Being a hip hop artist and gamer is more common than people realize. Biggie’s iconic “Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis / When I was dead broke, man, I couldn’t picture this” bars often come to mind when one thinks of the connection. N.E.R.D’s iconic cover art for In Search Of… features member Shay Haley playing a PlayStation. Other rappers have referenced games and characters throughout the years. These days, many rappers spend their downtime playing video games. Many stream themselves playing for fun because it serves as another income stream. Gaming has become quite a successful business, with eSports leagues generating and paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars—and sometimes even more. We’ve compiled a list of seven rappers who have been quite open about their love of gaming.
T – Pain
T-Pain is a hip hop gamer who might be able to say he was one of the “first” in that lane, too. The auto-tune legend has been streaming himself playing video games since 2016. Nowadays, he does it through his brand Nappy Boy Gaming. He already had a positive attitude, and that continued during his streams. T-Pain has played several Call of Duty games on his streams over the years, leading to a big opportunity for him. He was a co-host for the world premiere of Call of Duty: Vanguard in 2021. Supporters may remember the…unique moments he shared on the mic during that event. Still, his hosting was a testament that sticking with something can lead to significant opportunities to do something with it.
Tee Grizzley
Tee Grizzley is a hip hop gamer that has made quite a profit doing something that was once called a “waste of time.” Grizzly streams Grand Theft Auto 5 on Twitch, and his brand is Grizzly Gang Gaming. He plays on a private server, and players pay to join it. He plays a variation of the game called “roleplay” (RP), where various customizations are added to make it even more stylized and fun.
Tee has stated he made $200,000 a month through his streaming. “I stream it on Twitch. I get paid from Twitch. I take the Twitch videos I already streamed, and I put those videos on Youtube. I get paid from YouTube. And I get paid from the server. Then, you have sponsorships, ads, and all this s**t I get paid from too.” he shared on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast.
Xavier Wulf
Xavier Wulf is a hip hop gamer with one of the most interactive gaming sessions. Due to being an underground artist, he doesn’t have thousands of people watching his streams. However, since recently appearing in a song with Juicy J, his listeners and viewers may increase. Xavier celebrated the release of his most recent project, Blood Shore Season 3, by playing Fall Guys with fans and then having a listening party for the project. He did so through his Discord server and talked to his supporters through an audio channel as they played together. While his music is often quite aggressive, Xavier’s natural demeanor and voice are quite calm. Xavier is very into cars and naturally has played Need For Speed: Unbound on Twitch. However, his music nor his likeness has appeared in the game…yet.
Soulja Boy
We’d be remiss if we didn’t include Soulja Boy’s hip hop gamer accolades in this list. Soulja’s foray into the gaming world dates back years ago. Listeners may recall when he made his Xbox gamertag public. In the same infamous YouTube video, he tossed well over 50 copies of games he had on the floor and said he bought a white PlayStation 3 because it “matched the room.”
Soulja has elevated quite a bit since then and has had a podcast about gaming as well as “made” several gaming consoles. However…these consoles are just cheaply made Chinese emulators with his branding on them. Customers expressed frustration after not receiving orders for one of their handheld consoles after waiting over a year. Also, his ban on Twitch, which lasted over a year ended in April 2023, so supporters will likely catch him on there again soon.
Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion is a hip hop gamer but more in the “if you know, you know” lane. Her love for anime is well-documented in her lyrics, photoshoots, and merchandise deals. Anime lovers and gamers often overlap. However, at this point, she does not regularly stream herself playing video games. But she has done it once, and it was quite a big deal when she did. As a part of the promotion for Mortal Kombat 11, Meg did a cosplay of the game’s character Mileena and played the game on Twitch. Hosted by Fiona Nova, the gaming stream doubled as an interview (of sorts) for Megan, too. Infinitii, a notable Mortal Kombat Streamer, joined the fun and played against Megan. Fans will have to keep an eye out to see if Megan does anything for the upcoming Mortal Kombat 12.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg being a hip hop gamer is not even surprising. Uncle Snoop has a catalog of business deals, has appeared anywhere and everywhere, and still records music. It’s only right he spends his downtime – still making money – on the sticks. He was once a part of FaZe Clan, an eSports and lifestyle brand, but parted ways with them in April 2023.
Snoop has streamed various games but is most known for rage-quitting games. This is when something happens in a game so frustrating that the player gets mad and stops playing altogether. However, Snoop has gone beyond playing video games…he’s literally in them. Snoop Dogg is an Operator in Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone. His character’s face and outfit mirror him quite accurately, and his unmistakable voice comes from his character too.
Logic
Logic is one of the most locked-in hip hop gamers. Upon announcing his (now voided) retirement, he shared that he had signed a seven-figure deal with Twitch’s streaming platform in 2020. But, before this, Logic was very open about his love of gaming. On his YouTube channel, he regularly shared tours of his gaming room, including memorabilia for various games, movies, and shows. He also streamed periodically on YouTube and played multiple games there, too. One of his favorites was The Last of Us; he voiced a character in The Last of Us Part II. As of 2023, he plays video games like Fortnite with fans and streams them on Twitch. Segments of these streams are regularly uploaded to his YouTube for anyone who can’t watch it live.
Who are some of your favorite rappers that play video games? Let us know in the comments section.
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