OCR02145 - PaRappa the Rapper "Cookin' with Fire"

[José the Bronx Rican]

now that's what's up

Plus one peeps.

[Level 99]

One word for this: SLIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK. Rhymes are smooth as silk, or rather as smooth as ice cream since this is mostly about food. Great old-school record sound usage and the hook is good. If I had to give a negative criticism is that this feels just a little slow. Like, it feels like the track could just be a tad faster, but that's a personal preference.

Loving how much rap is getting a spotlight on OCR these days.

[Monobrow]

Haha... well holy shit, it's myf.

How ya doin' dude?

I like the low-fi, kids in the hall build, like some dudes hittin' sticks on your cutting board, got some bitchz dancing with the lettuce, and a bunch of dudes hittin' their knives against the plates in hunger .... It's a detailed build. The lyrics are hilarious lol...

[WesternZypher]

You must cook to this. Everything you make will be an instant success.

[Crono3of3time]

Okay. It seems that everyone else who posts here sees this as all "unicorns and rainbows" so, here's what I think.

+

The music, as in the background is great has a nice beat and doesn't get too boring.

The lyrics have obvious amounts of thought put into them, which is nice to know that people are trying to vary their vocabularies here, and the song itself is put together very well.

-

Now... my whole family has played Parappa at least once (thats right parents included) and even with the kitchen lyrics, not one of them even thought once that this song was geared toward Cheap Cheap the Cooking Chicken.

Most remixes have a flow to them that stand out as clear identifiers. In other words if I played a remixed song for you without telling the name of the song or what game the song is from... if you've played the game you should be able to pick out parts of the tune unaided, unless its from some obscure stage that hardly anyone goes to. The only part that this song seems to stick out notably and say "HEY PARAPPA HERE!" is the "Kick Punch" portion, then it's referencing kind of fades out again. I can identify the Cheap Cheap's beat a little after listening to the original song again, but it's still hard to pick out at all.

Another point I'd like to make is that Parappa's songs have a mostly upbeat feel to them, but this one has an overly depressive feeling to it... Although I will admit the negative vibes have complete clearance here because song is a remix. The problem here (to me at least) is that Parappa is all about the emotion mixed in, which might be a good idea to think about when remixing. The beat is a bit too light for depression, and a bit too heavy to be happy, kinda deal.

And finally, a few of the rhymes.. kinda trip over themselves "spinach" and "critics" definitely do not rhyme, and Parappa is all about the over-abundance of rhyme. (taking out the rhyme kind of feels like taking out the bounce from a Mario game). The rhymes that do come don't have a set pattern or positioning flow that I can pick out, as they just kind of pair up whenever. Position flow.. well its not a real term (and I don't know if there is one) but some examples are: 2 lines rhyme 2 lines don't 2 lines do etc etc, and 1st line no rhyme lines 2 & 3 rhyme, 4 doesn't (or rhymes with 1), 5 & 6 rhyme and such. Of course you don't have to go with a pattern, I mean that's what this whole community is about making new frontiers for our favorite music... but eh I feel patterns give some song types more solidification.

Okay, I've said my part for this.. I firmly believe that just saying "it was great" does nothing to help the future development of the music industry.

[ddavis1979]

I have found that most amature rap, especially involving video games is lame.

HOWEVER!!!! This is outstanding. The lyrics are creative and well put together. The song is fun and unique and the rapping can only be described as professional. You really blew me out of the water.

Fantastic job, you need to go to hollywood and make raps for them.

[Martin Penwald]

So much fun wrapped up in one remix. Beats that make you djp, hilarious lyrics, pretty much perfect production.

As far as rap remixes go, this is one of the best.

[Benjamin Briggs]

Sorry, i ain't been around OCR that long so perhaps i didn't know him like everyone else here, but Navi produced AND rapped on this?

...... rah! O_O

yeah dude if someone else were on the track they would have been credited as a remixer

navid is just a BAMF

[A-RoN]

I just caught this now after seeing the other remix by Anti-Syne. I listened to it and I'm beyond impressed! I'm a guy who loves studying rap lyricism and the writing behind this track is so deep that it would even stand as competition to the skills of Big Daddy Kane, Biggie Smalls, DMX, 2Pac, and even Rakim. It seems to me like Navid was able to pull off cooking a brilliant masculine gangsta variation on the story of Julie and Julia in poetry. The two stories seem to collide in a cauldron of heat seeking detail and wordplay that can only be done from one who "developed his own tech to keep the dough fresh." It also provides those wanting to get into the rap game a word of caution as well. It sheds light on the effects of selling out and what happens when you hit rock bottom from fried beef and lack of wisdom when presenting yourself as a rap superstar(plus, was there a play on words regarding what happens when an artist "goes south?" Well played, Navi, very well played). Those lyrics are thought provoking, funny, and can speak on a skyscraper of different levels.

Musically, this track is filthy in a good way! I love that vinyl sound and the voices in the back both in the intro and exit. The gated synth thing in the back works. For some, it can get a bit annoying sometimes but it's not distracting. I like the acoustic bass-ish type patch used here. Sometimes having a natural sounding bass does give the mix a bit more of a organic feel to it and it does help to bring other parts out. The beat is very "thump/snap" but the effects laid on it really flush it out nicely. The beat also switches around quite a bit when it comes to basslines and instrument parts. It shows Navid put tons of work into everything in this remix. All in all, I like the fact that this is very grimey and goes back to the roots of "two turn-tables and a mic." The sad thing is that there's no scratching. This mix could have used some.

I'm going to let people, especially those in my past who know me, in on an honest note here. I'm not going to judge a hip-hop song or album on the amount of profanity or the fact that there's sex drugs violence and all that other stuff. I'm over that now. I'm looking for lyrical substance. I want a track to PREACH A GOSPEL TO ME. I'm looking for a track that sticks to what hip-hop really is (from the streets, not the nightclubs). This tracks not only delivers ALL of that; it serves twenty course meals on a large French hotel platter to one individual.

This rap track is probably one of the best raps to ever hit OCR and deserves higher than 1000 out of 10. This explosive track destroys every other VG raps out there. Enough said.

Edit: Also listened to his stuff on Bandcamp, there's hit and misses to me but it's worth your money.

[Crulex]

Rap with a tasty flavor, huh? Well, that's just delicious. I do hear some of RZA influence at some points with the flow of the lyrics and I have to agree that this is one of the most sound hip hop ReMixes I've heard on OCR so far. Punch, kick, it's all in the mind, and if you listen to this ReMix you'll see it's one of a kind!

[DurtyWilly]

I've been listening to this on my playlist for years, I'm kind of embarrassed to finally comment on it now.

It embodies the spirit of the game's story as well as the cadence and drive of the song from that level of PTR.

Thematically well done, as well as just kicking ass if it was a standalone song.

[Liontamer]

This track is the hottest fire known to man.

FIRE!