Star Wars Gangsta Rap
Encyclopedia
The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is a parody song based on the original Star Wars
trilogy. The song was later popularized as a Flash music video
and was the first winner of the Audience Choice Award in the Lucasfilm
-sponsored Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
.
Animator Thomas Lee
discovered the rap in 2000 and used it as a basis to practice his developing Flash skills. This became the first (and most widely seen) version of the video. After showing the finished results to Bentframe, they together formed BentTV.
Due to the project's success, BentTV later created an improved version, referred to as the Special Edition, which debuted at the 2004 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards. The audio track was not changed, but the visuals were completely redrawn, with improved color and shading and more detailed motion, all while emulating the relevant scenes in the movies more closely and adding more. The improvement in animation is analogous to Industrial Light & Magic's 1997 Special Edition film touch-ups.
and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
(and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
in the Special Edition), satirically recreating several of the more famous scenes and dialogue.
The music video starts out on the back of the Star Destroyer
, then reveals the image of Emperor Palpatine
who claims "it's not the east or the west side." Darth Vader
appears and replies "No, it's not." This continues until the Emperor says "it's the DARK side". The Emperor then threatens to blow up the planets of "all you Vader haters out there."
Darth Vader and the Emperor trade raps with each other during the first verse, until Vader proclaims, "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 Vader, while stormtroopers do a gangster rap wave in the background.
The next verse begins in Luke Skywalker
's moisture farm on Tatooine, with his uncle Owen Lars shouting commands at him. Luke raps the second verse, with C-3PO
and R2-D2
appearing in the background.
In the next verse, Obi-Wan Kenobi
tells Luke to "use the force and run...", whereupon Luke takes his X-wing fighter to Dagobah. Yoda
appears next, and he and Luke trade raps, until Luke gets back in his X-wing. During a brief intermission, he enjoys a "mighty good gin an' tonic
", then flies to Cloud City and confronts Darth Vader. Darth Vader and Luke get into a lightsaber
duel, Vader cuts off Luke's hand, then reveals that he is his father.
Han Solo
appears in the final verse repeating "Knock him out the box Luke, knock him out..."
This is an ode to the outro of the song "Children's Story
" by rapper Slick Rick
.
The film won the Audience Choice at the inaugural Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards in 2002, and aired in its entirety on the Sci Fi Channel
special on the awards. Clips from Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition were aired on the VH1
special When Star Wars Ruled the World in 2004.
It has inspired other similar works and imitations, 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.
BentTV created a Star Wars parody cartoon in 1999 a fake advertisement for a Star Wars Christmas CD hosted by Han Solo.
Director Thomas Lee would later animate the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic
's song "I'll Sue Ya" on his 2006 album "Straight Outta Lynwood
".
An unofficial sequel titled "Star Wars Gangsta Rap 2" was made which incorporates references to the prequel trilogy. It features far more explicit lyrics.
In November 2009, an official sequel titled "Star Wars Gangsta Rap: Chronicles" was released on atom.com.
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
trilogy. The song was later popularized as a Flash music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
and was the first winner of the Audience Choice Award in the Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm
Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO....
-sponsored Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards
The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards is an annual contest put forth by Lucasfilm and AtomFilms to showcase and acknowledge the growing genre of fan films made by, for, and about fans of the Star Wars saga. The inaugural contest in 2002 was the first time Lucasfilm had officially sanctioned the...
.
Version history
The Star Wars Gangsta Rap started out as a song, written by Jason Brannon and Chris Crawford, with vocals by Brannon, drum machine by Crawford and Leonard, and keyboard by Brian Leonard. The group billed themselves as Bentframe.Animator Thomas Lee
Thomas Lee
Thomas Lee may refer to:*Hon. Thomas Lee , early Virginian colonist, and builder of "Stratford Hall Plantation*Thomas Lee , English neoclassical architect...
discovered the rap in 2000 and used it as a basis to practice his developing Flash skills. This became the first (and most widely seen) version of the video. After showing the finished results to Bentframe, they together formed BentTV.
Due to the project's success, BentTV later created an improved version, referred to as the Special Edition, which debuted at the 2004 Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards. The audio track was not changed, but the visuals were completely redrawn, with improved color and shading and more detailed motion, all while emulating the relevant scenes in the movies more closely and adding more. The improvement in animation is analogous to Industrial Light & Magic's 1997 Special Edition film touch-ups.
Synopsis
The Star Wars Gangsta Rap loosely mixes plotlines from Star Wars Episode IV: A New HopeStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
and Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is a 1980 American epic space opera film directed by Irvin Kershner. The screenplay, based on a story by George Lucas, was written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan...
(and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space opera film directed by Richard Marquand and written by George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan. It is the third film released in the Star Wars saga, and the sixth in terms of the series' internal chronology...
in the Special Edition), satirically recreating several of the more famous scenes and dialogue.
The music video starts out on the back of the Star Destroyer
Star Destroyer
Star Destroyers are capital ships in the fictional Star Wars universe. The Imperial Star Destroyer, which first appears in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , is "the signature vessel of the Imperial fleet"...
, then reveals the image of Emperor Palpatine
Palpatine
Palpatine is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the Star Wars saga, portrayed by Ian McDiarmid in the feature films.Palpatine first appeared as the unnamed Emperor of the Galactic Empire in the 1980 film Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back...
who claims "it's not the east or the west side." Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
appears and replies "No, it's not." This continues until the Emperor says "it's the DARK side". The Emperor then threatens to blow up the planets of "all you Vader haters out there."
Darth Vader and the Emperor trade raps with each other during the first verse, until Vader proclaims, "he will join us or die, WE'VE GOT DEATH STAR!". Images of the Death Star
Death Star
The Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
flash in the background, and the line is repeated by Vader, while stormtroopers do a gangster rap wave in the background.
The next verse begins in Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise, where he is portrayed by Mark Hamill. He is introduced in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, in which he is forced to leave home, and finds himself apprenticed to the Jedi master...
's moisture farm on Tatooine, with his uncle Owen Lars shouting commands at him. Luke raps the second verse, with C-3PO
C-3PO
C-3PO is a robot character from the Star Wars universe who appears in both the original Star Wars films and the prequel trilogy. He is also a major character in the television show Droids, and appears frequently in the series' "Expanded Universe" of novels, comic books, and video games...
and R2-D2
R2-D2
R2-D2 , is a character in the Star Wars universe. An astromech droid, R2-D2 is a major character throughout all six Star Wars films. Along with his droid companion C-3PO, he joins or supports Anakin Skywalker, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi in various points in the saga...
appearing in the background.
In the next verse, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Obi-Wan Kenobi is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe. He is one of several primary characters in the Star Wars series. Along with Darth Vader, R2-D2, and C-3PO, he is one of the few major characters to appear in all six Star Wars films...
tells Luke to "use the force and run...", whereupon Luke takes his X-wing fighter to Dagobah. Yoda
Yoda
Yoda is a fictional character in the Star Wars universe, appearing in the second and third original films, as well as all three prequel trilogy films. A renowned Jedi master, Yoda made his first on-screen appearance in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back where he is responsible for...
appears next, and he and Luke trade raps, until Luke gets back in his X-wing. During a brief intermission, he enjoys a "mighty good gin an' tonic
Gin and tonic
A gin and tonic is a highball cocktail made with gin and tonic water poured over ice. It is usually garnished with a slice or wedge of lime, or lemon. The amount of gin varies according to taste...
", then flies to Cloud City and confronts Darth Vader. Darth Vader and Luke get into a lightsaber
Lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...
duel, Vader cuts off Luke's hand, then reveals that he is his father.
Han Solo
Han Solo
Han Solo is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise played by Harrison Ford. Introduced in the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope , Solo and his Wookiee co-pilot, Chewbacca , become involved in the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire...
appears in the final verse repeating "Knock him out the box Luke, knock him out..."
This is an ode to the outro of the song "Children's Story
Children's Story
"Children's Story" is a single by British-born American hip hop artist Slick Rick, from his album The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.-Reception:It's on the list of the top 100 rap songs, and is ranked #61 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop....
" by rapper Slick Rick
Slick Rick
Richard Walters , better known by his stage name Slick Rick is a Grammy-nominated English-American rapper...
.
Awards and legacy
The Star Wars Gangsta Rap is one of the most popular flash videos of all time, with more than 20 million online views. Editors of Time magazine listed it as the Best Online Comedy Movie of 2001.The film won the Audience Choice at the inaugural Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards in 2002, and aired in its entirety on the Sci Fi Channel
Sci Fi Channel (United States)
Syfy , formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel and SCI FI, is an American cable television channel featuring science fiction, supernatural, fantasy, reality, paranormal, wrestling, and horror programming. Launched on September 24, 1992, it is part of the entertainment conglomerate NBCUniversal, a...
special on the awards. Clips from Star Wars Gangsta Rap Special Edition were aired on the VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
special When Star Wars Ruled the World in 2004.
It has inspired other similar works and imitations, 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
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
trilogy.
BentTV created a Star Wars parody cartoon in 1999 a fake advertisement for a Star Wars Christmas CD hosted by Han Solo.
Director Thomas Lee would later animate the video for "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
's song "I'll Sue Ya" on his 2006 album "Straight Outta Lynwood
Straight Outta Lynwood
Straight Outta Lynwood is the 12th studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. It was released on September 26, 2006 in the U.S. by Volcano, on September 30, 2006 in Australia, on October 3 in Canada, on October 6, 2006 in New Zealand, November 13, 2006 in the United Kingdom, and November 24, 2006 in...
".
An unofficial sequel titled "Star Wars Gangsta Rap 2" was made which incorporates references to the prequel trilogy. It features far more explicit lyrics.
In November 2009, an official sequel titled "Star Wars Gangsta Rap: Chronicles" was released on atom.com.