61 Frames Per Second : hip hop

Chiptune Friday - Mega Man vs. Memphis Bleek

Derrick Sanskrit — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Hip hoppers love video games, there's no denying it. More than any other genre of music, the hip hop community outright loves video games. Sure, Soulja Boy might not be the spokesperson we all want for either form of entertainment, but at least he's being open and honest about our shared nerdery.

This is why Tae K's Mega Man Mixtape should come as no surprise to anybody. Released online just over a year ago, Tae K takes the popular medium of the hip hop mixtape - wherein DJs provide their own beats for a variety of well-known vocal tracks - and used nothing but samples from the library of Mega Man games on the NES for his beats. This form of mashup mixtape is nothing new, having risen to prominence a few years ago with Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album" and Greg Gillis's Girl Talk project, but it's still damn fun and worth celebration. So crank up the volume, hit play, grab a drink and get your dance on while you think about busting up some robot masters, because here comes Memphis Bleek's "Like That" set to Mega Man 4's Skullman music:

If you dug this, you can download the whole 14 track mix, including some Nas, Outkast, Beastie Boys, Lupe Fiasco, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Ciara, the aformentioned Soulja Boy and more on Tae K's blog. I particularly enjoy the final track, Young Buck's "Shorty Wanna Ride" set to the end theme from Mega Man 3.

Related hip-hoppery:
Ludacris Presses The Start Button
You Got Soul, But You're Not A Soulja Boy
Chiptune Friday: Super Mario vs. M.I.A.

Mario Kart Rap

Cole Stryker — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 22:00:00 GMT

So you think you've heard all the Nintendo-themed raps out there? Think again.

One can see shades of Tupac when he talks about having a Mii, and this surprisingly clever bathroom humor smacks of Slim Shady:

The starting line
Can be like a bathroom
Cuz you're all up on the gas
After you see a number 2

Poetry. If you can't stomach the nerdiness, at least hold out to see what happens when Remy's pal suggests that they try Battle Mode.

Ludacris Presses the Start Button

Cole Stryker — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Why do I find it difficult to believe that the same guy who wrote:

The fancy cars, the women and the caviar, you know who we are, 'cause we pimpin all over the world.

ever played Final Fantasy?

I picture some underpaid record label intern tasked with googling "best selling video games of all time" and writing up a list of words that rhyme. Add video game-y samples and viola: Millions of pageviews.

This is one of Luda's weakest songs, but it's not the first time he's dropped gaming-related science. I guess this is just one more example of celebrities attempting to maintain internet fame by copping to their subculture. See: Weezer, South Park, Soulja Boy, etc.

Again, this man wrote the following:

Yo, girl you taste like a cinnabun
So sweet from the thighs to the cheek
Sex on the beach check the size of my meat
Call me the pusher ludacris king ding-a-ling sheet smusher
Sweet street pusher give me that gusher.. nasty stuff

Do you think he cried when Aeris died?

Playstation 2 Up in the Ride - Is that Lorenzo-kitted?

Cole Stryker — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:00:00 GMT

"Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis. When I was dead broke, man I couldn't picture this." ~ Notorious B.I.G.

Remember when you first heard that line? Holy crap, Biggie Smalls plays video games too! It's good to know that even the toughest, most street-hardened gangstas also know how to kick back and enjoy a little interactive entertainment. I mean, Wu Tang released a brawler, Def Jam's got a fighting franchise, and acclaimed rapper Shaquille O'neal had Shaq-Fu. Even 50 Cent is jumping on the bandwagon, in a game where he pretty much singlehandedly takes down Al Quaeda.

But what about video games influencing hip hop? Quibian Salazar-Moreno (whom I'm having difficulty not imagining as a debonair, swashbuckling muskateer) of the Video Game Examiner brings us the Top 10 Hip-Hop songs that Sampled a Video Game. He includes a nerdcore artist, which is a bit of a stretch, but the rest are solid. Be sure to check out the honorable mentions at the bottom.

(via GameSetWatch)