belf-rap
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WoW Moviewatch: Ya I'm On It
Here's a list of names I bet many of you didn't expect to see any time soon. Ya I'm On It is a rap by Turel, featuring the Druidboyz and Gigi! The astounding video is by that incredible Khayllys, wrapping us all up in a return to that good old WoW rap feel. It's been a while and I'm glad to see the folks revisiting the well for a little while. While I'm not ready to see belf rap return it a full resurgence, I admit I felt a pang of nostalgia at seeing some of those old bold, joyfully-Horde vibes return. There was always a very strong sense of pride -- bot in the game, but also in faction -- that was put to music by these folks. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Level
Gigi's back! Letomi and Gigi teamed up to perform Level, a parody of the song Hello. Khallys created the machinima. While part of me feels wistful that Gigi's return isn't the herald of a new age of belf rap, I enjoyed Level on its own right. Khallys put together an astounding music video for the song. Frenetic and fast-paced, the video adds visual flair to a somewhat repetitive song. I hope this means we'll be seeing more from Gigi and Letomi. The time is ripe for some panda music! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Lean Like a Forum Troll
Whoah, y'all. We haven't seen one of these in a long time. Could Lean Like a Forum Troll herald the return of belf rap? (Important note: Few belfs appear in this video, and none of them really rap. It's just what it's called.) I can't evaluate the music, really. I have the faint notion that I probably should recognize the song from ... somewhere ... but I couldn't place it. I get that it's a parody of Lean Like a Cholo, but that's not terribly informative to me. I definitely notice that it's Alliance-biased, instead of the inevitable Horde-flavor you usually get with rap parodies. So that's cool. The video's good stuff and the lyrics feel earnestly written; it was just slapped together because some words have the same number of syllables. All in all, it's nice to see some belf rap get back in the saddle. My hat's off to Xylan and Soulbound, with a solid nod to Khayllys for the machinima work. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: How 2 BE Raps
All things must pass -- good things, bad things. There was a time in machinima when you couldn't swing a murloc without hitting a blood elf rapper. Oh, sure, not all WoW parody raps used blood elves, but it sure felt that way. So we called it belf rap. It's a thing. While plenty of folks loathed belf rap, that time has mostly come to an end. We don't see much belf rap nowadays. In case you're not sure what it took to put together a good belf rap, let me remind you of Yumfries's classic deconstructionist piece on the genre: How 2 BE Raps. Gigi hasn't been around much, but she was definitely a defining part of the genre. We don't hear from Yumfries much nowadays, either, which is about as big a tragedy as I can imagine. So this one's for my friend Yumfries and all those belf rappers still who've come before. Hope everyone's doing well. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Nub Tales ep. 6.2: How 2 BE Raps
Nub Tales ep. 6.2: How 2 BE Raps is going to be a favorite of mine for a long, long time. Not only does it have the same kind of tongue-in-cheek humor to which we are accustomed, but it also features Yumfries' own skill with mixing and making music. And just to make this even more epic, it features Gigi. No, really, Gigi did a guest spot in a parody of belf rap. I continue to love Yumfries and his work with Nub Tales. The series is focused on both the game of WoW and the community that surrounds it. This combination makes the series a little more interesting than if it were just slamming Blizzard all that time; you get a good sense of involvement and interaction. Gigi often gets a bad rap (get it?), so I think it's a huge gesture of class that she appeared in this video. Hopefully it might a few critics of her work a little less vitriolic to see that she's willing to laugh at herself. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at machinima@wow.com.
WoW Moviewatch: Icecrown Raiding
I have a confession. I not only stop, but I also collaborate and listen. In fact, back in my high school days, I was known to go crazy when when I heard a cymbal and a hi-hat with a souped-up tempo. Hey, it's kind of timely. I totally had my gleek on when Mr. Shue busted out Ice Ice Baby last week. With that information, it's understandable that I instantly fell in love with Icecrown Raiding by Propostris and Bloodvein Movies. Both the lyrics and video did an amazing job capturing that original classic by Mr. Van Winkle. Of course, the parody is obviously tailored towards World of Warcraft. In that sense, I think Icecrown Raiding will help forge a new way for night elf rap, making Propostris a new contender for the WoW-rap throne inhabited by belf rap. Ultimately, this is a fun video. I guess if you don't see any irony or fun in Vanilla Ice, then you probably won't dig it. That being said, if you have any embarassed fun left in your heart for the Running Man, you'll definitely enjoy it. Be sure to note the cityscape behind the performers; it's a dead-on homage to the original video! Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: Cool Story Breh
This new piece by Asiko, Gigi, and Nation is a response to the bajillion ... anti-fans of their work. (What's the word for someone diametrically opposed to a fan? I don't want to say detractor or troll or such, since those words have much different connotations. Anti-fan it is, I guess.) A lot of this video boils down to the message that "you might hate us, but we're successful anyway." Unto the anti-fans they say, Cool Story Breh. One of the interesting things about belf rap, though, is that it is successful. While there's something about the genre that drives many people insane, traffic and subscriptions to those folks' YouTube channels, videos, and webpages tend to be pretty high. For all that commenters and reviewers often dislike belf rap, they get pagehits and a very large audience. And I know from observation and personal experience that very few people bust their hump as hard as Gigi to work with new folks, bring new artists into the light, and try and get traffic to struggling machinimators. And while rap (or belf rap) certainly isn't my bag of tea, I definitely respect her attributes in that regard. Edit: Due to oversight on my part, I wanted to make sure I pointed out that WoPairs is the machinimator behind this piece. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: Emerald Dream
Emerald Dream is a big collaboration move created about a half dozen machinima personalities. The lyrics were written by Gigi, who obviously also did a large number of the vocals. But you can also hear Sharm and Princess Superstar performing in this piece. Other collaborators include Bloodvein Movies, WoPairs, Teagen and Kam. The video is in part intended to bring some attention to snowleopard.org, so take a moment and go check out that site after you've seen the video. Emerald Dream is a pretty interesting music video, and I think it definitely grows the "belf rap" genre by leaps and bounds. The music is refreshingly original, although I'm sure as soon as I say that someone will point out that I don't recognize the original version. Even if that's the case, the lyrics and beat were both intriguing. I felt like the overall narrative was much stronger than most music videos, and it definitely raises the bar for these performers. The video was obviously beautiful. I think if we were to ever see the Emerald Dream archetypified in the game, this must be how it will look. My hat's off to the machinimators who created this video. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: I Dislike Bloodelf Rap
If you were to ask Wowcrendor how he feels about Belf Rap, I'm pretty sure he'd tell you I Dislike Bloodelf Rap. It's just not his favorite genre. However, he's encountered enough folks who's told him to try it out himself that he finally did so. Really, though, from what I understand, Wowcrendor's mostly challenging other machinimators to try out story-based machinima instead of simply music videos. Whatever the story behind this video, however, I found it to be a lot of fun. The visuals aren't exactly amazing, but I believe that was part of the point. Wowcrendor pulled out some great lyrical skills, though. It's funny, amusing, keeps time, and carries the same hallmark sense of humor that you see in his other movies. I'm definitely interested to see if anyone answers this video with another piece of machinima. A lot of art works best when it's in conversation with other creators' pieces, so I think we could see some really fun stuff if someone does answer Wowcrendor's challenge. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: 5Cap
It's been awhile since we've been able to enjoy any of the "Belf Rap" genre, so I was actually pretty happy to see a new work up on Myndflame. 5Cap is a quick rap piece by Abandonation (one of the "Druid Boyz"), animated and put to video by Red Eye Lobine. We actually saw the preview piece back in April, but the final music video has been completed.5Cap has the same excellent graphics that we've come to expect from Red Eye. The machinimator really has an eye for detail, and astounding skills in making even Blood Elves feel "gritty" and "real." I would caution against over-exemplifying the main character as an all-powerful hero, but I do have to yield that kind of characterization is part of the hip-hop genre. Still, the undefeated nature of the video's protagonist felt a little unbelievable to me. Abandonation really shows off some lyrical skill here. I liked the words, flow, and tempo of the song. He was clearly able to master the incredibly fast pace, while still carefully pronouncing each word in a comprehensible way. My only criticism of the song is that it's sometimes hard to hear how well Abandonation is mastering the poetry, because his voice gets obfuscated by the music.Ultimately, 5Cap is pretty neat, and I hope this pair continues to grow their projects. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
WoW Moviewatch: Honor Killz by A6
I'll admit that I got to preview some of this new video, courtesy of Gigi. Long story short, the Hall of Fame of Belf Rap have come together to form a machinima rap supergroup called A6. (That's for Azerothian 6, you see.) Backed up by the awesome machinimator Red Eye Lobine, A6 has now released their first video -- Honor Killz.The video itself is amazing. Red Eye has really put together a gorgeous video here. His attention to detail, his sense of setting and framing, and his detailed character work have created an incredible music video. I've never seen the blood elf models look so dynamic and interesting. His animation of the video's skit-within-a-movie was astounding, with a great sense of space and flow. (He also wisely executed an editorial bikini during the shower scene.)The music itself was pretty good. I'm not a rap guru, so I can't evaluate it in terms of skill. However, I find the conglomerate of six people working the lyrics and tune to be very interesting. The way the song "talks" to itself made it something more than just a parody song.As I mentioned, there was a skit within the video. I think the skit has a lot of personality, and was pretty amusing. It was definitely a good call to add some narrative content in the video, which helps provide its audience a sense of A6's relationship. They're not just a one time team-up, but people who know one another in some capacity.Ultimately, "Honor Killz" is a worthy opening for the group. Let's see what they do next.Check out Honor Killz by A6 for yourself on Myndflame.
WoW Moviewatch: Breaking
X Cross says that he created Breaking as a way to overcome his fear of Blood Elves. It's his first music video, which makes this solid, satisfying movie an impressive feat. ("Music" is the operative word there, since X Cross has obviously done other work.) I'm not sure I understand what he means by fear of blood elves. Maybe that's why his first video, Kippo's X-Mas, didn't feature that waifish mainstay of modern machinima. (I think gnomes would have been a wiser choice anyway, even if the model selection was based on some secret belfophobia.)Like I said, the video for "Breaking" is solid and satisfying. I'm not sure it vastly redefines anything about the way WoW rock videos work, but it definitely exemplifies the genre. The hardcore band members writhe appropriately on stage, and there's enough elements of "metal" to make me want to throw the horns. I like the lighting, the blur effects, and the prominent machismo of the characters.The backdrop "action" of the video features of blood elf woman seducing and killing several different men. She shape-changes from "fleshy belf" to "undead belf" several times. I think X Cross was wise to avoid completely explaining that action inside the video, as it lets the audience play with its meaning against the song's lyrics.Overall, this is a pretty good piece. I look forward to the next X Cross video.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch .
WoW Moviewatch: 5 Cap by Abandonation
If you've been following the emergence of the "Belf Rap" genre, then you're already somewhat familiar with Abandonation. He's done collaborations already with Nyhm, Gigi, and other similarly-inclined artists. While working on other upcoming projects, Abandonation hooked up with a new machinimist who goes by Red Eye Lobine. Red Eye, of course, is the chap who put out the awesome preview for his own work, Frontline. (That song is actually performed by the rock band Pillar, but the gorgeous animation is all done by Red Eye.)This is another preview video, so be warned that it cuts off a little abruptly. That being said, I think the preview provides a very strong feel for what the final video will be like. Abandonation is responsible for the music, and Red Eye for the video itself.The music basically works for me. The soundtrack itself seems to get louder and softer without warning, and can be distracting from the lyrics. I chalk that up to being a preview, and not a finished production. I like the fast paced lyrics and clear skill Abandonation shows in mastering them.I think Red Eye is creating a very clear, distinctive style for his videos. The attention to each character's models, flattering shots, and sort of gritty, inner city backgrounds give the otherwise "fabulous" Blood Elves a more down-to-earth feel. The video's exciting, and I can't wait to see the finished project. As I've said before, I think this collaborative group is doing a lot to bring a new genre to machinima. I'd really like to see them succeed.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ..
