We need to bring this punch in of movie tie-in back.
The 25th anniversary ofDeep Blue Seais generally not seen as a significant cultural event.
YetDeep Blue Seadeserves to be remembered.
Its more than that though.
The idea was that the success of one could help promote the other.
That is essentially how we ended up with the Elvis-led films of the 50s and 60s.
In some cases, it became more symbiotic.
Its difficult to separate the Bee Gees fromSaturday Night Feveror Eye of the Tiger fromRocky III.
In other cases, the tie-in single song became bigger than the movie it was featured in.
The Rap-Up song is different.
The very concept of Rap-Up songs makes them impossible to separate from the movies they are featured in.
That is because their lyrics and music videos areaboutthe movies they are featured in.
A song about The Fat Boys inheriting a house from Uncle Frederick featuring verses from Freddy Krueger himself?
ItsinNightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.
Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd rapping about shutting down pagan rituals (complete with full satanic panic costumes)?
Vanilla Ice quickly concocting a fully-choreographed rap about the Ninja Turtles after they crash his concert?
ItsinTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze.
MC Hammer recounting the time he had to borrow some pepper from the Addams Family?
Its not only inThe Addams Family, its inseparable fromThe Addams Family.
While popular throughout the 90s, the Rap-Up song trend is certainly a product of 80s culture.
The popular idea was that anything that could be turned into a rap songshouldbe turned into a rap song.
The answer is Yes.
Hey, it worked for Elvis.
Luckily, Will Smith could act.Really well.
From there, Smith continued to defy expectations.
1993s Six Degrees of Separationshowed he could hold his own alongside all-time great actors in a dramatic role.
1995sBad Boysshowcasedhis otherworldly movie star charisma.
But 1997sMen in Blackwasa new challengeand opportunity for Smith.
It was a blockbuster project designed to test the extent of his star power.
It wasnt the first Rap-Up song of Smiths career.
It was a task that seemed to fall somewhere between a gimmick and a death sentence.
But Smith defied expectations again.
Men in Black not only topped the charts; it won a Grammy award too.
Somewhere, an executive bought a yacht and christened it Synergy.
There was renewed hope that we had only scratched the surface of the Rap-Up songs potential.
Like Smith himself, though, Men in Black overachieved.
As the rest of the industry would soon discover, there is only one Will Smith.
Mind you, Deepest Bluest isby farthe best rap song about a shark ever written.
The thing you have to remember, though, is that Deepest Bluest is not an anomaly.
The problem wasnt the song which while bad was enjoyable by any reasonable Rap-Up standards.
The problem was Men in Black.
Men in Black had set a new standard for Rap-Up songs that soon proved to be unreasonable.
The factors that contributed to its ascension were almost impossible to replicate.
Deep Blue Seas producers tried a bit too hard to replicate it as well.
It wasnt just LL Cool J either.
Smith didnt kill the Rap-Up song, however, nor did LL Cool J.
As for the Rap-Up, it lingers in our hearts and the outskirts of the industry.
But to tell you the truth, I miss Rap-Up songs.
They celebrated the fun of the moviegoing experience in ways that sometimes feel hard to come by these days.
But, to tell you the even greater truth, I miss Rap-Up songs exactly as they were.
Give me aDungeons and Dragonsrap from Childish Gambino or aMortal Kombatrap from Raheem Jarbo.
