Vader begins his repeat of "I'm your father", when the waving Stormtroopers return to mock a crying Luke.

For the outro, the composition of Vader and the troops transitions to Han Solo, who appears in the background over animation of the Millennium Falcon aiding in the Death Star trench run, until the video fades to black and the credits.

Lyrics

(Vader with Sidious/Emperor)
It's not the east or the west side.
No it's not!
It's not the north or the south side.
No it's not!
It's the Dark side.
You are correct!
Keep frontin' the Empire,
To all you Vader-haters out there,
We'll blow your planet up!

What is thy bidding my master?
It's a disaster, Skywalker we're after.
What if he could be turned to the Dark side?
Yes, he'd be a powerful ally, another Dark Jedi.
He will join us or die!

We got death star!(Death Star!) x 8
And you know that we got it.(Death Star!)
And you know that we got it.(Death Star!) (fade after)

(Owen)
Luke, get your butt over here right now!
And quit monkeying around with that dang landspeeder,
where are them two droids I asked you to clean, boy?
You cleaned your room?

(Luke)
Uncle Owen, I know I'm on probation,
I cleaned the droids,
Can I go to the Toshi Station?
I gotta lay away on the power converter,
But now you treating me like a scruffy nerfherder!

(Obi-Wan)
Luke, use the Force and run,
Run to Dagobah, Run to Dagobah,
Luke, use the Force and run,
Run to Dagobah, Run to Dagobah.

(Yoda)
I'm Yoda,
I'm a soulja,
I'll mold ya, and fold ya,
I thought I told ya!
Don't be unwise judge me not by my size,
You wont believe your eyes,
Watch the X-wing rise!

(Luke)
Yoda, why you being a playa-hata?
You know I still must confront Lord Vader!

(Yoda)
But Luke, not ready are you!

(Luke)
But there's a city in the clouds where they keeping ma crew,
A Jedi's gotta do what a Jedi's gotta do,
so now Vader, I'm coming for you!

(Luke in X-Wing)
Yea, that's right R-2.,
I just set a new course.
We're going to cloud city.
Ah. Thats a mighty good Gin an' tonic
Why don't you mix me up another.

(Lord Vader)
Impressive, now release yo' anger,
You must have sensed that yo' friends are in danger.

(Luke)
Oh! why did you slice off my hand?

(Lord Vader)
It's imperative that you understand.
Obi-Wan would never bother,
Telling you about your father.

(Luke)
He told me enough, he told me you killed him!

(Lord Vader)
Then there is something, I must reveal him.
I am yo' fatha,
I'm yo' fatha,
I am yo' fatha,
I'm yo' fatha,
I am yo' fatha,
I'm yo' fatha,
I am yo' fatha,
I'm yo' fatha'!

(Han Solo)
Knock him out the box, Luke,
Knock him out!
Knock him out the box, Luke,
Knock him out!
Knock him out the box, Luke,
Knock him out!
Knock him out the box, Luke,
Knock him out!
Knock him out the box, Luke.

Legacy

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is one of the most popular Flash videos of all time, which is notable for a project that never received heavy public recognition or TV airplay, such as Numa Numa. It was given the Audience Choice Award in the voting for the 2002 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards.

It has inspired other similar works, notably The Lords Of The Rhymes, done very much in the style of the Star Wars Gangsta Rap but instead parodying The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

In addition to the Special Edition, BentTV created and released on newgrounds.com a second Star Wars parody cartoon during the 2004 Christmas season - a fake advertisement for the Star Wars Christmas CD hosted by Han Solo, as well as a sequel to the rap. The sequel song is cruder and less related to the Star Wars plot, and no official video has been produced. The Newgrounds site also host different versions of the raps, including a version made with clips from the Star Wars films instead of original animation.

External links

• The award-winning original version
• The Special Edition version
• The Star Wars Christmas CD
• Newgrounds.com - Interview with animator Thomas Lee
• The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
• Brian A Leonard's Newest Band

• Star Wars fan films
• Flash animations