We all know that gaming and hip-hop are two distinct forces that have dominated youth culture for decades now. The connections between the two might not be super obvious, but if you look or listen closely, they collide with sonic bliss.
Back in 2001, N.E.R.D’s debut album featured Shae Woodley holding a Playstation controller on the cover. T-Pain once said that gaming helped him write songs. Post Malone is a well-documented Call of Duty player, and Tyler, the Creator voiced a character in Grand Theft Auto V' something that many fans didn’t pick up on until years after the game’s release.
In recent years hip-hop and gaming’s connections have grown even tighter, with artists incorporating samples and FX right into their music. Some might be apparent, while others are so seamlessly woven in, you may not have noticed. We put together a collection of tracks that pay homage to classic video games.
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Street Fighter II Sound Effects x “Sorry Not Sorry” by Bryson Tiller
The Louisville rapper busted out in 2015 with his debut studio album, “Trapsoul.” The single “Sorry Not Sorry” featured a heavy sample from the classic arcade game Street Fighter II, which came out in 1991.
“Haunted Chase” by David Wise (Donkey Kong Country) x “6 God” by Drake
Produced by Boi-1da and Syk Sense, Drake’s 2014 declaration of his ascension to god status in his hometown featured a sample of Donkey Kong Country 2. So Diddy’s Kong Quest began OVO’s odyssey.
“Koji Kondo's Star Road Koji Kondo Star Road” (Super Mario World) x “Cha Cha” (Original Version) by D.R.A.M.
The rapper formerly known as DRAM cha-cha’d into your life with this infectious single, released in 2015. On it, he sampled the keyboard melody from Super Mario World’s Star World, which originated in the mind of gaming soundscape legend Koji Kondo.
Yasunori Mitsuda’s “Schala's Theme” (Chrono Trigger: Original Sound Version) x “Never Been” Wiz Khalifa
“In the game, I am a veteran.” On his breakout mixtape “Kush & Orange Juice” (2010), one of Pittsburgh’s most dope sampled “Schala’s Theme” from Chrono Trigger, the role-playing classic from 1995.
Hirokazu Tanaka Tetris - Type A x “Get It Back” by Gucci Mane feat. 2 Chainz
Now here’s a wild musical journey: In 1989, the Japanese composer Hirokazu Tanaka arranged a 19th-century Russian folk song called “Korobeiniki” for the theme to the Game Boy version of Tetris. More than 20 years later, Gucci Mane sampled the theme for his mixtape tune “Get It Back,” produced by Mike WiLL Made-It.
Yoko Shimomura and Isao Abe’s “Dhalsim” (Street Fighter II) x “Do Not Fire!” by Madvillain
In Street Fighter II, Dhalsim is the only character who can levitate, by using his special move Yoga Float. Madvillain – the collab between MF Doom and Madlib – changed the game with their sole album, 2004’s “Madvillainy,” which sampled “Dhalsim’s Theme” on the instrumental “Do Not Fire!”
Yoko Shimomura’s “Darkness of the Unknown” (Kingdom Hearts II: Original Soundtrack) x “Dollar and a Dream III” by J. Cole
The epic orchestration of Yoko Shimomura’s “Darkness of the Unknown,” from Kingdom Hearts II, features prominently in J. Cole’s “Dollar and a Dream III.” The song, naturally, is about leveling up.
Kenji Yamamoto’s “Inside the Crashed Space Pirate Frigate” (Metroid) x “Love Scars” by Trippie Redd
First released right here on SoundCloud in 2016, Trippie Redd’s “Love Scars” was recorded in one take in a dark room, he has said. It’s not hard to imagine the only light in the room coming from the display screen for his GameCube.
Masato Nakamura’s “Green Hill Zone” (Sonic the Hedgehog) x “Ms. Rightfernow” by Wiz Khalifa
From 2009’s “Flight School,” Wiz’s light-’n’-airy “Ms. Rightfernow” is based on a sample from the classic first level of Sonic the Hedgehog, the Green Hill Zone. Grassy and abundant, the Green Hill Zone is a space in which we imagine Wiz has spent countless hours.
Koji Kondo’s “File Select” (Super Mario 64) x “Run/Running” by Lil Yachty
What does Mario do? Mario runs. “We keep on running it up,” Yachty raps. The sample from the iconic launch game to the Nintendo 64 console also runs on loop throughout.
Matt Ridgeway’s 3D Pinball Space Cadet Sound Effects (3D Pinball for Windows) – Space Cadet x “You Better Move” by Lil Uzi Vert
From Uzi’s second studio album “Eternal Atake,” “You Better Move” pays tribute to the rapper’s childhood by sampling sound effects from Space Cadet Pinball. The effects were previously used on the “Friday” by Uzi collaborator Spaceghostpurrp.
“Tomoya Ohtani His World” (Sonic the Hedgehog Original Soundtrack, Vol. 1) x “KMT” by Drake feat. Giggs
This one was based on a sample from Sonic the Hedgehog, the 2006 game that turned out to be a disappointment. By 2017, when Drake released “KMT” (Kiss My Teeth), he already had all the Chaos Emeralds, anyway.
Tohru Nakabayashi and Y. Dolphin Takada “Theme of Thief” *Golden Axe the Music) x “Money, Cash, Hoes” by Jay-Z feat. DMX
Given the fact that this one is already 25 years old (!), it stands to reason that the sample Swizz Beatz chose for this track from Jay’s second album reaches even further back than that. “Theme of Thief” is the bonus stage of the vintage game Golden Axe. Jay’s been carving it up with one of those for a minute now.
EA Sports NBA Jam Sound Effects x “I'm on Fire” by Nas
Nas’s “I’m on Fire” samples sound effects from Street Fighter II and also from NBA Jam, the long-running series that began as an arcade game from Midway. “How many Nasirs? How many top tier?” he asks. In the game, he’s surely one of the all-time greats.
Junichi Masuda's “Lavender Town” x “Ugly” by $uicideboy$
One critic called Junichi Masuda’s eerie, atonal theme for Lavender Town the “second most scary video game track of 2012.” So it makes perfect sense that it would be sampled by the unsettling underground rappers $uicideboy$.
Midway Games Shao Kahn Voice Collection x “Purple Swag” by A$AP Rocky
Those eerie voices you hear on Rocky’s “Purple Swag” were pulled from Mortal Kombat’s Shao Khan, one of the all-time classic villains. Given that the first album Rocky ever owned was nearly a Mortal Kombat soundtrack – he ended up choosing Rakim’s “18th Letter” instead – we’re not surprised.
Sony PlayStation 2 Startup Sound Effect x “YUNGXANHOE” by Playboi Carti
One of Carti’s first tracks to appear on SoundCloud featured the space-age startup sound of a PlayStation 2. That sound can only mean one thing: It’s on.
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