Star Wars Gangsta Rap

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Scene from the original flash video.

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is a parody song popularized as a Flash music video based on the original trilogy. It was created by the BentTV group, and appears on Atom Films.[1]

[edit] Version history

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap started out audio only, produced by Bentframe. It was written by Jason Brannon and Chris Crawford, with vocals by Jason Brannon, drum machine by Chris Crawford and keyboard by Brian Leonard.

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 (and most widely seen) version of the video.

Due to the project's success, BentTV created a much improved version, referred to as the Special Edition. The audio is the same, but the animation, which in the original version was somewhat pedestrian and sketchy, has been 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 and adding more scenes. The improvement in animation is clearly analogous to Industrial Light & Magic's 1997 Special Edition film touch-ups.

[edit] Basic synopsis

(This description corresponds to the original version.)

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap loosely mixes the plotlines of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back (and Return of the Jedi in the Special Edition), satirically recreating several of the more famous scenes and dialogue.

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is played in the style of venerable rap group The Beastie Boys. It is quite similar to a typical Beastie Boys track in its backing instrumentation, the method in which the characters trade off lines, and the exact styling of the rap.

The music video starts out with the back of the Star Destroyer. Then Emperor Palpatine's image comes out and says "it's not the east or the west side" and Darth Vader's image replies with "no it's not", this continues a few lines, then The Emperor threatens to blow up the planets of "all you Vader haters out there".

Then it gets into the first main verse, with Darth Vader and the Emperor trading off raps to each other, then Darth Vader says, "he will join us or die, WE'VE GOT DEATH STAR!". Images of the Death Star flash in the background, and the line is repeated by stormtroopers, who do a gangster rap wave in the background.

The next verse begins in Luke's moisture farm on Tatooine, with his uncle Owen Lars shouting commands at him, then Luke begins to rap the second main verse, with C-3PO and R2-D2 appearing in the background for "I cleaned the droids...".

The 3rd verse break is Obi-Wan Kenobi telling Luke in spirit "Luke, use the force and run...", then you see Luke on his X-wing fighter on the way to Dagobah. Yoda appears next, and just raps to Luke until the last line when he lifts the X-wing.

Then there is another verse with Luke and Yoda trading off raps, then Luke gets on his X-wing, and during a brief intermission we find him enjoying some "mighty good gin an' tonic", then he flies to Cloud City and confronts Darth Vader. Darth Vader and Luke get into a lightsaber fight, Vader cuts off Luke's hand, then reveals that he is his father.

The final verse is Han Solo appearing in the background repeating "Knock him out the box Luke...", then it ends.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Characters

[edit] Droids

[edit] Locations

[edit] Creatures

Nerf (Mentioned only)

[edit] Species

[edit] Ships and Vehicles

*Only in Special Edition

[edit] Lyrics

Spoken Intro

Emperor: It's not the east or the west side...
Vader: No it's not!
Emperor: It's not the north or the south side...
Vader: No it's not!
Emperor: It's the dark side...
Vader: You are correct!
Emperor: Keep frontin the Empire; to all you Vader haters out there: we'll blow your planet up!

Verse 1

Vader: What is thy bidding, my master?
Emperor: It's the disaster, Skywalker' we're after.
Vader: What if he could be turned to the dark side...?
Emperor: Yes! He'd be a powerful ally... another dark Jedi...
Vader: He will join us or die. WE GOT DEATH STAR! (repeat 7 times)
Stormtroopers (echoing Vader): DEATH STAR! (repeat 7 times)
Vader: And you know that we got it... (repeat once)
Stormtroopers: DEATH STAR! (repeat once)

Spoken Interlude

Uncle Owen: Luke! Get your ass over here right now. Quit monkeying around with that damn landspeeder. Where are them two droids I asked you to clean boy? You clean your room?!

Verse 2

Luke: Uncle Owen, I know I'm on probation. I cleaned the droids: can I go to Tosche Station? I got a lay away on the power converter, but now you're treating me like a scruffy nerf herder.
Ghost Obi-Wan: Luke! Use the Force and run... run to Dagobah, run to Dagobah. (repeat once)
Yoda: I'm Yoda, I'm a soldja, I mold ja then I fold ja, I thought I told ja! Don't be unwise, judge me not by my size. You won't believe your eyes, watch the X-wing rise.
Luke: Yoda... why you being a playa hata? You know that I still must confront Lord Vada'.
Yoda: But Luke, not ready are you...
Luke: But there's a city in the clouds where they're keepin' my crew. A Jedi's gotta do what a Jedi's gotta do, so now Vader': I'm coming for you!

Spoken Interlude

Luke: Yeah, that's right Artoo, I've set a new course. We're going for Cloud City. (drinks alcoholic beverage) Ah, that's some mighty good gin and tonic, would you mix me up another? (Things are about to get ugly.)*

Verse 3

Vader: Impressive, now release your anger! You must have sensed that your friends are in danger.
Luke: Owww! Why did you slice off my hand?!
Vader: It's an 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!
Vader: Then there's something I must reveal then, I'm your father, I'm your father (repeat 3 times).

Outro

Han Solo: Knock 'em out the box Luke, knock 'em out! (repeat 4 times) Knock him out the box, Luke.

*This line can be heard in the original mp3, but does not appear in the Flash videos.

[edit] Popularity

The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is one of the most popular flash videos of all time. Accordingly, it was awarded the Audience Choice at the 2002 Star Wars Fan Film Awards.

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

Additionally, BentTV created a 2nd Star Wars parody cartoon during Christmas Season 2004 which was released on newgrounds.com, a fake advertisement for the "Star Wars Christmas" CD hosted by Han Solo.

Director Thomas Lee went on to animate the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's song "I'll Sue Ya" on his album "Straight Outta Lynwood" (2006).

A similar rap video is shown instead of the usual bloopers on an Easter Egg on the Episode III DVD with Yoda rapping and breakdancing in front of Stormtroopers. He then comments after this, "That voice... hard on my throat."

It spawned a sequal titled "Star Wars Gangsta Rap 2".

[edit] External links

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