OCR01125 - Astérix (NES) "Niggaz 4 Life"

[MkVaff]

MORE RAP MIXES, PEOPLE!

That's quite an uphill battle. Nice sentiment tho...

[Leon K.]

Mullenkamp put my thoughts more eloquently than I did =/

[Cer_ber_uS]

shouldn't it work like any other mp3?

Well, it doesn't actually save to my desktop, and I can't get it to save anyways. That is, unless I save the shortcut, but I'm not sure if that'd work, since it's only a shortcut.

Stop calling each other a word that was used to subjugate, your, my, ancestors. Stop referring to yourselves by the same degrading term that was spat out by countless ignorant women, children, and men. Stop it. Grow up. It's not cool. It's not smart. It's one of the dumbest things we could ever do because it helps cover up the vile and bleak history of that term. It helps people kind of...cover it up so much easier when you veil the truly hideous meaning behind the all of this ignorant hoopla. My gosh, stop making it so much easier for people to accept such a word into proper society. We're better then this. We have more sense than this. The people who died, the people who worked so hard to secure our equality would turn in their graves ever so slightly and maybe more so if they saw what we were doing, how we're forgetting something so important; the ignorance, the bleak and terrible history behind such a word, and the shadow of despair that comes from it.

I love how you and everyone else complain to Zyko and everyone else that was a part of this song, yet you don't complain to the people who actually make money off of the word. Are these guys getting money for saying a supposedly (not meaning that it's not, just context-wise) derogitory term? Not that I can see.

Christ, it's a word. Words have meanings by the context that they're used in. You can use the word "fuck" in several different contexts. This is no different, especially since they already explained the context they used it in. That said, (and the fact that, on the front page, it says, and I quote, "My personal take has always been that words themselves shouldn't be offensive - the ideas and intentions behind them should, and clearly the ideas and intentions in this mix are groovy, rhythmical, and decidedly not racist in any way", which shows exactly what I'm trying to say), Zyko and his "Niggaz" aren't racist. At all. So lets all understand the point of why they wrote this song, and not care about a couple of words in the song that several other people use in the same context every day (unless, of course, you'll be complaining to them as well).

[Mullenkamp]

I love how you and everyone else complain to Zyko and everyone else that was a part of this song, yet you don't complain to the people who actually make money off of the word. Are these guys getting money for saying a supposedly (not meaning that it's not, just context-wise) derogitory term? Not that I can see.

I love how you totally, and completely misread or ignore parts of my post that invalidate your argument. In the same paragraph you quoted from me, I'm not talking about Zyko, I'm not talking about anyone who had anyting to do with the song. In fact, in that same paragraph I'm talking about black people who use the word, so, really, I think you should read my posts a bit more concisely before you making such statements.

Look, I don't have a problem with Zyko. Hence the reason why I never once complained about him personally despite what you believe. He hasn't done anything to really incur a large amount of my displeasure. He made a song. My whole post is discussing black people and how we need to change, and how if we don't change our deformed context of the word, people like you are going to assume it's okay to say it.

In fact:

Stop covering how stupid we're being in general by celebrating the word in our hip-hop videos that succeed in immortializing the excesses of the world and stop making things like drugs, guns, and gangs glisten that when they should be dull. Stop making the dregs of society look like their trophies which should be glorified.

You seem to have totally missed that part, the part that clearly states what you say I didn't. I don't like the fact that people throw the word out like it's something great, when really it deserves to be dead and buried.

Christ, it's a word. Words have meanings by the context that they're used in. You can use the word "fuck" in several different contexts. This is no different, especially since they already explained the context they used it in. That said, (and the fact that, on the front page, it says, and I quote, "My personal take has always been that words themselves shouldn't be offensive - the ideas and intentions behind them should, and clearly the ideas and intentions in this mix are groovy, rhythmical, and decidedly not racist in any way", which shows exactly what I'm trying to say), Zyko and his "Niggaz" aren't racist. At all. So lets all understand the point of why they wrote this song, and not care about a couple of words in the song that several other people use in the same context every day (unless, of course, you'll be complaining to them as well).

Alright. Did I every say Zyko was racist? No. I did not. I don't think he's racist, I don't believe people who use the word are racist; I just think they are misguided, the same way people who wave the Confederate flag around and wear it say it's just celebrating their "Southern heritage" are misguided. A heritage of treason and selfishness, but a heritage nonetheless I suppose.

I don't have a problem with Zyko. He wasn't ever mentioned in my first post in this topic. At all. Most of my post dealt with complaining to Africa-American people at large who make people like you talk about context instead of understanding a very simple truth: There's only one context that word was originally used for, and that conext is a lot more degrading than anything any curse word can be in my opinion. It has a history that's as dark as the bowels of the human soul. It's very existence and usage for over a hundred years, mainly, was dependent on the ignorance of humanity. It's a tie that binds humanity to the worst and blackest spot of it's history, and if not that, at least the worst and most infamous, and senseless point of American history.

No offense, and I don't mean to be rude or anything, but it seems like your being single-minded, mainly because you seem to be limiting my last post to the song. I'm not focusing on the song. I'm focusing on how shocked I was at how some posters seem to believe that it's an "okay" word nowadays because some black people, for some reason, have decided to use it in a positive context. The word has no other contect, racist people have assured of that, and society doesn't need to try to change the wickedness of the word. It's wickedness can never be erased, and it shouldn't be. It should be remembered, as a bleak reminder of how horrid humanity's ignorance can be, so that we may never return to our savage ways. If we try to superficially change that, humanity is doomed to follow the same path of damnation again and again.

The word's context shouldn't be changed so white people can think it's okay to say, and I'll be darned if any self-respecting black man should believe the word to be a part of his daily vocabulary.

To be frank; I don't care what anyone says about contexts in the case of this word. Look back to my past post for a good example of what I'm saying. I said that the word idiot is always going to be an insult. There's no other context for the word. It's an insult. The word nigger, nigga, or however some people want to change it around so as to feel it's "better" is the same way. It's an insult. It's not a word anyone should be using in a song. It's not a word we should find to be acceptable.

I seriously don't think you read my last post very well, so please do so. Don't skim by it, don't judge it half way through. Read it. Otherwise, I'm left saying the same thing's I already said.

It's not that hard of a concept to grasp. I'm not going to make a song called "Crackers 4 Life" and I'm not going to go up to every white person I see and say, "My Cracker."

Geez, the word's insensitive and degragatory by it's nature. Deal with it folks, and throw out all this meaningless banter about context. Maybe if some of the racist white ancestors of America hadn't been so arrogant as to deem so people less then them based on the color of their skin, you could, but they didn't. So too bad.

[Liontamer]

It should be noted Mullenkamp that if you don't have issue with zyko, especially regarding this mix, then your entire post regarding the self-degredation of blacks is rather off-topic. So just understand that when you post something like that directly in the ReView thread, even when you preface it as off-topic, it's bound to be interpreted as you having issues directly related to this ReMix. In any case, it's really best to keep discussion focused on the ReMix, and take any broader issues to the Politics, Philosophy & Religion forum.

[Cer_ber_uS]

Alright, I admit my mistake at jumping the gun, thinking you had a prob with Zyko. And I apologize for it. But I am gonna have to agree with Liontamer on this one.

I just think they are misguided, the same way people who wave the Confederate flag around and wear it say it's just celebrating their "Southern heritage" are misguided. A heritage of treason and selfishness, but a heritage nonetheless I suppose.

I completely agree with that statement. It's sad that a white kid in my school can walk up to a bunch of black kids, say "Wassup, nigga?", and the black people don't care, meaning the white guy gets away with it. What the hell is up with that? It makes no sense whatsoever.

And now I'm directing that last statement aimed at Mullenkamp at the people who actually have a problem with Zyko and have a problem with this song. Again Mullenkamp, I apologize for jumping the gun.

[MkVaff]

It's sad that a white kid in my school can walk up to a bunch of black kids, say "Wassup, nigga?", and the black people don't care, meaning the white guy gets away with it. What the hell is up with that? It makes no sense whatsoever.

It has to do with intent. Not everyone is hung up on the past and history and how things once were. Some people are wrapped up in some superficial idea of respect when in essence it goes much deeper than using (or not using) certain vocabulary. With the minority friends and coworkers I spend a lot of my time with, our "racist" differences are much more of a joke these days than anything that separates us.

Regardless, if anything it's best to remember that with any music, especially music with lyrics, what you get out of it has a lot to do with your own experiences, culture, and upbringing. I heard this remix and I found no hint of anything offensive with it at all. Unfortunately, some people feel differently. But so long as the original intent of the artist is nothing negative (which has already been discussed), It should be viewed as an expression and as art. As with any art, any number of people can extract any number of ideas from it, but what people read into the song should not override what was originally intended. If we get into censoring and removing songs like this because of reasons like that we'll have censorship issues and an artist focused site, this should be one of the last places where problems like that take place.

My apologies for derailing this review thread a bit. I believe this remix, in addition to being great, is an important precedent in content and should remind us that opinions are important, but freedom of expression is also very important with developing artists.

[Navi]

and with that, i'm ending this discussion. like larry said, let's stick to reviews.

if there is a continued interest in this discussion, i implore you guys to make a thread in PPR and discuss this further. Many people have opinions on language and what's offensive and what isn't (myself included) and if this song can spark further discussion, i'd be glad to participate in it - in the proper context.

please keep this thread for reviews from now on. if need be, i'll talk to dave about editing a link to a "language discussion" thread in the writeup.

thanks guys!

[zykO]

http://www.ocremix.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2171976#2171976

moving on.

[ubernym]

I've never played an Asterix game, but this is one of my favorite ReMixes on the site.

[A-RoN]

There's only one group of people to blame in the present time for everyone's apparent ability to push it off as something that isn't a big deal; the African-American community at large. Stop calling each other a word that was used to subjugate, your, my, ancestors. Stop referring to yourselves by the same degrading term that was spat out by countless ignorant women, children, and men. Stop it. Grow up. It's not cool. It's not smart. It's one of the dumbest things we could ever do because it helps cover up the vile and bleak history of that term. It helps people kind of...cover it up so much easier when you veil the truly hideous meaning behind the all of this ignorant hoopla. My gosh, stop making it so much easier for people to accept such a word into proper society. We're better then this. We have more sense than this. The people who died, the people who worked so hard to secure our equality would turn in their graves ever so slightly and maybe more so if they saw what we were doing, how we're forgetting something so important; the ignorance, the bleak and terrible history behind such a word, and the shadow of despair that comes from it.

We need to make it where white people, and everyone stops thinking it's okay to say the word at all. No, that "Do as I say..." and "It's different because he's not black" crap is not going to fly, and rightfully so. Stop covering how stupid we're being in general by celebrating the word in our hip-hop videos that succeed in immortializing the excesses of the world and stop making things like drugs, guns, and gangs glisten that when they should be dull. Stop making the dregs of society look like their trophies which should be glorified.

We've failed as a people if we can't even remember a terrible emblem of the past injustices that have befallen us, and as a result of that, we've allowed others to slowly, but surely become hardened and insensitive towards realizing the truth; the word has become inherently degragatory, as it's past nature has been dominated by the ignorance of the white people who used it, and determined to use it as a way to subjugate people they spat on as they themselves sat on their sorry behind's, sipping lemonade and generally being lazy, and perhaps wholly pathetic people I can feel almost nothing for contempt for. We can't let this get any further than it already has.

This thread is about a song of all things, not my overbearing rants about African-American culture, and how, somehow, we've helped revive a word that should be dead and buried in the annals of history as a word that only represents how far the ignorance and arrogance of humankind can go. I wouldn't have made a huge deal about it if I hadn't read Sinewav's post. That's the real engine behind this machine. It's a perfect example of how badly we've all screwed up. We've got white people viewing the word as ok now. It all starts with that. If the majority of white people deem something to be ok, it won't be long before this all spreads like some infectious disease. It needs to end, and it needs to be said; the connotations behind that word has not changed, the meaning behind it did not change during the 150 or so years African-Americans were in bondage, it's innate ability to summon up horrid memories of what our ancestors experienced did not change during the time it took for our ancestors to gain equality for us in the present day. It took us so long to gain ground, and now we're going to make people say "The truth is that the word "nigger" is a very context sensitive word and has changed in meaning." and actually believe it? Geez, have we learned anything?

It's a horrid word. Don't let the guise of misguided use of it shield you from the truth. It's a mark of shame, and nothing else. You can use it for a different purpose, but you can't change that. If I use crap instead of glue to keep something together, it might work, but it's still going to smell pretty bad. If you use the word as a subsitute of friendship, it might work, you might, horrifically, make the person believe it's okay to use the word, but I doubt that there won't be someone who can simply taste the bitterness, the history of the word, the tragic venom of a snake forcing all the progress we've made slipping away through our own idiocy.

The word shouldn't be in songs, it shouldn't be in common language, and it shouldn't be considered appropritate. I'm ashamed that I almost succumbed to that same venomous snake that so many other people did, people who throw the word out every day, who think it's okay, when it so clearly is not. It may seem blurred, but keep staring at the image a little while longer, and you'll see there is nothing in the word by cruelty and sorrow, accompanied by the stench of ignorance.

It's not okay.

It is a good song, I agree. I do think the word should be substituted as well, so I agree to an extent, but please...send a letter to every single hip-hop company instead of a poor Egyptian who actually produces good music who hasn't even made it as big as 50 Cent or Dr. Dre?

PS Check out my review of River City Rap by joecam and crew, and realize you made a serious mistake that's similiar to mine.

Never attack the hype if you want to avoid embarrassment. Again, I do agree with you. There must be some other way to counter this "rap" culture. I'm still trying to find an answer though. If anyone has advise, give it to me.

[Zipp]

We're trying to move away from the arguement concerning whether the word should be replaced or not. Let's not go back there.

It was one the legends of Jazz who said that a song is good music if you can't help but tap your foot to it. The fact that I started singing this out loud at my place of business when in fact I really dislike rap is a sign that this is a good song.

It's a little dated in style, and I actually think that the random useage of Mother Fucker detracts more from it artistically than Nigger, but it's a good song nonetheless.

[Navi]

It's a little dated in style, and I actually think that the random useage of Mother Fucker detracts more from it artistically than Nigger, but it's a good song nonetheless.

Nigga. Not nigger.

Anyways, its been some time since I posted about how much I enjoy this song. It still ranks in my toplist of VGRemixes. Great stuff from Ubik and zyko.

[Zipp]

It's a little dated in style, and I actually think that the random useage of Mother Fucker detracts more from it artistically than Nigger, but it's a good song nonetheless.

Nigga. Not nigger.

Right, gotcha

[zpeterz63]

The actual verses aren't that bad, but I was far from impressed with the chorus. Sounded to me like the rapper was just some kid who was trying desperately to be "ghetto" and therefore had to say "nigga" every other word because that's what gangstas do. I give this 2 out of 5 sporks.

[PumaJones]

I just remember snickering at the title of this remix as I downloaded it. But yes, I was suprised and impressed by the remix itself. Well done.

[Kozmo]

very creative and well executed. I like the cleverness of the lyrics. The key change was a bit questionable-- i dont think that it worked because after the key change the tone and mood seemed off

[Bobwillis]

This is great. It reminds me of a bastardized version of the song they sing in the Splash Mountain Ride at Disneyland.

[k u n g f u c h i c k e n]

Dude, I'm reading these lyrics again, zyko, you're a beast.

[Goten X]

I actually liked this song as well. I laughed a bit when I read the title, too. I knew it wouldn't be bad, for some reason, but I'm glad I listened to it: it proves there is WAY more than just one way to remix a song.

|GX

[The Xyco]

I won't admit to being the biggest rap fan on the planet. In fact, there has been many a time when I've pulled up next to a Mustang rolling with a full body kit pounding with "bootybootybooty" and I've wanted to roll my windows down shouting "Turn that shit off!"

However, this ReMix has really changed my mind about the genre. It's fun, funky, and all around a really enjoyable song that I love to listen to at work, home, and in the car. It really made me respect rap a whole lot, and actually got me to start listening to it on a fairly regular basis. Of course, living in the South in a predominately white upper-class neighborhood within a relatively segregated city and driving a Volkswagen, I can't exactly roll down the windows blaring "YA'LL MY NIGGAZ" without having to dodge some bullets, but I still love to listen to this ReMix. It's highly original in concept and production, and stands as what I consider to be a milestone in OCR's evolution right up there with Little Mac's Confession and Squaresoft Variation.

[BlueMage]

Best part is, if it wasn't for all the whoohar about the N-bomb in this track, I probably wouldn't have ever listened to it (never played Asterix as a child )

That said, sweet track. Obelix's section is by far my favourite, but the whole track's a winner.

[Koelsch1]

You think the N word is bad, check out what happens when you play the track bacwards.

http://www.home.no/koelsch1vgm/zyko-N4L-reverse.mp3

Thats right. Clear as day, Zyko yells out HUGE TESTICLES!

[watkinzez]

You think the N word is bad, check out what happens when you play the track bacwards.

http://www.home.no/koelsch1vgm/zyko-N4L-reverse.mp3

Thats right. Clear as day, Zyko yells out HUGE TESTICLES!

[Omatic]

I used to be a fan of rap, but I got away from it pretty much because of stuff like this. It's creative, and I can appreciate it for that aspect, but I wouldn't promote it as a "must-listen to". It's a well done OC Remix.

As for the title, there's really no need for it. I can see the satire in it (Asterix and Obelik are two vikings), but it seems to cause too much controversy, taking away from the song's greatness or lack thereof. As a black male myself, I was dismayed at the title, and found it to be a dumb decision, albeit not exactly offensive.

Although I wonder what would have happened if the song title had been "Crackaz fo' Life"...