Getty Image / Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for iHeartRadio
Entering the world of House Party is rapper and pop star Doja Cat, who is set to star in her own version of the game set for release this summer. The 3D single-player video game allows characters to create their own unique personalities, reacting to player interactions. Players can act through “hundreds of stories” with “thousands” of branching storylines.
“I’m so excited that I’m going to be a video game character,” said Doja in a statement. “House Party is about to get even better. You gotta check this game out.”
In Doja’s version of House Party, set for release this summer, players will help the “Need To Know” singer execute a master plan to track down a masked dancing sensation. Players will have access to multiple outfits for Doja to help her show off new dance moves, and help create a new music video.
“We are beyond ecstatic to be working with Doja Cat and her team on this collaboration,” said Bobby Ricci, Founder and CEO of Eek! Games, in a statement. “Doja Cat was the perfect pick to star in our first major expansion pack, and the more we work with her, the more apparent that becomes. We are excited to be able to bring this unique experience to the gaming world with our key partners, Bravado and Epik who helped in aligning us with Doja Cat.”
A portion of the proceeds from Doja’s House Party game will benefit Advancing Children For Success, an organization dedicated to the development and protection of children and their families by way of improving access to nutrition, health, early learning, and skills development.
Over the years, Epic Games’ Fortnite has increasingly become a home not just for legions of gamers but also for musicians who enjoy the game’s combination of third-person shooter and building mechanics. Those musicians have also partnered with Epic Games for in-game appearances like Travis Scott’s 2020 concert, which broke the game’s streaming record, and Ariana Grande’s 2021 concert.
Today, Epic announced the game’s latest musical partners: Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars — known collectively as Silk Sonic. Rather than playing an in-game concert, though, Silk Sonic will offer their music to gamers another way, via an in-game radio station that will play their hits like “Leave The Door Open.” Their debut hit previously featured in the game as an emote, or a dance that the player’s avatar can perform on command. Emotes have been a big part of the game’s success, as the game itself is free, but players can buy emotes via mini-transactions with real money.
The radio station can be accessed when a player uses one of the vehicles in the game and will be hosted by Bootsy Collins, who is featured on Silk Sonic’s debut album, An Evening With Silk Sonic. In addition, new skins will allow players to dress their avatars in funky, ’70s-style outfits inspired by Andy and Bruno.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
When the new game GTA Online: The Contract debuts later this week, it will feature Dr. Dre and Anderson .Paak as characters. But there’s more. Considering that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto franchise has boasted some of the most profitable media in history, it’s only fitting that they’ve invested heavily in ensuring that the music that accompanies the game play is as fresh and of-the-moment as possible.
When new game bows on December 15th, there will be a new radio station: Rosalía and Arca are behind “Motomami Los Santos,” which not only features new music from Rosalía’s upcoming album, Motomami. It will also has feature tunes from Arca’s Kick series and a brand new track from Bad Gyal. Overall, the station spans the spectrum from Daddy Yankee to Playboy Carti, and Rauw Alejandro to DJ Spinn.
The game’s existing stations are also getting a total refresh, with an incredible amount of new music premieres that would make Zane Lowe jealous. On the Big Boy-hosted “Radio Los Santos,” Schoolboy Q will be premiering the new track “Let’s Get It.” There’s also new and unheard songs from Freddie Gibbs, Mozzy, YG, Tia Corine, Offset, and more. DJ Pooh’s “West Coast Classics” station is also set to feature a career-spanning Dr. Dre playlist. Leimert Park’s Dam-Funk is behind the games overall g-funk-soaked score.
Watch the trailer for GTA Online: The Contract above.
Sueco is a rising star in music. It’s hard to describe a sound that can be associated with him right now, because a big part of his appeal is his willingness to try different sounding music. After releasing hits like “fast,” “paralyzed,” and “Sober/Hungover,” he’s quickly making himself into an even bigger name.
It turns out that music isn’t his only passion — Sueco is also a big gamer. His passion for video games goes all the way back to his first-ever console, the Sega Dreamcast. These days, he’s gaming on a PC, and it’s this passion that made him a perfect choice for the launch of The Greenroom, an innovative music, gaming, and sports crossover event series presented in partnership with gaming giants VaynerSports, eFuse, and Aim Lab. This event will feature Sueco against other major stars like Bankrol Hayden, Juju Smith-Schuster, and Bugha, as they all play Halo Infinite for a prize of $10,000 in cash and a custom championship ring.
We got a chance to talk to Sueco about how he thinks he’ll fare in the upcoming event, what games he’s been into playing lately, and more.
What made you want to involve yourself with the launch of the Green Room series?
Well, I’ve always been a gamer, especially when I was a kid. I’m starting to really get back into it a lot. With this first tournament, the Halo tournament, Halo 3, when I was growing up, was a big part of who I was. I spent so much damn time playing Halo when I was a little kid. When I saw they were rebooting the franchise and whatnot, I was just stoked that I was able to be a part of anything related to it because it’s just a really nostalgic feeling for me. Then it’s funny, when I downloaded the game, I was crossing my fingers, hoping that it didn’t suck. But it’s sick and it seems like a lot of people love it. I don’t know. It’s cool. I’m just glad to be a part of it.
Have you had much of a chance to play it? Or was it just a little bit of time to mess around with it?
Not even that much time. Maybe about three or four hours so far. Just enough to get all the basics down. But then I just got on Aim Lab, so now I’m training. Now I’m going to play like a pro. So everybody, get ready for the tournament because I’m coming in strong.
You said you played a lot of games growing up?
Yeah. I was always playing a lot of the weirder games, to be honest. I played World at War and Modern Warfare and Zombies and shit with the homies. But I was more into games like Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and KOTOR 2, and sh*t like Civilization and Portal. More strategy and puzzle-based games. Also, one of my favorite games was this platformer named Psychonauts. They just dropped the sequel. It was sick because, again, it was one of those things where I was just hoping, please don’t be bad, please don’t be bad. And it was f*cking sick. After 12 years, they finally dropped the sequel.
What were your thoughts (on Psychonauts 2)?
Storyline-wise, I was a little confused. I’m going to be honest. But I enjoyed it. There are not really that many platformers anymore. Obviously, there’s some, but I feel like platforms used to be a way bigger thing. It’s nice to find a good platformer. You feel what I’m saying?
Yeah. When we were growing up it was like, we got Mario, we got our Sonics. We got all that stuff and those were the main games everyone played. But now Psychonauts is the niche game as opposed to when it was the main type of game.
Yeah, exactly. I haven’t played the new Ratchet and Clank, but everyone says that’s sick. Have you played it?
I haven’t, but I want to. I’ve been hearing the same thing, that it’s sick. Especially because I heard it’s one of those games where you can just go into a different world almost instantly. It’s like, oh this is the type of thing you can only do on a NextGen console kind of thing.
Facts. I need to get myself a f*cking PS5 and play that sh*t.
I was going to ask if you had one yet. It’s been impossible to get one.
I don’t even have a console. I just have a PC set up.
Are you a PC gamer then?
Yeah. I play everything on PC. I’m not even going to tell you that I have the most kickass PC because it’s a prebuilt. But it gets the job done.
You did a song with Wiz Khalifa for the Sonic the Hedgehog movie a while back. What was that like working with him and everyone else there?
Working with all those people was sick. Wiz, all of them, really, they’re all legends. That was sick for me to be able to be on a song with them. But also, my first game ever was Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast. That was when I was maybe four or five years old. So the fact that I was a part of the official franchise was nuts to me. It was super cool. It was funny, I remember they didn’t have the red carpet, they had the blue carpet because it was Sonic, right? IGN came up to me and asked me for an interview, and I just lost my mind. I was like, oh my God, IGN is interviewing me. And they were like, whoa, that’s the first reaction we’ve got like that.
I was going to say, for you, was it more exciting … when you started gaining fame and popularity, was it more exciting to be talking to IGN as opposed to Hollywood Reporter or those types?
Oh, yeah! To me, like I said, because that was just something I grew up reading and being a part of. So it was just like, oh my God, is this really happening? It was sick. That was a good time.
Sueco is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
In the piece, co-producer Max Martin notes of the song, “Abel came with the vision of what the song should be, which was a very different tempo and vibe than what is usually done. He took a risk, and that was very impressive to us. We all felt this song was very special even early on in the process.” The Weeknd then added, “GTA: Vice City really opened my eyes to a lot of ’80s music, so there was a nostalgia for when I was a kid playing video games and listening to Hall & Oates and Michael Jackson while driving through the city.”
The Grand Theft Auto games are well known for their soundtracks, which players experience through in-game radio stations. Vice City has nine stations and they all cycle through their own playlists of about 15 songs each (except for the one station that doesn’t play music). Since the game is set in 1986, all of the songs included are from that year or earlier. Hall & Oates has one song in the game, “Out Of Touch,” while Jackson has two: “Billie Jean” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.”
After over a year of dominating the live music and live streaming spaces, the Verzuz brand is expanding to encompass live streaming video games with the next evolution of its competition format, Verzuz Gamez. While the musical hits battles have always been more about celebrating the legacies of those performers who have had a huge impact on hip-hop culture throughout the years, this time, the battle will be a straight-up fight to the finish as the inaugural edition of Verzuz Games will pit a pair of “big” rappers against two “lil” ones in a Call Of Duty: Vanguard tournament.
On Wednesday, November 3 at 6 pm PT, Big Boi and Big Sean will face off against Lil Jon and Lil Tecca for gaming supremacy in a three-hour, multi-round tournament format hosted by T-Pain with a performance by Migos. Aside from having a pretty cool theme, the teams also seem pretty well-balanced, what with pairing the oldest contestant with the youngest (you gotta handicap the zoomer, who was forged in the fires of online multiplayer chaos, by sticking him with the one guy who was around for Pong, otherwise Tecca would definitely run amok and clean up the field). Meanwhile, we’ll have to see if Big Boi and Big Sean can share chemistry as well as a misnomered moniker against one of rap’s first Twitch streaming adopters (Lil Jon — forever ahead of his time).
T-Pain was on Twitch well before it was cool. While Twitch had been in use for years among video game fans, it was not a place that celebrities typically hung out like it is now. These days it’s not uncommon for famous athletes, actors, or musicians to be seen hanging out on Twitch playing a game and interacting with their community. T-Pain, on the other hand, was doing it originally as just something to do in his free time. He’d play games, show off new music, and just hang out.
These days, Twitch is almost as much of a job as his music career for him. He’s an extremely popular streamer with thousands of people tuning into his streams live or watching the VODs after he’s wrapped up. Twitch saw his popularity and got in contact with him. Now, T-Pain and Twitch have formed a partnership where his presence on the site will be even more visible. He’s kicking off his partnership with an exclusive listening party on his Twitch channel for his new single “I’m Cool With That.”
“This partnership means that I have been seen,” T-Pain said. “With so little representation on the service previously, the fact that Twitch came to me means that they actually see our community and understand the value of our contribution to the streaming world. We’ve been hosting beat battles and collaborative sessions for years… ‘I’m Cool With That’ is a combination of some of those efforts and was the first song created and released with my community, and I hope this is just the start of a journey Twitch and I are about to go on to uplift and strengthen the music community on Twitch.”
The upcoming listening party will be where T-Pain further breaks down the new track and shares details about other aspects of his partnership, such as monthly “Post Ya Song” and “Post Ya Beat” reviews from community producers. It’s really cool to see this kind of opportunity for T-Pain considering that he was one of the first well-known names to really embrace Twitch. Now he has a partnership and his community gets to watch his streams become even bigger.
This is another big step for Twitch as well, as the platform continues to try and show it’s for more than just video games. Twitch will always be about video games first and foremost, but the platform has not shied away from growing to become something even bigger. Lucky for them, T-Pain not only represents the video game side of the platform but the music side as well. He’s the perfect choice for this partnership.
Back in 1999, Wu-Tang Clan: Shaolin Style dropped on PlayStation and hip-hop heads were hyped to play a tournament kung-fu fighting style game with their favorite members of the Clan. Heck, ODB fought in a drunken fist style, while Ghostface and Raekwon were bare-knuckle boxers, and Method Man wielded a warhammer. While the game had its limitations, it was the first four-player fighting game on PlayStation, so you know it got wild when everybody had a controller.
But that was over 20 years ago (Supreme Clientele would be released the following year, for context) and now according to Windows Central and the GamesBeat Decides Podcast, Wu-Tang Clan is rumored to be working with Xbox and Brass Lion Entertainment on a new game, called Project Shaolin, that’s an action RPG style game. The story is set to be framed around Shaolin lore and while the role of Wu-Tang members within the game is still up in the air, Windows Central indicates that Wu-Tang will be at the helm of the soundtrack. They added more details on the gameplay:
“The campaign is planned to run for a couple of dozen hours, complete with a rich endgame comprised of seasonal content drops and other updates. You will be able to obtain loot, weapons, gear, and so on, in both procedural endgame dungeons and more tailor-made events. Also, it appears that legendary hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan themselves will be heading up the game’s sound track”
What’s cool about Brass Lion Entertainment, is that the Skyrim and Fallout vets dub themselves as “an entertainment studio focused on creating original fictional universes that center on Black, Brown, and other marginalized characters, cultures, and stories.”
Who better to keep pushing forward the legend of the Wu? More updates are sure to come on this one.
Vince Staples might be best-known for his sardonic social media personality and scathing, nihilistic gangsta raps, but he’s also quite the pitchman — remember his hilarious Sprite commercials? The Long Beach native puts all three skills to use on Pokemon 25: The Album, a companion compilation of tracks celebrating the generations-spanning multimedia franchise’s 25th anniversary. Vince contributes “Got ‘Em” to the album, which also features such names as J Balvin, Lil Yachty, Post Malone, and Tierra Whack and drops October 15.
Above, in a rare glimpse of earnestness from Vince, he breaks down the “evolution” — hehe — of “Got ‘Em” along with some “help” from Snorlax. Of course, if you know anything about Pokemon — which, as Vince points out in the video, you probably do — Snorlax’s assistance amounts to basically napping in the corner while Vince recounts his experiences playing the video game and watching the cartoon growing up. As he puts it, “It’s important to tap into your inner child or just not be jaded. There’s always room for excitement or fun or optimism if you can keep hold of the things that were important to you in childhood, it’ll put you into a good place.”
If that feels like a big swing from the rapper’s usual stance on such things, it might be time to go back and review his old work — despite the running thread of fatalistic acceptance of his dark surroundings, there have always been glimpses of optimism as seen through his mischievous sense of humor. That humor pops up in his Pokemon explainer, too; the latter portion of the clip consists of Vince comparing his “nap ability” to Snorlax’s and determining that despite being an expert in catching 40 winks whenever possible, the rotund road napper has a lot more experience in sawing logs at a moment’s notice.
You can watch Vince Staples talk up Pokemon 25 above and pre-order the album here.
The 2021 League Of Legends World Championship has been taking place and the matches have been really exciting so far. One person, that’s been really enjoying them? Lil Nas X. His enjoyment of video games isn’t a secret. He’s a huge fan of Sonic The Hedgehog and did a livestream concert inside Roblox.
Lil Nas X is also a big fan of the League Of Legends team 100 Thieves. He’s so much of a fan that he decided to do create a hype video to celebrate the 2021 League Of Legends World Championship featuring a completely unique compilation of Lil Nas X’s hits “Thats What I Want” and “Industry Baby.” The result is a great hype video featuring 100 Thieves member JhbTeam dancing around with visions of Lil Nas X performing inside the LCS Championship trophy. The behind the scenes footage from the shoot is also quite enjoyable.
Anyone that wants to check out 100 Thieves in the League Of Legends World Championship can find them competing online at Lolesports.com They’re currently in the group stage, coming off a loss to Edward Gaming, but they’ll get a second shot at getting a win on Tuesday when they take on FocusMe.
If they manage to make a title run maybe we’ll get an opportunity to see Lil Nas X celebrating it. We’re also going to eagerly anticipate more crossovers with him and the world of gaming.
