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OCR01134 - Sonic Adventure 2 "Knuckles' Unknown from M.C."


djpretzel
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As much as I despised of the SA2 soundtrack, Knuckles' BGM always stood out from the other tracks. It was nothing awe-inspiring, but at least it had the FUNK. And this remix takes the best from Knux and makes it even better. It has pretty much everything I love in a funky track, from smooth Rhodes pianos to high-pitched vibrato synths. This is the same José from vgmusic.com, right?

Excellent work José, always a fan. Looking forward to any potential future releases.

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i gotta agree with al cpwn on this.

the horns rubbed me in a very wrong way.

jose definetly can spit, though. would have preferred more original lyrics but the whole thing was still delivered well and clearly. and the original segments were all legit.

the choruses are presented with a credible voice - this is hip hop done with a good sense of rhythm and touch.

the beat, though... i'm not sure if i like it. the "gangsta" synth is a neat touch but the whole track doesn't feel right. its like a tight emcee on a mediocore beat.

or maybe its just those horns.

either way, a definite keeper as there are not many tries at rap on the site (at least successful ones)

~weed

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Holy hell, this is probably the best Sonic Adventure 2 mix the site has.

First of all, this sounds AWFULLY professional, and done with quality MUCH higher than the Sonic Team could have ever mustered. I'm definitely impressed with how the original lyrics were handled, and how well the newly added lyrics fit with the rest of the musical piece too. I personally hated the original Knuckles tune. Even though it had the FUNK, it could have been done so much better. This remix right here supports my opinion. Really, really great shhtuff here! 8O

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Heh. Nice work there, Jose. You've got yourself a winner.

Good interpretation of the elements in the original track, flowing rewritten lyrics that still stay true to the original theme of the songs. Maybe trying to work the part with "just believe in myself won't rely on others" into would have added to the quality of the mix. I don't know - I can just still hear it the whole entire time I listen to your mix. Like that insert of K-N-U-C-K... etc, it gave a good break to the general flow of the mix to change it up a bit and make it less repetitious.

Very high quality stuff. Keep the rap mixes coming, my friend. Or just SA Vocals for that matter - this is extremely well done, and one of the best things we've gotten on OCR the past year.

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There are very few good rap songs in my opinion. This is one of those good ones. Everything sounds very nice, and clean. The vocals are amazing, recorded perfectly. I dont know the original lyrics people have talked about but the lyrics here are cool. The only thing that bothers me is that cheesy brass loop that. I just dont like it. Aside from that everything else is wonderful. I look forward to future mixes-

~Blue

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Here’s what Aaron Parsons has to say:

This is a slammin‘ good remix, JBR. Will Smith has taught you well. The vocals have been professionally done way better then any song I’ve ever produced in my life, even in DaCapo Studios when I once apprenticed there. I love what you did with Knuckles original vocals. You’ve added your own rappin’ style and fresh novel rhymes barely swearing while keeping’ it soft core for the kids. Sometimes in the original, the raps don’t even come close to rhyming, not even with imperfect rhymes. I also like the Jet Li or John Lee reference for the original “feet like fire” metaphor used in the original tune. The rapping is done way better than anything I’ve ever done, but I’m sure I’ll reach your skill level if I get more time to practice.

As for the instrumentation, the beat is a normal kick with a pull-back snare. Good shuffle execution with a cool bongo beat in the back. The hi-hats aren’t the greatest things I’ve heard, but there’s some variation that can stand out once in a while. The bassline is exactly what I was thinking of before when I heard about this remix before listening to it. Great stuff. Even though there’s a bit of Wild Canyon sax and “Mariah Carrey“-ish synths there, the mix could use one or two more instruments besides the Rhodes, bass, and beat. Perhaps a guitar might solve this problem. But if you want to keep it minimalist, it’s all good. If the vocals are the main focus, keep it that way.

To conclude, the instrumentation sounds very mainstream-ish as it is a little too repetitive. It’s not a bad thing, most people won’t notice it too much. For the bits with syncopation, it‘s very noticeable. Really, a lot of people will agree with me on this. Even though you’ve taken many snippets from the original Knuckles rap themes, the lyrics are very basic, the novelty of your own style is there, they’re very easy to understand, and will appeal to all ages and people who either love or hate hip-hop or rap. You, Jose’ the Bronx Rican, are an example of what hip-hop should be in a corrupt culture, ma man. And because of that, this remix has been nominated the best rap remix on Overclocked for 2004.

Keep it real, brotha!

Double A Ron

Well that’s it! He’s summed up almost exactly what I was going to say. I hope to see more rap remixes on this site. There’s been one for each month so far.

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Being a fan of rap music myself I've found it kinda hard to enjoy this. The style and pace of the music is dated and the attempts at freestyle inbetween verses make me shudder a little at the kornyness. I hate to be grumpy, and I'm not saying the mix is particularly bad, but it's hard to see what everyone loves about it so much. The vocals are well done and I could imagine this guy up there rapping away with the professionals, but these are some hard lyrics to take seriously. The chanting of the zone names at the end is really pushing the cheese boundaries to the limit.

I had been expecting more of a modern rap approach to the song, with an Outkast-esque beat maybe, and some more aggresive sounding vocals, so this may have come across differently to my expectations after the download was done(Ruddy 56k). A nice attempt, and a good idea, but I really can't see what you all see in it.

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