Rap artists play out their rivalries in video games
NEW YORK — Video games were once dominated by teenage geeks — nerds who lived in the arcade, playing games so much their thumbs hurt.
But over the past decade, the hip-hop generation has taken over.
50 Cent has his own video game. Marc Ecko, a fashion designer, has a graffiti game featuring the voice of rapper Talib Kweli. Even filmmaker John Singleton has directed a game, starring Snoop Dogg, in which a gang member is released from prison and forced back into the life.
Maybe it was only a matter of time before hip-hop rivalries would hit the pixilated screen. The online Hip-Hop Gaming League (hhgl.ggl.com) lets viewers watch hip-hop stars, such as Method Man and Twista, battle it out in a video game. The season began last week and the winner will be crowned May 13 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. The league's commissioner? Snoop Dogg.
Camera crews follow the stars while they play Madden NFL 2006 and NBA 2K6 online via Xbox Live. Both games are ultra-competitive and pretty much define hip-hop culture, says Craig Howe, president of Rocket XL Entertainment in Burbank, Calif., the company marketing the tournament. Fans can watch the three- to five-minute clips online for free.
Perfect pairing
Along with tricked-out cars and heavy jewelry, video games have become part of hip-hop culture.
"Video games are so prominent in the hip-hop community," said Howe. "When hip-hop artists meet for the first time in a recording studio, they play video games kind of like an ice breaker. Online gaming is huge. We're looking at making this a new destination for people who love hip-hop and video games."
Howe expects the public will care more about how the players act during the match than who's winning. Are they talking trash? Are they slamming the control down when they get angry? Are they jumping up and hollering when they score? Or are they low key, like Just Blaze?
"I am pretty quiet," said Just Blaze, a music producer and columnist for hip-hop magazine XXL who will play in the tournament. "I am very focused. I may destroy you, but I won't even talk about it. There are some people who like to gloat. My style is more laid back, more calculated."
Thanks to the Xbox360, PlayStation 2 and the GameCube, online gaming has exploded in popularity in recent years, says Brian O'Rourke, senior analyst for In-Stat in Scottsdale, Ariz. The number of online console subscribers grew 73 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to In-Stat. Most were men between 18 and 34.
"You can play with people across the street, across the country, across the world," said O'Rourke. "Some allow you to chat while you are gaming. So there is this socialization aspect. There's a competitive aspect to it as well, and it can get very competitive."
A new rap war?
David Grant, CEO of the Global Gaming League, dismissed associations of video games with violence. The stars will be playing wholesome sports games, not the more violent fare in Snoop's or 50 Cent's games.
"I don't believe playing video games in a competitive setting is about violence," said Grant, whose company organizes live and online video game competitions around the world. "It's about getting good at something. It takes a lot of skill. People really practice at this. This is a healthy outlet for competition. It's like playing a sport."
But the commissioner is no saint. Snoop used to rap about violence. And he was charged with being an accomplice to murder in the 1990s, though he was later cleared.
It has been nearly a decade since the East Coast vs. West Coast dispute, an early to mid 1990s rap feud between the East Coast's Bad Boy Records and the West Coast's Death Row Records. The two became embroiled in conflict after rapper Tupac Shakur was shot five times at a New York recording studio in 1994. Shakur was on Death Row Records and publicly blamed Notorious B.I.G., who was on Bad Boy records.
Shakur was fatally shot in 1996. Biggie was shot and killed a year later.
These days, rap wars are mostly confined to CDs. And video games are a tame way for the stars to one-up each other.
"People really practice at this," says Grant. "They get good at it and they are really competitive. This is a healthy outlet for this competition."
Playing the game
Snoop also has a personal interest in seeing the league take off. A substantial donation will be made to the Snoop Youth Football League, the one that created controversy last year when he was accused of using his star power to lure talented athletes from other leagues.
At a press conference last month, Snoop said, "Hip-hop loves video gaming, and I've been watching this develop into the next big sport. The HHGL is my way of taking it to the next level."
There's a thrill that comes with logging onto a computer, using an alias and challenging anyone wherever they are to a match, says Marc Sherrod, academic director for the Game Art & Design program at The Art Institute of California-San Francisco. Here, anyone can be LeBron James, no matter your size, talent or vertical leap.
Eventually, the Hip-Hop Gaming League will be open to noncelebrities. But for now, Howe and Grant hope the fans get a kick out of watching the matches, listening to trash talk from the players, tracking the results and stats and sharing their comments on a message board.
Proof, a rapper and another league gamer, says he's too small to play real football, so Madden gives him a chance to stand up to an oversized linebacker.
A member of the group D12, he says he is looking forward to his first match and the chance to earn bragging rights.
"I just want to beat up on people and have a record of beating them," Proof said. "When you're in the league, you can show, 'I really beat Snoop Dogg 80 times.' You know what I mean?"