DK Rap composer on why Nintendo didn’t credit him in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Grant Kirkhope, the man behind the well-known DK Rap in Donkey Kong 64, has commented on why Nintendo did not credit him in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Kirkhope heard from test screening viewers that the DK Rap would be in the film. However, at the time, he believed it was test music and would be removed for the final release.

Frustrated about the crediting situation, Kirkhope later reached out to Nintendo about the lack of credit for the DK Rap in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The company explained that it decided against crediting any music it owns – which also included Bowser’s Fury.

Kirkhope told Eurogamer:

“I did have communication with Nintendo as I wanted to find out why they just didn’t put my name on it. They 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.

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.”

Kirkhope was also asked if DK Rap could end up on the Nintendo Music app down the road. He’s personally unsure, but brought up an old rumor within Rare way back in the day – again, this was never confirmed – that Nintendo never “really liked DK 64 that much.”

Donkey Kong will be getting a brand new game – and a brand new look – with Donkey Kong Bananza on Nintendo Switch 2 this summer. A notable detail about the title was recently leaked, which we covered here.