Disappointed Legendary DK Rap Composer In the Mario movie credits, he is absent

We are getting ready for the internet to soon be overrun with hidden references and spoiler chatter now that the Super Mario Bros. Movie is finally out. However, one feature of the movie that stands out to us right away has to do with the credits, where it appears that Grant Kirkhope, the composer for the Donkey Kong 64 game’s classic DK Rap, has been left off.

As we will discuss the music itself and how the movie uses it, we recommend seeing the Mario Movie first if you want to go into it fully blind and without any knowledge of when the track appears.

Shortly after the movie’s premiere, Kirkhope addressed the issue of his absence from the credits on Twitter. This is true even though the DK Rap plays a significant part in Donkey Kong’s introduction in The Kong Kingdom, where the song is playing and the phrase “DK, Donkey Kong” is continuously yelled.

The piece is simply credited as “From Donkey Kong 64” in the credits themselves, entirely erasing the composer from the equation and eliciting the dissatisfied remark from Kirkhope, who didn’t appear surprised by the omission:

I was really looking forward to see my name in the credits for the DK Rap, but alas as expected it's not there …….. fml

— Grant Kirkhope (@grantkirkhope) April 5, 2023

Kirkhope’s dissatisfaction is the most recent in a string of instances in which creatives were left off of credits despite having contributed to previous projects. Several Metroid Prime creatives admitted in February that they had been “let down” by the remaster’s crediting, in which they had been similarly grouped under the same game title.

Given how simple it is to find music these days, it is difficult to understand why Kirkhope isn’t listed in the credits given that his contribution to the movie plays a minor but significant part. Perhaps Illumination and Nintendo will be able to correct this in the future to make sure that all attribution is done correctly.