Batman’s rogues bust mad rhymes in ‘Straight Outta Gotham’
by Kevin Melrose | August 17, 2015 @ 11:58 AM
Even if you don’t care for the characterization of Batman’s greatest foes as foul-mouthed, trash-talking, crotch-grabbing street criminals, you have to appreciate the impressive (and hilarious) lyrics in this gangsta-rap parody “Straight Outta Gotham.”
I mean, come on, it drops a reference to actor Frank Whaley and the 1994 comedy-drama Swimming With Sharks. That has to count for something. But, seriously, this video is great — and definitely not safe for work. Or for home, if you have impressionable children that you would prefer didn’t embrace F-bombs (or, for that matter, the erratic filmography of Frank Whaley).
Straight Outta Gotham has Batman’s villains doing gangsta rap
With Straight Outta Compton in theaters, it’s a good time to check out the Straight Outta Gotham parody music video. It features Two-Face, the Riddler and the Joker doing gangsta rap. It’s funny since the villains are rapping about how badass they are, yet we see them getting their asses handed to them by Batman.
Video parody declares Batman villains are “Straight Outta Gotham”
By Caroline Siede@carolinesiede
Aug 17, 2015 •3:46 PM
Now that Straight Outta Compton has hit theaters, it’ll likely only be a week or so until the “Straight Outta” meme finally fades away to live out its last remaining days on your aunt’s Facebook page. But before that happy day, there’s at least one more N.W.A parody that’s worth checking out. In its music video “Straight Outta Gotham,” the creative services agency Castanet Creative lets Batman’s biggest enemies express its villainy through the medium of gangsta rap.
Written and directed by Matthew Schwartz, the video is a pretty faithful recreation of the original N.W.A music video, only here it’s Two-Face, Riddler, and Joker standing in for Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E. As Batman and Robin try to hunt them down, the men rap about their exploits and get their friends Bane and Harley Quinn to back them up. It’s a simple concept that’s helped along by high production values and some clever lyrics like Two-Face bragging, “Pay your bill for services rendered. / Harvey gonna dent your ass like a fender.”
All that being said, compared to the original video, it’s also a reminder that Batman’s world—though ostensibly a stand-in for multicultural New York City—is very, very white.
OK, I’m warning you right now, this is not safe for work. I only say that because we don’t like to put a lot of stuff out there that isn’t totally accessible, but this video is something we thought needed to be shared. Watch at your own risk.
Considering the box office success of the NWA biopic Straight Outta Compton, this is not surprising. In fact, it may have been inevitable. In any event, we leave this for you to judge.
Straight Outta Gotham [Explicit]
Written and Directed by: Matthew Schwartz. Starring: Cody Beasinger, Jon Silva, Jason Beever, Kyle Beasinger, Yoko Mizuhara, John Hinson, and Gavin Richards. Produced by Matthew Schwartz and Mike Terrell. Get the MP3 here: https://soundcloud.com/castanet-creative
Yep. That happened. The parties responsible call themselves Castanet Creative.
We are a creative services agency based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. We employ cool, smart, and funny people to make cool, smart, and funny stuff.
Here are some of the other tangential videos they’ve posted in conjunction with the project.
Take a peek at our on-set hijinks! “Straight Outta Gotham” was filmed over the course of two very hot summer days in Atlanta, GA. Footage: Brian Frey.