It seems that Nintendo surprised everyone when it revealed that Donkey Kong Bananza would be bringing back the infamous “DK Rap” as one of its tunes. No one was more surprised than the song’s composer, former Rare employee Grant Kirkhope. Having composed the song over 25 years ago and regretting it ever since, Kirkhope jokingly said to Eurogamer yesterday, “Well, what can I say, the worst rap track in the history of rap tracks seems to be back again!”
The history of the “DK Rap” isn’t too complicated, but initial critics responded swiftly and fiercely. Kirkhope has repeatedly said that fans rejected the song, and Nintendo appeared to want to hide it. However, something must have changed recently, because the “DK Rap” will appear in Donkey Kong Bananza and it featured in a pivotal scene in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Movie, to which Kirkhope was, sadly, not credited.
“It’s so bizarre that people seem to like it now considering the backlash that I got when DK64 first came out,” Kirkhope explained to Eurogamer, “nobody seemed to get the joke except me… haha… I’ve only had to wait 25 years for that to happen! Actually, I think that little kids got the joke but the cool teenagers didn’t.” Joking further, Kirkhope added, “My tombstone will read, ‘Here lies the body of Grant Kirkhope, he wrote the DK Rap and the Goldeneye Pause Music’… Nothing else will matter!!”
Donkey Kong Bananza is set to release for the Switch 2 on July 17th, 2025. It will feature co-op play and GameShare capabilities to the original Switch console.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
