People Are Hearing “Gerudo Valley” in a New Kanye West Song
Posted on October 29 2019 by Rod Lloyd
noticed something while listening to the new kanye album... pic.twitter.com/q1nRklkhf4
— Louie Zong (@everydaylouie) October 25, 2019
Over the past weekend, rapper Kanye West dropped his latest album Jesus is King. And while it’s received a mixed response from critics and fans alike, the record has drawn the attention of Zelda fans due to perceived similarities between one of its tracks and a certain Ocarina of Time classic. A portion of the song “Selah” has been called out by various sources for sounding strikingly similar to the Gerudo Valley theme, as some have asked if Kanye actually ripped off the iconic Zelda tune.
Twitter user Louie Zong brought attention to this subject when he posted a video of “Selah” and “Gerudo Valley” played over each other. As heard in the video, West’s new track, during a gospel choir interlude, features the same chord progression as “Gerudo Valley”; and that fact is compounded when the tracks are played over each other. Aside from being a pretty fun mash-up, Zong’s video sparked some strong reactions from Zelda fans, with some going as far as to mention copyright strikes and cease-and-desist notices.
Personally, I find no reason to believe that West knowingly or purposefully ripped off Koji Kondo’s work. Parallel thought is quite common in music, especially with something as narrow as chord progression. In fact, plenty of Koji Kondo compositions share similarities with other songs, to perhaps a bigger extent than what we hear with “Selah”. If people want a true example of Zelda music lifted for a rap song, they need not look further than Soulja Boy’s opus “Zelda”.
You can listen to “Selah” separately here. You can listen to the Gerudo Valley theme separately here.
Do you hear the similarities between “Selah” and “Gerudo Valley”? Do you think Kanye West deserves flak for those similarities? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Source: Louie Zong (via Nintendo Life, Vice)
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
