Yes, as we reported on Wednesday, the DK Rap is back in Donkey Kong Bananza, which as we all know is a very good thing indeed!
However, one (perhaps expected, on past evidence) little wrinkle is that Grant Kirkhope, the illustrious composer of the DK Rap, alongside music for the likes of Goldeneye, Banjo-Kazooie, Viva Pinata, and a whole bunch more didn't actually know the rap was going to be used in the game.
As Kirkhope himself explained to Eurogamer, he hadn't been made aware of this most recent usage, which didn't come as such a big surprise to him.
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Describing the rap itself, which he created for Donkey Kong 64, as "the worst track in the history of rap tracks" (has he not seen the John Barnes rap?) Kirkhope, who also wasn't credited for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, pointed out that's just not how Nintendo do things.
Speaking last month about being left out of the movie credits, he explained to Eurogamer:
"[Nintendo] said we decided that any music that was quoted from the games that we owned, we wouldn't credit the composers - apart from Koji Kondo... Then they decided anything with a vocal would get credited, so the DK Rap scores there. But then they decided if we also own it, we won't credit the composers. And that was the final nail in the coffin."
The composer tried appealing to Nintendo on other levels about being left in the movie credits, but the company won't be budged, it seems:
"I said I appreciate you've got your policies and all the rest of it, but by the time the credits roll in the movie to show the songs, the theatre's completely empty, everyone's gone, it's only me and my wife and my two kids sat there going 'look daddy's name!'. I said 'for the sake of a couple of lines of text…', but that was that."
Given that Nintendo are notorious sticklers for the rules they lay down, it's hard to see how we'll get 'Grant Kirkhope' (or Dave Wise, for that matter) appearing in the credits for Donkey Kong Bananza — and he's gonna have to wait and see like the rest of us, we guess — but at least he's remained humorous about the whole thing. "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!!"
Of course, we all know Grant is quite the celebrity in the gaming realm, so we don't think he need worry about being forgotten (this writer will shout his name aloud when the rap starts in Bananza).
Now...should...should we all watch it? You only live once, right?
Feeling good about having the DK Rap stuck in your head for another 26 years? Let us know!