About

Rapper Mario, also known as Gangster Mario, refers to a viral clip of Super Mario character Mario beatboxing which has been used in numerous edits, ironic memes and GIF captions. Originating from a 2004 Japanese commercial for Super Mario Ball, the clip saw initial use in memes in late 2000s, regaining popularity in ironic posts in late 2010s.

Origin

In August 2004, a commercial for then-upcoming video game Super Mario Ball (known as Mario Pinball Land in North America) started airing in Japan.^[1] The 30-second commercial opened with Super Mario character Mario, dressed in stereotypical gangsta rapper attire, beatboxing. Additionally, a shorter, 15-second version of the commercial, also aired in Japan at that time. The clip was also used in a double Super Mario Ball / Mario vs. Donkey Kong commercial which aired in France.^[2]

The first known post of the commercial online is a September 26th, 2006, YouTube^[3] upload by YouTube user zidipi which received over 31,600 views in 13 years (shown below, left). An April 25th, 2008, YouTube^[4] upload by user 末松卓 accumulated over 211,700 views in 12 years (shown below, right).

On February 27th, 2007, YouTube^[5] user nickomack posted the earliest known humorous edit based on the video titled "Mario Gangster Rap" in which a slightly sped-up version of "Five Minutes of Funk" by Whodini played over the looped clip of Mario rapping. The video received over 898,700 views in 13 years.

Spread

In the late 2000s and early 2010s, the clip of Mario rapping saw further use in humorous edits on YouTube, with users adding various tracks, usually rap, over the video. For example, "Super Mario – Chacarron Macarron" video uploaded by YouTube^[6] user delpedro96 on July 11th, 2007 which featured the clip received over 10.4 million views in 12 years (shown below, left). An August 25th, 2008, YouTube^[7] upload by DelinquentAntagonist received over 26,900 views in the same period (shown below, rigth).

GIFs of Rapper Mario taken from the commercial were posted online as early as in May 19th, 2008, with the earliest found post made by DeviantArt^[8] user x-ItaDeiFan-x on May 19th, 2008.

In 2018, the images and clips of Rapper Mario regained popularity in ironic memes. The earliest known use of the image in ironic posts is the August 25th, 2018, post by an unknown Redditor^[9] which received over 390 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard. A September 16th, 2018, post by Redditor^[10] Roy_Atticus_Lee captioned "yo yo it's a me big mario *starts rapping about the rwandan genocide*" received over 1,200 upvotes in six months. The format did not see significant use until on November 9th, 2018, Redditor^[11] WarsawSpeedwolf reposted the image in the subreddit, gaining over 13,400 upvotes.

The repost prompted the spread of Rapper Mario memes captioned in a similar fashion,^[12][13] with Mario imagined to be rapping about various sensitive and offensive topics. Additionally, memes featuring other characters utilizing similar captions were spread in /r/okbuddyretard (exampes shown below).^[14]

On January 15th, 2019, Redditor^[15] legostarwars2004 posted a video titled "Mario Raps Soldier Boy" which received over 1,300 upvotes in /r/okbuddyretard and was added to the subreddit's hall of fame.^[16] Another edit, posted by Redditor^[17] DESPACITOD0nkers on May 28th, 2019, received over 10,200 upvotes in six months.

In the following year, both images and video edits based on Rapper Mario maintained a significant popularity in ironic meme communities, particuatly in the /r/okbuddyretard subreddit.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References