Back in 2005, when One Piece first started airing in North America, we were given the One Piece Rap. Now, almost 16 years later, the original rapper and creator of the song explains how it came to be. On May 6, rapper Shawn Conrad posted a video on his YouTube channel all about the famous One Piece Rap.
The One Piece Rap has been around for a while and has received some mixed criticism. Whether you like it or not though, it's an iconic song. The rap was meant to replace "We Are!" for the English dub of One Piece, and many people were unhappy with this.
Prior to creating the One Piece Rap, Shawn Conrad already had a background in the music industry. In his video, he mentioned that he was working on an album at the time. Conrad has also worked with big names in the music industry including The Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z. Basically, Conrad knows his way around music and creating a rap.
In his video, Shawn Conrad explains how he was first approached by 4Kids Entertainment to create the One Piece Rap. Conrad was tasked with creating the rap from a script that was given to him. He was able to take creative liberties, but 4Kids specified which characters he would need to incorporate.
Conrad also goes into detail on why the rap sounds the way it does. He had to take into consideration the overall story and primary audience at the time. One Piece is loved by children and adults alike, but this early dubbed version was geared to children, so his rapping had to be appropriate, easy to understand, and catchy. You can watch the full 18-minute video on Shawn Conrad's YouTube channel.
Overall, Conrad didn't expect the One Piece Rap to be as popular as it is now. At the time, he had no clue what One Piece was. This is interesting because at first, Conrad didn't want to interview with 4Kids to create the rap. The company had given him a list of songs and voices that were needed, but in his video, Conrad admits that none of the titles were familiar to him and he wasn't fully invested. Eventually, he went through with the interview and decided to work on the rap.
Recently, Gilbert Gottfried took to Cameo with his own version of the One Piece Rap as well. It's not the best, but it is definitely unique. You can watch Gottfried's version, as well as a remixed version with the music added.
Source: Shawn Conrad/YouTube