UM JAMMER LAMMY
PaRappa The Rapper’s success gave me lots of opportunities, but also much to reflect on. I approached Um Jammer Lammy after much consideration. But because of the success of the previous title, expectations were much higher all round. I think we were able to achieve a lot – if not all – of my ambitions for the project.
Um Jammer Lammy also has gameplay that features rapping by PaRappa alongside a dedicated guitar track. The interplay between the guitar and vocal call-andresponse was an interesting challenge. We would record the improvised guitar part first, then add lyrics to the phrase and sing it back. I don’t think there is any other music created using such a unique compositional method. If I had to say it, I feel like it would have been more interesting to have a different lead guitarist for each stage, but in a game that featured characters, I didn’t think it was a clever idea to do that. This may be the fundamental difference from music games like Guitar Hero, which have little to no story or character and are just played by replacing music tracks in various ways.
It was interesting switching to a rockbased game. When PaRappa The Rapper first came out and I visited America and the UK to talk about the game, I was asked so many times why I had chosen to make a hip-hop game. It seemed to me that at that period in history there were many people who didn’t like the fact that hip-hop was the subject matter. I think things would be different today.
Despite the success of PaRappa The Rapper, I didn’t feel pressure from Sony. No one could have imagined PaRappa’s success. I believe that no matter how selfish I am with what I want to do, there will always be a role given to me by the universe; my mission is to exercise that role to the best of my ability. This isn’t a religious view, but it is something that drives me.
“I WAS ASKED SO MANY TIMES WHY I HAD CHOSEN TO MAKE A HIP-HOP GAME”