djpretzel Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 NOTICE DJ PRETZEL: THIS IS A VERY IMPORTANT AND INCREDIBLE SONG!!! PLEASE LISTEN IMMEDIATELY! Ok...that's out of the way...now to the email... Alright DJP... I'm new to the whole submitting thing, so if I do something a bit wrong, forgive me... This might be one of the only times you see me submit, but I promise it's worth your while... I dont know exactly what you want to use as a description, but I might as well include the credits... Beats: po! Vox: Cam, Flik, Roggah, AE, mp, Shael Mixed & Produced by po! Directed by Cam & po! Written, Created, Performed by: Joe Cammisa, Chris Serani, Posu Yan, Alex Esquivel, Matt Pollard, Roger Matthews, Shael Riley Created for River City Rumble by X-Strike Studios. www.x-strikestudios.com In other news, my ReMixer name is "Cam" or "joe_cam" whichever you prefer... email: joecam@joecam.net website: www.joecam.net Chris "Flik" Serani Remixer name: Flik website: www.fanbook.net I know that there's usually protocol for posting songs, but I think you should give this song a look right away... And with the talent involved here, how can you pass this up? I mean come on... AE, po! and Pollard all working together on one track alongside Roger Matthews, Shael Riley, Flik and I? Win. Peace, Cam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protricity Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Alright, apparently the song is from track 6 of the nsf. This is gonna be another toughy. One of those guideline-refreshing submissions. The melody used was severly simplified and seldom used. Majority of the song involves so-so rap regarding everything from vgmix to magfest to the singer's girlfriends to something called xstrike. There are a few ambiguous lyrics involving some issues in the game. Edit: whoops. guess I was wrong about cindy. Apparently shes a character in the game. Overall, the problem I'm seeing is that this is more or less just a rap song. The minimal addition of the simplified original game tune, not changed at all, is pretty much just an excuse for the song to be called a game remix. Had the squarewave riff not been in there, no one would have noticed that anything was missing. If you took a remix like niggaz 4 life, or Knuckles Unknown from MC and removed the music it would be a different song. The change would be evident. Those two mixes were built around their songs, and had everything a good remix encompasses (and this song has nothing on niggaz' rap quality either). My main problem here is that by accepting this song, we would be opening up a new field of play for what is and isn't allowed. Basically any song with the slightest shred of resemblence to the original song would have to be allowed as long as its good. This would include the recent rejection of 'Sweet Games' which was quite a few par above this one. Simply wouldn't be fair. NO For next time, go for more of a remix or at least a rearrangement. Cant accept a mix based on popularity, novelty, association, or how much someone thinks it should be on this site etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Gonna chime in here. First, lemme say that this is some good rapping. I don't care much for the language in the context, but to each his own. I think that overall, its a really nice song. However, I must agree with Prot on this one. I sat down and listened to the original NSF file for this game, and noticed that the track continues for about a minute and a half before repeating; it's got a fair amount of material. I think that what you've got just isn't enough. I find myself wishing thoughout the song that you could have worked more of the original's music into this piece; it's a neat little track with some cool syncopation. Seems to me you just lifted the chord progression and about 8 bars of the original and dropped in the back of some good vocalizations. I'm going to say NO, but I want you to know that this piece was really cool, and I really enjoyed it personally. It's just that as far as guidelines go, it may be too loose an interpretation of the source music. Nice work, to be sure; please don't be discouraged, and remember, it's not personal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 Congratulations to all those involved for pulling off something like this. Pretty unique mix, for what it is. Outside the solid rap work, the background material is very lacking and repetitive. A sign of a good rap arrangement would need to have strong supporting material, like the two mixes prot mentioned. To me this feels more like a piece of music inspired by rather than an arrangement of. OCR's position on these kinds of mixes have been summed up by the previous votes. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny B Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 I enjoy this song on so many levels. I think the flows are sick, the background is as close to gangsta rap as i think the vg community could get to in a long time. Especially considering it was produced by a gang of pasty white boys (with some high-profile minorities thrown in for good measure). But given what I know about OCR policy at this point, I can't pass it. I think this tune is so good in its own way, but unfortunately it falls victim to guidelines that filter out 99% of the crap, and 1% of those works questionable on matters of procedure. But I can't reject it, as I find that the rapping and production value is of sufficient quality for me personally to consider it an adept re-arrangement. It gets its job done with vocal attacks and poignant additions and subtractions at pivotal points in the flow. Rap is a more complex art form than many will have you believe. And this track is a masterpiece. Fuckin' playa hatas. I plead da FIF -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital Coma Posted April 28, 2004 Share Posted April 28, 2004 A couple chords and simple looped beat with awkward rapping overlaid doesn't make a substantial rearrangement. Very little of the original track was even used here; I agree with Gray when he says this is more of an "inspired by" song than a remix we could post on this site. The chords and beat are beyond minimal to the point of simplistic, and much of the freestyling sounds stilted and amateurish. This is a song in which the people involved obviously had fun with, yet its musicality is lacking and the arrangement is almost nonexistent. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djpretzel Posted May 1, 2004 Author Share Posted May 1, 2004 Despite the obvious amount of effort and talent that went into this, it nevertheless comes off and - I would say - *is* more of an excuse to rap than an interpretation of the original piece. There's nothing wrong with that, and it's yielded some interesting and enjoyable results here, but ultimately whereas pieces like Asterix and Knuckles from MC are more video game music arrangements that happen to have rapping in them, this is rapping that happens to have a little bit of video game music in it. The discrepancy might seem subtle or arbitrary to some, but I believe that it exists and that the other members of the judges panel who have indicated as much believe so as well and are judging with that perspective in mind. Still fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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