What a combination hip-hop and video games make! They’re not strange bedfellows. The following games utilize their soundtracks in a way that is authentic to hip-hop culture. These games are influenced by the five pillars of hip-hop and represent the culture in vibrant ways. In addition to the music, all the games listed honor and exude at least one of the five pillars of hip-hop: MCing (rapping), DJing, breakdancing, graffiti, and knowledge.
This list is not exhaustive but an exemplary one. These games boast soundtracks fit for classic status. The music in each of these titles is utilized inventively. Some of these games even innovated with their audio-visual presentation via hip-hop aesthetics—out the hood and into the screen for your amazement. Not to be outdone, other elements of hip-hop culture are vital in informing the style and even gameplay of these games. These are great games with fantastic soundtracks to listen to if you are playing the game or just listening to the songs on their own.
An honorable special mention goes to Floor Kids, the breakdancing battle game whose soundtrack was produced by Kid Koala.
Here we go!
NBA Street Vol. 2 (2003, EA Sports Big)
NBA Street Vol. 2 is a sophisticated homage to both basketball and hip-hop. Luminaries Just Blaze and Bobbito Garcia consulted on the game and then some. Bobbito, the legendary DJ, played the role of the game’s play-by-play announcer. Just Blaze provided some original instrumental tracks. That isn’t all; Nate Dogg, Eve, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, and MC Lyte have licensed music on the soundtrack. Rap superstar Nelly provided an original song, “Not in My House”, for the game. This eclectic mix of artists provides an excellent collection of tracks to play basketball to.
NBA Street Vol. 2 is raw and innocuous, a difficult achievement in hip-hop. Even the loveable, peace-preaching heads in De La Soul, who inhabited this contradiction, as well as many hip-hop groups, rapped about whooping asses by their second LP. More on De La Soul later. NBA Street Vol. 2 had none of that. The over-the-top cartoonish gameplay – did Wilt Chamberlain just one-hand snatch a three-point heave from the restricted area? – is bolstered by Bobbito’s commentary, less broadcaster babble than an MC maintaining the energy at a house party. The game’s biggest triumph: introducing Pete Rock & CL Smooth’s “They Reminisce” – possibly rap’s most emotive moment – to thousands of pre-teens sitting cross-legged in their suburban living rooms.
Unfortunately, like many games on this list, NBA Street Vol. 2 is unavailable on modern consoles, and its soundtrack was never officially released, even on streaming apps.
DJ Hero (2009, Activision)
A spin-off of the Guitar Hero series, DJ Hero is a rhythm game about turntablism. It was packaged with a turntable controller that consisted of a crossfader, effects dial, and a handful of buttons for gameplay.
DJ Hero was not the first game that put players in the role of a DJ. In 1997, Konami published Beatmania for the arcade, and in 2008, 7 Studios and Bedlam Game later ripped it off with their game Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. However, DJ Hero is on this list due to its original mixes of over 90 songs ranging from mega-popular anthems to European EDM. The game was a big deal when it was released in 2009 and was heralded with a partnership and endorsement from Jay-Z and Eminem. A sequel was released a year later in 2010.
It’s one of the more confounding concepts for a video game. DJ Hero can at least boast that it’s the only game to feature a luchador mixing “Feel Good Inc.” with “Heard It Through the Grapevine” for an outdoor festival crowd dancing around thatched tiki-style umbrellas. The gameplay revolves around rudimentary mashups. Some sound organic (Bobby “Blue” Bland meets Connie Price & the Keystones), and others are dizzyingly strange (The Jackson Five meet Third-Eye Blind, and they don’t get along). Turntablists deserve to wince at the game’s portrayal of the DJ as a Pauly D-esque hype man pumping out B-grade Girl Talk. Still, there’s fun to be had smashing together different styles of music. At its core, that’s as hip-hop as it gets.
Though great as a game and musical experience, DJ Hero has suffered a similar fate to NBA Street Vol. 2. The game and its licensed soundtrack can be difficult to find and play.
PaRappa the Rapper and 2 (1996/2001, Sony Computer Entertainment)
PaRappa the Rapper, a collaboration between music producer Masaya Matsuura and visual artist Rodney Greenblat, birthed the rhythm game genre. Inspired by the quirky side of rap, like Leaders of the New School and De la Soul (who make a cameo in the second game in the series), PaRappa the Rapper is a neat and creative work that easily falls within the realm of art with its bold 2D cartoon presentation.
Much like the original productions for the Wildstyle soundtrack, PaRappa the Rapper uses classic breakbeats as the blueprint for songs that sound fresh and oddly familiar. The most conspicuous sample is the break from “Assembly Line”, which slots into a how-to rap about basic kung fu moves (kick! punch!). There are toddler-keyboard-grade horn stabs. There are reggae basslines offset with frog-hop sound effects. There’s a Humpty-style beat lifted by a slightly detuned rework of the piano melody from Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons’ “December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)”. The whole thing is absolutely adorable. PaRappa proves that sometimes off-brand hip-hop can be as much fun as the original.
Jet Set Radio (2000, Sega)
Without knowing it, when you think of the phrase “too cool for school”, you think about Jet Set Radio. Maybe it’s because Hakim, the coolest kid in school, would skip class to play Jet Set Radio. Don’t take our word for it. Listen to the fan-made and support radio station that plays the tunes from the game—the game inspired a guerilla radio station. Way to make Chuck D proud.
Jet Set Radio’s cel-shaded style, fantastical portrayal of urban street culture, B-boys, and graffiti have influenced many games, most recently Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. Though not exclusively a hip-hop soundtrack, the genre’s influences are in fuel display. Peak cool. To quote Big Just from Company Flow, “Hit up my aerosol alphabetics”.
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (1999, Capcom)
Every game a memory, and few games have as rich a history of making memories like Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. From the rapturous Daigo Parry to legendary nights at the Chinatown Fair Arcade in New York City. With this installment in the venereal fighting game series, Capcom embraced the diverse group of fans that Street Fighter garnered since its breakthrough in 1991 with the release of Street Fighter II. The Capcom Sound Team, at this point masters of all forms of electronic music from hip-hop to jungle, equipped Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike with one hell of a soundtrack.
Just play the “Opening Demo” with its mix of synths, drum machine beat, and braggadocious raps by Canadian rapper Infinite around any fighting game fan to make them cry. The memories of late nights in the arcade crescendo with every button press in this game. The game remains strong 25 years later, as it was selected as a competition game for this year’s EVO (Evolution Championship Series).
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, like Jet Set Radio, has one of the most eclectic soundtracks of all the games on this list, with a heavy mix of jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, and house. Hell, if we are honest, only a handful of songs are entirely within the genre scope of hip-hop. However, the game’s attitude and the communities that have adopted it make it hip-hop. To the game’s primary composer, Hideki Okugawa, hats off to you.