"Turtle Power!" (or simply "Turtle Power") is a song by American hip hop duo Partners in Kryme. The song was released by

SBK Records SBK Records was a record label, owned by Universal Music Group, that was currently part of the Capitol Music Group, where it is in hibernation. The label was founded in 1988 and during its time in activity existed as part of the EMI Group. Histo ...

and was from the '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' soundtrack. An early unfinished version without Shane Faber's production was featured in the film's closing credits, and it is this version which is now commonly found on retro 90s compilations and on streaming sites, despite the fact the film mix was not officially released in the 1990s. In the UK, the film mix heard in the end credits featured the words "ninja" replaced with "hero", even though the film was not retitled the UK, unlike the 1987 cartoon series. The track was also used in the 2013 Activision's video game '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows''. "Turtle Power" was released in April 1990 and reached number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

for four weeks, making it the first hip hop single to reach number one in the United Kingdom and becoming the 13th-highest-selling single of the year in the United Kingdom. Additionally, the song peaked at number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number four in Ireland, and number seven in New Zealand.

Song information

Written by James P Alpern and Richard A Usher Jr and produced by Partners in Kryme, "Turtle Power!" rode the wave of popularity of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. A

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

record featuring the use of

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

vocals for the chorus, it became a worldwide hit, reaching number 13 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number seven in New Zealand and number one on the

for four weeks in July and August 1990. The song was also coupled with the single "Turtle Rhapsody" and included in the third Ninja Turtles film

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

Track listings

7-inch and cassette single # "Turtle Power" – 3:50 # "Splinter's Tale 1 & Splinter's Tale 2" (performed by John Du Prez) – 5:23 12-inch and German maxi-CD single # "Turtle Power" (single edit) – 3:50 # "Turtle Power" (album version) – 4:17 # "Splinter's Tale 1 & Splinter's Tale 2" (performed by John Du Prez) – 5:23

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1990 singles 1990 songs American hip hop songs SBK Records singles Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film series) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles music UK Singles Chart number-one singles