ReMix: Final Fantasy IV 'Rhymes with Elixir'
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- Game: Final Fantasy IV (Square, 1991, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Liontamer, The Scuba Divers
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Chocobo Chocobo'
- Posted: 2010-03-15, evaluated by the judges
- Album: Featured on Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption
Well, what can one say?
Okay, I'll try... here we are at OCR01999, on the precipice of a new era, and it's time for some fantastic, polished, absolutely mindblowing musicality and talent!!
...INSTEAD, I find myself posting... this :) Ah, but I kid the conveniently-anonymous "Scuba Divers" - their strategic decision to include Liontamer means they can blame any and all faults on his sheer presence, escaping both unnamed and unscathed. Ever wonder what the infamous Chocobo theme would sound like as a hip-hop track with a bunch of gamers taking on the personas of Chocobo, Shiva, Tonberry, and Cactaur, and rapping about "street cred" and "Sucka MCs"? That makes two of us! But part of OCR's unwritten mission statement is to provide answers to questions no one ever dreamed of asking, and in that sense this track is a fundamental and unequivocal success. The submission email sayeth:
"The concept is a tribute to the classic 'Team Gato', but instead of multiple style, we picked one style and ran with it- there are 4 rappers; in order, they are Chocobo, Shiva, Tonberry, and Cactuar. Yeah Tonberry and Cactaur weren't specifically in FF4, but they are pretty iconic to the series. The changes to the source are modulation to minor, so it sounded more tough, and we also added a lot of extra counterpoint and stuff."
The counterpoint's good, but it's the "stuff" that really sealed the deal... I'll just jump to the chase and say that the rapping here is whiter than wonderbread, and the overall tone is certainly goofy, but we don't post "joke mixes" that don't at least sound good & have some merit to both arrangement and production. The core concept here of "minorizing" the Chocobo theme, slowing it down, and using it as a bed for a hip-hop track is really rather sound AND well-executed. You've got the female "backup ho" chorus, the T-Pain'd out "on-a-boat" melodic hook, and a corresponding boatload of in-character, contextual rapping that certainly plays with Final Fantasy lore in new and... unexpected ways. Plus, hell, there's a shout out to yours truly, so I gotta love that. "Gato" worked better as a travesty because of the audience interaction, booing, etc., and I did like the variety of switching between styles because it meant that more arrangement concepts could be worked in than otherwise possible. However, the Divers still managed to construct something original, catchy, and destined to invoke the wrath of those who hold even the quirky Chocobo theme sacrosanct and/or hate rapping of any kind and/or dislike the notion of an amusing track on an FF4 album, because all Final Fantasy must be serious business at all times.
From an objective standpoint, I think the rapping could have been tighter, the cadences a bit more syncopated, and perhaps one additional arrangement concept could have been injected, and I would have been sold just a bit more, but it's still a fun little world unto itself. OA drew some fire for allowing a fairly loose reign on Echoes, and encouraging diversity. Maybe the world would have been better off with a consistent, super-refined, self-similar album of meticulously polished FF4 mixes, but these are well-explored themes already, and I think the breadth and depth in many cases worked as a positive. In either case, they managed to work the word "sublimate" into a rap, and that's an achievement in and of itself. Godspeed, you salty divers!
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the The world needs more music like this. That is all.
Seriously, this needs to be in your playlist.
Download this. NOW.
- 42 on December 14, 2010
I am just left wondering... what exactly does rhyme with Elixir?
- Sorceror Nobody on May 13, 2010
... How on earth did you think of doing this with the theme?
- Elex Synn on April 4, 2010
- Nobbynob Littlun on March 27, 2010
- swordofdestiny on March 22, 2010
But all this said; the occasional mix pulls a fast one on us.
I've decided; I'm going to make the most amazing techno remix with unrecognizable sliver sized samples, have it pass, get it posted with flying reviews, and then reveal that the samples were of me taking a shit.
- Less Ashamed Of Self on March 18, 2010
- MessagesFromEarth on March 17, 2010
- A-RoN on March 17, 2010
Yeah, if anyone gives you flack for this screw em' - we need more mixes like this one on here, lol.
- Gario on March 16, 2010
Master_Yoshi;655562 wrote: Woot! Wet Blanket!
Should I be less serious? Kinda. OCR needs all the positive attention they can get, but when one of the most discussed and widely praised songs on the site's frontpage is this piece of crap... well.... Fine! Be that way! I still get to be an opinion. As long as my blanket isn't infused with smallpox I'll be okay with being the lone voice of dissent.
No, FF tracks don't have to be serious all the time. Tracks don't have to be serious all the time if they are good. I said, Team Gato was fantastic and I loved the hell out of a bunch of the other "Joke" tracks. ROBOVoice was another great one. Oh and I forgot about the Black Market. In order to get praise you should either be GOOD -or- SERIOUS (and good enough for the minimum submission standards.) This is neither. It's trying to be both campy and Indi. Sorry, but OCR doesn't really seem like the place to be both poorly constructed and not taking anything serious.
Honestly though, why does anyone care about some guy with a low post count who doesn't seem plugged into the community. Continue to fap eachother off and have a laugh, and I'll take my wet blanket and give an objective opinion about the track. Objective meaning "Not involved with it other than as that of the listener."
Oh and RE: OLR. Driivin in a Tooyyoooooota. I love that stuff, but... not here.
/me ducks and goes back to hiding, using his wet blanket to give a +1 deflection bonus against flame attacks.
Well, you're definitely entitled to your opinion, mr. blanket. In fact I think one of the positive points about something like this is how it can polarize people. Some see it as sheer camp, other's can abhor its existence. In either case, you gave it a listen, and in the end, I guess that's what music intended to be: listened to.
Now, if you'll excuse me...
*fap fap fap*
- Level 99 on March 15, 2010
Should I be less serious? Kinda. OCR needs all the positive attention they can get, but when one of the most discussed and widely praised songs on the site's frontpage is this piece of crap... well.... Fine! Be that way! I still get to be an opinion. As long as my blanket isn't infused with smallpox I'll be okay with being the lone voice of dissent.
No, FF tracks don't have to be serious all the time. Tracks don't have to be serious all the time if they are good. I said, Team Gato was fantastic and I loved the hell out of a bunch of the other "Joke" tracks. ROBOVoice was another great one. Oh and I forgot about the Black Market. In order to get praise you should either be GOOD -or- SERIOUS (and good enough for the minimum submission standards.) This is neither. It's trying to be both campy and Indi. Sorry, but OCR doesn't really seem like the place to be both poorly constructed and not taking anything serious.
Honestly though, why does anyone care about some guy with a low post count who doesn't seem plugged into the community. Continue to fap eachother off and have a laugh, and I'll take my wet blanket and give an objective opinion about the track. Objective meaning "Not involved with it other than as that of the listener."
Oh and RE: OLR. Driivin in a Tooyyoooooota. I love that stuff, but... not here.
/me ducks and goes back to hiding, using his wet blanket to give a +1 deflection bonus against flame attacks.
- Master_Yoshi on March 15, 2010
- abg on March 15, 2010
Master_Yoshi;655287 wrote: This is awful. Seriously. It was a joke track on the otherwise awesome FF4 project, and I can't believe it was even taken seriously. I mean... honestly. Even as an OCR, how can anyone take this as anything serious? Team Gato has the same problem, but at least Team Gato has good music underlying the silliness.
Everything about this is bad. The rapping is loose, and lacks intelligence. The music underneath is repetitive and boring. Just... No. Maybe this would make sense as an April Fool's day flood, but yeesh.
Alright, let me qualify this a bit. I love team Gato, but because it has actual game lyrics, and great underlying music. As far as Rap goes, I think you can't get any more controversial or awesome than Niggaz For Life, which was amazing. So the rap thing can be done and done well. As other mixes have proved (Including one very recently posted.) So it's not the style or the decision to have some fun that's the problem here. The fact that it is an obvious joke, like Music of My Groin (which is only "awesome" because it's so retarded) is what kills it.
Wow, is just too funny. :lmassoff: I think DJP saw this comment coming. In fact, I'm wondering if you really feel this way or just humoring DJP's comment, because it's way too close to his "too serious" remark.
That being said, I liked it. The lyrics were corny and obviously a parody (although I thought Shiva's part was pretty hot, no pun). I agree that the lyrics could have been tighter, but this is more than I'd expect. The beat was done well with the original theme and I liked the fact that it kept the same weirdness of the original (and probably made it weirder). Yeah, this is probably one of the best themes on the album.
- Crulex on March 15, 2010
