Are video games the next chapter in hip-hop? With the beginning of a new generation comes new and improved ways to incorporate music and gaming. It all started with PlayStation back in the 90's with their release of Parrapa the Rappa a kids video game consisting of rap and cartoons. This would spark the beginning of what would soon later mark the rise of music and video games together. Def Jam Records took notice of this and released a series of video games including actual Hip Hop artist from their label. The series started with Def Jam Vendetta released in 2003, which featured the likes of Ludacris, Redman, Scarface and several other Def jam affiliates. The follow up was Def Jam: Fight for NY which sold a good amount of copies and received good ratings from its relative audience the last to be released from the action packed Hip Hop series was Def Jam: Icon which was cool to say the least, it solidified the series blueprint to move forward towards creativity. With karaoke recognized as an enjoyable hobby amongst all age groups Def Jam took it upon themselves to create a Hip Hop simulated video game titled, Def Jam: Rapstar.

The game allows players to perform karaoke over a plush library of Hip Hop videos and songs. The best feature the game has is the ability to allow users to freestyle battle other players around the world! The game features original beats from DJ Premier, DJ Kalil, and Bangledesh which users can use against one another. With the recent developments in video games its not hard to see the infinitive direction being taken by both artist and gamers. In my opinion this is just the beginning of video games will soon be well acquainted with the music industry and its culture.