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I recently received a forwarded e-mail containing this YouTube video. Cute, huh? Those penguins really know how to get jiggy with it. After watching the penguins pop and lock, I went to YouTube to see if there were any other versions of this cuteness and to my surprise found hundreds of videos of cartoons edited as music videos for rap songs, including:
The male lions of the Lion King telling us why they are hot,
Spongebob Square Pants partying like a rock star,
Dora the Explorer cranking dat like Soulja Boy,
The Transformers breaking it down like Usher
And, finally, Chicken Little getting profane with Madd Man.
What is the deal with this? Sure, they’re hilarious. But why are there so many? While it’s more likely due to the fact that video editing and posting is easier than ever and anyone with the technology and even a vague interest can try to convince us that Simba is one bad-ass gangsta, I can’t help but wonder if there’s more to it.
One theory I have is that since some rap and hip hop music videos are so over-the-top and unreal themselves – they often times seem as animated and exaggerated to me as an episode of Spongebob – using actual cartoons is a natural fit.
I also find intriguing the aspect of cute imagery changing the meaning of the songs while the songs completely alter the context of the cartoons. I, for one, will never look at those penguins the same way.
Am I over-thinking this? Are these videos just the product of bored, semi tech-savvy individuals, or do they have any deeper significance?
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