Have you heard of Dan Bull? If “yes,” then you’re going to like this selection of his best songs. If “no,” then you’re going to love this, because I’m about to introduce you to your new favorite YouTuber.
Bull is a rap artist, someone who plays with language, contorting words to produce fabulous I-see-what-you-did-there twists of verbiage. British musician Bull does the same, but in a particularly geeky way. Instead of rhyming about the mean streets, he raps about videogames.
Overwatch. Fallout 4. Plants vs. Zombies. If you have a favorite game that’s been released on the PC in the last several years, Bull has written fast, funny lyrics about it, typically from the point of view of the game’s protagonist.
Yes, even in Plants vs. Zombies.
Feast your ears on a selection of Dan Bull’s work. You’re welcome, gamers.
Overwatch
Bull’s most recent video, he takes us on a tour of all of Overwatch’s playable characters. With a chorus of three back-up singers, this is his best produced song yet. (Music by Custom Phase and Neal Acree.)
Lyrics include:
“Forged in the core of war, it’s Torbjorn.
Watch him erect a new form of dwarf porn.”
Dishonored
Bull pulled the game’s tagline, “Revenge solves everything” as his chorus. This is perhaps my favorite song of his, with a melody that stayed with me long after the video ended.
Lyrics include:
A declaration. Destination: desolation.
Defamation of your delegation.
Desecration. Desperation.
A dedication to the deprivating, deformating, depredation of your nation.
Detonation.
Minecraft
At 15 million hits, this is by far Bull’s most popular video. His video editors tend to use officially released trailer footage, but here, the clips were made specially for this video by Element Animation. He manages to take inspiration from the game in other ways. “The whole rhythm,” Bull writes on YouTube, “is built off the sound of a stone block being dug out.” (Backing music by boyinaband.)
Lyrics include:
“If I don’t come home
There’s a sign in my kitchen
To describe why I’m missing:
Gone fission.”
Borderlands 2
This song captures the manic intensity of the videogame perfectly. In fact, it’s even more gleeful than the official “Wimoweh” trailer. (Music by Skongk.)
Lyrics include:
“87 bazillion guns.
A similar number of brilliant puns.”
Skyrim
“Skyrim Epic Rap” is a short yet intense 1 minute, 20 seconds. This is wordsmithing, and he’s using a hammer to drive his point. I consider this rap a gateway drug for Bull’s other work.
Lyrics include:
“The Elder Scrolls are scripts in which I’ve written your obituary.”
Fallout 4
According to Bull, YouTuber Custom Phase wrote the music, which plays on the post-apocalyptic post-1950s period of the game. It’s the first rap that makes me want to dance the jitterbug.
Lyrics include:
“The stronger you aren’t, the smaller the stack
of scrap, storage and snacks
that you can haul on your back.”
Do you have any favorite YouTube artists who take gaming to a new musical level? Let us know in the comment section and we’ll feature them in an upcoming article.
Featured Image Credit: Blizzard