As hip hop became a more prevalent part of pop culture in the U.S. during the late 1980’s and early 90’s (film, fashion, television), there was one form of entertainment that remained apparently untouched by its influence–the video game industry. Eventually, game publishers and developers realized the marketing potential of the music and began gradually integrating hip hop music into sports games like Activision’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater and Electronics Arts’ NBA Street and NBA Live series. Yet there still weren’t any non-sports games featuring hip hop artists and their music.

Wrestling and Rapping?

In 2003, noted sports game publisher Electronic Arts (EA) collaborated with developer AKI Corporation and Def Jam Records to come up with a new twist on the wrestling concept that would feature not only music from the legendary label but also the voices and characters representing hip hop artists in the game itself. AKI, a veteran developer of wrestling games, created the framework or game engine to support the idea. Rapper Noreaga (one of the featured characters in Def Jam: Fight for NY) noted, “If you’re not playing a video game, you listen to hip hop, or while you’re playing the video game you listen to hip hop. So why not video games that already got hip hop on it? You can save electricity.”

The first game in the series, Def Jam Vendetta, combined wrestling, hip hop artists, and many of the most well-known tracks of the time. This game was the perfect combination of two forms of entertainment. It came as no surprise that Electronic Arts’ (EA) Sports Big Division stepped up to this challenge. This Division had already been incorporating hip hop in many of its sports games. The basic premise of the game is that in a fictionalized street fighting universe wrestlers and a few hip hop artists (DMX, Method Man, Ghostface Killah, to name a few) duke it out street style in underground wrestling rings and alleys on their way to the top.

Jeff Karp, Vice President of Marketing for EA at the time, commented on the pairing of the two worlds, “As the line between games and traditional forms of entertainment continues to blur, EA will continue to partner with strong brands like Def Jam to redefine the rules with innovative new titles like Def Jam VENDETTA,” Thanks to the game’s success, a year later, EA released a sequel that opened the original game’s universe to the streets of New York (the quintessential home of hip hop) featuring more than 40 hip hop artists, five different styles of fighting and even more hip hop music. Hip hop had finally made its mark on the burgeoning videogame industry.

Thug Life

In the fall of 2004, Rockstar Games, still simmering from the heat their Grand Theft Auto franchise was taking from politicians and parents alike, made a bold move. For the next installment of their GTA series, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, the developer made an African American the main character of the story and created a three-city alternate universe based entirely around the west coast urban culture of the early 90s. For the first time in video game history, there was a game featuring a cast of African American characters coupled with the music, clothes and lifestyle that was and is hip hop. There was even a character made to look like late NWA rapper Eric “Eazy E” Wright. Despite the fact that the story drew criticism for its ultra-violent crime slant and the stereotypical representation of minorities, San Andreas provided a relatively accurate portrayal of gang life during that period. Clearly, hip hop had finally come into its own in video games. The game even spawned a two disc CD featuring a varied assortment of music of the time including a heavy dose of west coast hip hop.

Since the release of San Andreas, a string of games have been created that are fully ensconced in the hip hop culture from Eidos’ 25 to Life to Atari’s Mark Ecko’s Getting Up to Aspyr’s True Crime: New York City. Last year, chart-topping rapper 50 Cent not only had a film made about his life, but was directly involved in the creation and development of his very own videogame title by Vivendi Games’ – 50 Cent: Bulletproof. This action/adventure game featured 50 Cent in the leading role along with members of G Unit as maverick heroes taking on various crime families. Capitalizing fully on the format, the game also featured new music videos as well as songs specifically recorded for the game.

The Next Generation

With recent releases like Ubisoft’s And 1: Streetball and the upcoming third Def Jam game, there’s no question that fans of both media—hip hop music and video games –can look forward to more creative collaborations in the future utilizing both.

There’s even a hip hop gaming league (http://hhgl.ggl.com/index.php

which as established by athletes and hip hop artists who are big fans of videogames and love nothing better than to compete with each other. The HHGL allows hip hop artists and athletes the chance to get their game on wherever they are thus accommodating their busy schedules. The league, operated by the Global Gaming League, is now in its second season. Here are some of the features of HHGL:

1) Snoop Dogg is the commissioner of the league.
2) Method Man, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Krayzie Bone, DJ Eric V, David Banner, Paul Wall, Kaine, Just Blaze, Fredwreck are all in the league
3) NBA2K6 was the official game, launched a the start weekend in February 2006
4) The first championship was May 13, 2006 at Club Element in Hollywood, complete with red carpet, live web stream, MTV2 coverage, Ying Yang Twins performance.
5)Victor – Eric V of the Baka Boys who beat Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man. The victor took home a chain and diamond laced medallion worth $15000
6) Second season of the HHGL will offer non celebrities and athletes the opportunity to win spots in the league

As the videogame industry heads full force into the next generation of consoles and rapidly improving technology, hip hop will, undoubtedly, remain firmly rooted in the culture.