A Soulja Boy Zelda song has dropped. This latest track from the Chicago-born rapper appears to sample the title screen theme from 1986’s The Legend of Zelda on the NES. The track was released just a couple of weeks ago, but it only came to our attention after it was posted to NeoGAF.
Criticizers of the song have drawn attention to the line, “green diamonds like Zelda.” Some commenters are wondering if Mr. Drako is aware of what a Rupee actually looks like, or if Mr. Drako is simply taking a bit of artistic liberty for the sake of his music. (To put my nerd hat on for a moment, a rupee is traditionally rendered as an elongated tetradecahedron, although “diamond” could certainly serve as a more casual term for the Hyrulian gems.)
One question that comes to mind is whether or not the Soulja Boy Zelda song legally makes use of the title screen from the original The Legend of Zelda game. Sampling is prolific in the music world (especially in rap) and it would probably count as a transformative work, all things considered. That said, Nintendo is notoriously litigious and may very well take issue with the use of their work in his song. It remains to be seen whether or not this track will actually cause any problems for Soulja Boy.
This isn’t the first time that Soulja Boy ran the risk of legal issues from Nintendo. Although he had previously indicated that he was unconcerned with litigation from Nintendo, Soulja Boy eventually had to pull his gaming consoles from sale due to rumored legal threats from the Japanese company. On the upside, a golden NES cartridge would make for an appropriately gangsta chain.
You can listen to the Soulja Boy Zelda song for yourself below on YouTube.
