The liberty-loving freestyle Helldivers 2 rap that didn't make its iconic opening cinematic surfaces, spurring us on to spread managed democracy like never before

Catherine Lewis
·2 min read
A screenshot from Goodbye Kansas Studios' behind-the-scenes video on Helldivers 2's opening cinematic.
A screenshot from Goodbye Kansas Studios' behind-the-scenes video on Helldivers 2's opening cinematic.

Folks, we thought this day may never come, but it's here. The official Helldivers 2 freestyle rap, which was tragically cut from the full version of the game, has surfaced online thanks to a behind-the-scenes video from Goodbye Kansas Studios – the team behind the shooter's iconic opening cinematic.

As we previously reported, the face of Helldivers 2's iconic opening recruitment cutscene recently shared that "MANY, many hours of improv" had gone into the making of the cutscene. Amongst all that content that wasn't crammed into the short, in-universe recruitment ad was a freestyle rap, which the intro cinematic director Freddy Löfberg "called out that I should do with no warning, in the middle of a take" (thanks, PC Gamer).

Previously, Craig Lee Thomas teased that all this footage would be out there "somewhere on an Arrowhead external hard drive," but we never knew if it'd actually see the light of day, and we could only imagine what democracy-loving lyrics it included. Now though, it's here, and it's everything we could have dreamed of. Please, feast your eyes on the video below - the ending specifically.

It might be short, but from the spreading of liberty to the threat against the Terminids, they really captured the full essence of the game with this one. In case you want the lyrics for karaoke purposes: "L-I-B-E-R-T-Y, Helldiver ship screaming across the sky, I got Helldiver one, and Helldiver two, gonna turn those bugs to a bucket of goo."

The timing of this rap being shared now is particularly hilarious, as only recently did a fan-made Automaton diss track make its way online. Unfortunately, in that one, it's not at all clear what the bots are saying, so we can't compare the lyrics, but it definitely feels like we're in the middle of a rap battle between the bots and Super Earth right now.

Be sure to take a look at our Helldivers 2 beginner's guide to help get you started in the fight to spread Managed Democracy.