‘I don’t fuck with Jack and Jill/ if I pop that pill that’s a magic bean/ I’m on my last life I don’t give two fucks/ I’m still gonna sip that lean’ raps an animated, masked Puss in Boots into a microphone. The ‘Puss in Zoots’ video has garnered 470k views since it was posted to TikTok in April 2024. In the video, the iconic ginger cat laments about downing ‘leche by the litre’, shouts out ‘big bro Shrek for the feature’ and warns that he’ll wrap Jack Horner up like an enchilada.
‘Puss in Zoots’ is one of many animated, vertical rap videos posted to TikTok by anonymous UK creator ‘NTFLX & Drill’ (N&D). ‘Puss in Zoots’ is one of his favourite creations:
‘The lyrics still crack me up’, N&D said.
N&D’s account features animated versions of pop culture’s most recognisable characters performing bespoke rap songs set to Grime-influenced beats. His account bio simply reads: ‘One man making original beats and animations. The only AI is the voice change!’
Some of the most notable characters are Harry Potter, Voldemort, Jon Snow, Yoda and Darth Vader. No one is off limits for N&D, including Wallace (from Wallace and Gromit), Thomas Shelby (from Peaky Blinders) and the English National Football team.
N&D describes what he does on TikTok as a passionate combination of music, animation and film making packaged into cleverly transformative short form content:
‘The music itself is heavily influenced by UK Grime, drill and hip-hop artists, and there is something hilarious about re-imagining some of my favourite characters in the style of those artists. I just think, ‘What’s the funniest line I could write‘, that would shock the viewer and ruin their childhood memory of them. Just watch ‘DOBBY’ for example. I turned him from an innocent house-elf into an absolute menace.’
And the lyrics are distinctly Grime, in cadence and style, with fast delivery and unmistakable UK colloquialisms:
‘Keisha, Becky, you’ll get the one bang speccy/ manaman are way too tekky/pied pipe when I bun these youts like Petti’ [referring to Peter Pettigrew, notable traitorous figure in the Harry Potter universe.
N&D draws from a wide range of musical influences. While he could list hundreds, some of his most listened-to artists include UK icons like Skepta and Devlin, electronic music pioneers like KOAN Sound and Skrillex, rock legends such as The Police and Toto, and metal bands like Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold.
Many of N&D’s videos have hundreds of thousands – to millions – of views. N&D’s most viewed TikTok is ‘Voldy Part 2’, with 4.1 million views, 399k likes and 195k shares. In it, beloved villain Voldemort from the beloved Harry Potter franchise raps about the perils of evil wizardry:
‘You muggles in trouble when you-know-who reawakens/ bone of the father, flesh of the servant, blood of the enemy, forcibly taken’.
N&D says that finding creative ways to captivate audiences is indeed a necessity for TikTok success:
‘I’ve learnt that TikTok is very reliant on the initial attention grab and branding. If the first two seconds don’t grab the viewer’s attention, it’s gonna get scrolled past. It’s about finding a niche and persisting, finding what works and creating videos in a similar vein, once you have a bit of a following it’s easier to pursue other avenues – which is what I’m trying to do now.’
While N&D is most known on TikTok, he regularly uploads videos to YouTube and Instagram. N&D’s workflow is well documented on his Patreon, generating additional paywalled content for curious audience members. Almost always starting with a beat created on Ableton, N&D will brainstorm characters that he can generate witty and humorous one-liners for. Some of his favourite lines include “If I see 3 PO’s when I Lando in the Bando I’m gone”, from Yoda. “Forensics will never find the Half Blood’s Prints” from Snape and, “You know nothing…. Jon Snow – I know one thing for certain, free folk gyal put the work in”, from Jon Snow.
After selecting a character, N&D finds online voice models that replicate its tone, sound, and pitch. Although N&D struggles to mask his accent during impersonations, all the voices are his own.
‘If I’m dead set on a particular character I’ll train my own AI voice model using RVC [Retrieval-based Voice Conversion]. I’ll run a few tests and once I’m happy I’ll look for a 3D model.’
RVC AI is a revolutionary algorithmic software that converts a user’s voice into a ‘target’ voice. This technology enhances the atmosphere, authenticity, and variety of content produced by individual creators or small teams. Although N&D studied music production for 2 years in college, he has learned everything through YouTube tutorials and online courses. Starting out by making Grime and EDM beats, N&D would release these tracks for artists. After some success in radio plays and advertisements, N&D wanted to advance his skills by learning animation.
‘I reached a point about 6-7 years ago where I wanted to get into learning 3D,’ N&D said.’Blender Guru and CGBoost on YouTube were where I started with 3D! I only started making music again in November 2023 when I released my first video under NTFLX & Drill.’
Animation is the final crucial element of a N&D video. Character models can be notoriously intricate and hard to locate.
‘Sometimes I can only find the head of a character that people would use for 3D printing, so I’ll grab it, retopologize it and texture it myself if necessary’.
After blocking out the character animation and choreography, N&D uses open-source software Blender to create different sets for the character to perform in.
‘When the sets are built, I’ll animate the character and add any additional characters to the scenes. I’ll play with a few different camera angles until it all works. I recently bought a second-hand ROKOKO Smartsuit pro 1 to do some bits of animation. Once I’m happy I’ve got enough material to start editing I’ll render out what I can’, he adds.
Despite using a voice model to create a seamless character impersonation, N&D’s work stands out as remarkably untouched by Artificial intelligence (AI). AI is an increasingly pervasive presence in the intersection between music and marketing. In August 2024, Billboard’s Kristin Robinson reported on WtrCoolr, a digital media company that creates TikTok ‘fan pages’ for musical artists, often posting videos laden with fake claims to garner virality.
As quoted in Robinson’s article, WatrCoolr founder, Ethan Curtis, says that the company acts as an imaginative way to harness the power of superfans, in a subversive attempt to stimulate organic buzz about an artist. One of Curtis’ most popular ‘fan fiction’ videos is an AI-altered interview of Dolly Parton, claiming to be American singer Shaboozey’s godmother. The video, posted to a TikTok account called @ShaboozeysVault, generated 1.1 million views and 121,500 likes to date. Robinson reported that the video featured old interviews of Parton, accompanied by an AI voiceover, creating the false claim.
Curtis elaborated in Robinson’s piece:
“We are huge fans of pop culture, fan fiction and satire. We see it as creating our own version of a Marvel Universe but with pop stars.”
Unlike WtrCoolr’s illusory strategy, N&D is focused on creating good music that surpasses parody and subverts the popular understanding of fan fiction. And his audience overwhelmingly loves the transformative reimagining of their favourite characters. One commenter mused:
‘Why do I feel more empathy for Draco [Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter franchise] with your lyrics than after 7 books and 8 movies?’
The YouTube comments on the ‘Jon Snow’ rap are filled with hundreds of delighted Game of Thrones fans praising N&D’s attention to detail. User @TM-knight commented on N&D’s lyrics, saying, “‘You better fall back before I draw my blade, this ain’t Vaes Dothrak” bro, the lore knowledge bars are impeccable’.
N&D creates from a place of passionate appreciation, and he shares his audience’s love of pop culture icons. Currently, all the characters in his videos have been from books, shows, or films he loves, which makes it easier for him to write lyrics about their story arcs.
‘I’ve never attempted to make a video on a character I’ve not seen before,’ said N&D. ‘If I were to attempt anyone new, I’d definitely make sure I know what I’m writing about and do my research first’.
Averaging about one video a month, N&D says that the hardest challenges of online content creation include trying to please his entire audience, fulfilling character requests, and managing a full-time job outside of TikTok. N&D notes that choosing a production angle for characters with vast amounts of content available is surprisingly tough.
‘Joffrey was fairly difficult because I had to trawl through every episode up to season 4 of Game of Thrones, and take hundreds of notes, then try to condense it into something cohesive and consistent and be funny at the same time. The less content, the easier it is to work as many quotes and memorable moments into the music’.
‘Some people want ‘funny’, some want ‘clever lore’, and some want ‘serious’.
As for the future, N&D has remarkably modest ambitions, simply considering himself a hobbyist with a passion for making people laugh. Although he has received commissioned requests, he doesn’t believe that his work would appeal to mainstream acts.
‘I don’t believe the quality of my animations and music would land for any professional artists. I can just about get away with it for ‘meme’ videos. I don’t consider myself as a professional producer or animator in any sense of the word, I’m just a hobbyist making these because it makes me laugh! For now I’m just looking to keep putting videos out consistently, and getting as much as I can on streaming services’.
You can follow NTFLX & DRILL on TikTok, YouTube and more here.
