After the big Mega Man news and all that got everyone very excited, and what with the Video Game Awards coming tonight (which I'm sure all of you will be watching) it's time for a bit of a chill out period. And naturally I'm here to provide, as something oif a follow on from my post of a couple of weeks ago detailing the meaning behind Biggie's classic "Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis" line...here's a few classic Hip-Hop songs packed full of video game samples. Guaranteed to bump in a whip, or your nonexistent money back.
Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, "Eternal"
E. 1999 Eternal, 1995
One of the highlights from Bone Thugs seminal gangsta rap album, this track from Krayzie Bone and company takes the music from the "Character Bios" theme from Eternal Champions and adds their signature rapid fire flow and dark lyrics to the whole post...it's a perfect sample for them. Bone Thugs were clearly playing a lot of EC during the recording of this album -- the "Bad Ending" theme from the game is the basis for "Crossroad", also from E. 1999 (not to be confused with "Tha Crossroads", their most famous song)
Wiz Khalifa ft. Amber Rose & Rick Ross, "Never Been Part II"
Taylor Allderdice, 2012
Wiz is of course, most famous for "See You Again", his paean to the late Paul Walker that as of writing has over 3.2 BILLION views on YouTube. This song has significantly less than that, but is a lot better -- a chilled out number that takes "Secret of the Forest" from Chrono Trigger as its base that appeared on a 2012 mixtape. The appearances of Rose and Rozay seal the deal -- it's almost a forgotten gem, as big as Khalifa is.
D Double E, "Street Fighter Riddim"
Single released, 2010
This track from UK grime legend D Double E is much more than just a sample -- it's basically nothing but Street Fighter. Not only have you got sound effects all over the beat, but D Dub will frankly not rest until he manages to include virtually every SF character in his bars. Highlights include "I come through in a beat up Honda/Give man a hundred slaps like E. Honda" and "In the final fight, I'm the Guy/Everyone wants to be my Cody". Awesome. There's probably more to say about grime's relationship with video game, but for now just nod to this classic.
JayZ ft. DMX, "Money, Cash, Hoes"
Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, 1998
Probably the most well known song from this quintet, JayZ and DMX's chart hit's connection to video games isn't immediately obvious -- I didn't even pick it up until I stumbled upon it while browsing a sample library. Everyone knows those rapid swooping string arpeggios from this beat, don't they? Well, it turns out that producer Swizz Beatz, in one of his first smashes, took the strings from the intro to Golden Axe's "Theme of Thief" and pitched them up. Genius.
Eminem ft. J-Black & Masta Ace, "Hellbound"
Game Over, 2000
Well, this is probably the best of the lot. You've got Eminem in his pomp when he was arguably the greatest rapper walking the face of the Earth, you've got the legendary Masta Ace in the mididle of his glorious late '90s-early '00s renaissance, and you've got a beat that's absolutely stacked full of Soul Calibur, based off the theme of Cervantes and kicking off with "Welcome back to the stage of history". Brilliant. Uncomparable. Better than anything off of the last Marshall Mathers LP.
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And there you go, five songs that'll keep your heads ringing. Don't hesitate to add any more video game hip hop related tunage that you can think of in the comments. Just remember that I'm an original like Bruce Lee, and you're just an imitation like Fei Long.