The Decades Long Relationship Between Gaming & Hip-hop Culture

From the days of Super Mario, all the way to Grand Theft auto Hip-hop and gaming have shared a unique and storied relationship that has appeared in many ways, including lyrics, music production, and even in-game activations.

Honestly, that should be surprising because everyone. (mostly, everyone) has played a video game at some point in their lives. Moreover, we’ve all enjoyed music at some point too.

Brands noticed the overlap in audiences in the late nineties, which led to rappers putting their music on video game soundtracks (something I mentioned in the Tony Hawk piece a few weeks back). Nevertheless there’s more to the story.

So today, we’re gonna talk break it down…

A Playstation Game Sparked a Generation of Music Producers

“It was this shit on Playstation where you could line up blocks and try to put them in key. If you can make a beat on that shit you can make a beat on anything.” – Big K.R.I.T.

That “sh*t” Big K.R.I.T. is talking about is Playstation 1 gamed called MTV Music generator, and it is the reason a few of hiphop’s top producers entered the music industry.

Before there was ever a “Guitar Hero” there was “MTV Music Generator.” The game itself is reminiscent of current digital audio workstations (the software that music producers use to create music), and it came with a bunch of stock sounds players could use to get started, which is how music producers were able to hone their skills.

Big K.R.I.T. is just one of many producers who credits his skill to MTV music generator, according to Yoh from DJ Booth. Other producers like Lex Luger, Sounwave from TDE, and more credit MTV music generator as their first foray into the world of music. Though the game is no longer in production, its impact is still readily seen across the world through the music production it helped influence.

Then EA Games Created Def Jam Vendetta

Ahh man. Def Jam Vendetta.

My parents took this one from me. M-rated games didn’t last long in my house — but the impact of this game did, culturally.

Def Jam Vendetta is incredible feat for a few reasons — the most important of which is the licensing aspect.

It’s crazy to think of the amount of time and effort it took to get permission to use everyone’s likeness, their voice, etc. to create this game. And though there have only been two iterations of Vendetta (with rumors of a possible 3rd) its impact can’t be overstated.

It instantly became a cult classic, and gave rappers who were reaching the latter part of their career access to new audiences and it helped re-establish Def Jam as a premier label in hiphop. On the flipside, EA was able to add another chart-topper to their catalog and by every measurable metric this game proved to be a smash (no pun intended).

Epic Games Brought Hip-hop to the Metaverse

If you haven’t heard of Fortnite, it’s quite possible that you live under a rock. A smooth one at that.

Fortnite is part of a new era in gaming powered by Gen Z, and its maker Epic Games is going all out to make the world bigger and better. If their quarterly drops weren’t enough, they also leverage the platform for “Metaverse-style” concerts like the one they hosted with Travis Scott in 2020 (see below for a piece of the action)

Fun Fact: This concert garnered over 12.3 million concurrent “Fortnite” players which Epic Games said was an all-time record (According to Variety)

On top of the in’-game concerts on Fortnite, Epic Games recently acquired the indie music platform Bandcamp to bolster their offerings. This goes without mentioning that in April, Epic also worked with one of rap’s most famous groups: the Wu-Tang Clan. The partnership consisted of new skins, a custom loading screen, banners, and more.

HipHop & Twitch Became Unlikely Partners

Until recently (like the pandemic) live-streaming wasn’t really considered a way to garner an audience in the music world. The occasional livestream on instagram was cool, but no one quite new what to do outside of that.

That’s where Twitch comes in.

Twitch is primarily thought of as a streaming platform only suitable for gamers. But media personality DJ Akademiks provided proof of concept for musicians looking to get into the world of streaming.

Akademiks would go on lengthy rants on industry news (and gossip) — these led to viral moments that drove traffic to Twitch (in the process growing his platform to over 389,000 followers on Twitch.). Shortly after, Twitch formed relationships with other musicians, offering them the infrastructure to host their own podcasts/shows on twitch (See the 2:30 mark in the video below for more context)

Rappers Even Made Their Own Video Games

Doubling down on their affinity for video game systems, and the “main character energy” that they’ve generated in their careers, rappers have ventured into the gaming world by making games based on their experiences.

Fun fact: The earliest video game release from a rap group/solo act was actually 1999’s Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style from none other than… Wu-Tang Clan.

Crazy, right?

But the timeline doesn’t stop there. In 2005, 50 Cent was on fire. His debut album “Get Rich or Die Tryin” was highly anticipated and upon release it sold millions of records. The anticipation for his follow up album was tremendous and in the meantime 50 spread his empire into different areas including film, beverages and interestingly enough… videogames.

He created the video game “Bullet Proof” shortly after the success of his first album get rich or die trying (see below for a quick timeline of how video games have progressed in the world of music)

And Of Course, There’s Nintendo…

And, of course we couldn’t end this one without talking about Nintendo.

Hip-hop’s affinity for Nintendo gaming consoles is well noted. Biggie referenced it on what’s probably his most famous record, Juicy. Houston rapper Lil Flip sampled Pac Man on his single “Game Over” and a slew of other rappers reference the Nintendo in their work.

Going back to the producers segment at the top, you’ll even notice (if you dig hard enough) that producers are still sampling video games in an attempt to capture the nostalgia they feel from their younger days (Bone Thugs first album features a video game sample or two, so look for it if you get the time).

WHAT ABOUT NOW?

The relationship between gaming and hiphop is as strong as it’s ever been. In places like Atlanta and New York events have popped up dedicated to gaming & hiphop culture (see: Controllerise), and across social media groups have formed that are dedicated to both cultures and exploring the ways that they intersect.

I imagine as the years go on we’re going to see a resurgence of hiphop themed games and honestly, I can’t wait. Hopefully, there’s another Def Jam Vendetta on the way. I can admit that it’s definitely not good for the mind but man… It was a such a fun game to play.

Until next time.

Peace.