Hip-hop’s answer to Guitar Hero shows potential
By Jake Ayres
June 2, 2009 9:00 p.m.
The inevitable is upon us.
At least in terms of video games, which is bad news for me.
Let me explain. I was left behind in the last wave of video games. After spending my adolescence keeping up with two consecutive generations of gaming ““ thanks, N64 and GCN ““ I quietly and somewhat unintentionally withdrew my vote from the console wars of the next generation of gaming. This resulted in an important social handicap for me:
I suck at Halo.
And the new Super Smash Bros.
Most importantly, I’m somewhere close to abysmal with Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
I can deal with not being able to snipe a convulsing, bunny-hopping Covenant grunt at 1,500 paces. I can also deal with not knowing how to play as Wario. (I’ll always have Melee.) However, the idea of being inept at Guitar Hero and Rock Band is a bitter, watermelon-sized pill for me to swallow because I can actually play guitar and bass in real life.
Of course I’m no Slowhand, but nothing really compares to the frustration of failing miserably at the virtual version of a song you could easily play on a real guitar.
However, with the advent of Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour, the option has arisen to do the vocals; giving hand-clumsy hams like me a fighting chance at not prematurely ending every group song. I applaud this measure.
But this advancement in “rhythm-game” technology has made the aforementioned inevitable possible. A new game called Def Jam Rapstar has me feeling pleasant disturbances in the force.
The game is exactly what it sounds like: the rap-music companion and analogue to Guitar Hero and Rock Band. A trailer for the game was released concurrently with the announcement of the game on May 28. The trailer is actually fairly convincing, although it shows no gameplay whatsoever ““ an indication of how far along in the development process the game is, despite the announcement of a release in winter 2009.
Needless to say, I almost started speaking in tongues when I saw the trailer. Given the amount that I discuss hip-hop in this column, I’m sure you can imagine the amount of time I have frittered away memorizing countless rap verses.
Therefore, this game is essentially the answer to my prayers: an outlet for the hours, weeks and days I’ve spent obsessing over this genre.
In theory, I’m all for this game for several reasons. First, it has the possibility of finally getting kids that are into hip-hop to respect their elders. In other genres of music, there’s a well-developed system of giving credit, meaning that new acts will pay homage to their forebears.
Likewise, the fans of new groups will get into the groups that inspired them. Case in point: Jack White doing an entire album with Lucinda Williams. An obscure country singer past her prime received a boost in record sales thanks to the appearance of a prominent new musician. When this homage is paid in hip-hop, it never really seems to make an impact on the fans. In the words of infamous name-dropper The Game: “Ask a Jay-Z fan who’s Big Daddy Kane?/They don’t know ’em.”
Rapstar could be an effective way to combat this. Older rock music has successfully been marketed to kids who play Guitar Hero and Rock Band.
No joke: I heard a voice-over in a rock compilation CD commercial say, “Now get two CDs with all the bands from your favorite video games!”
Dead giveaway. Perhaps Rapstar could make young kids that love Soulja Boy get into KRS-One or Rakim or the Geto Boys ““ something that isn’t Soulja Boy, for the love of God. The world could be a better place for it.
The other aspect of the game I have high hopes for is the focus on vocals. The irony of this game is that it doesn’t really fit into the convention of having multiple controllers for different instruments, other than the drums. Given that hip-hop is based around drum samples, the tracks would be pretty repetitive.
On top of that, all that’s shown in the trailer is the vocal aspect. However, this might have its advantages. First, it eliminates the learning curve that’s stymied me several times over by skipping learning an instrument interface and going straight for the vocals ““ something that’s fairly intuitive for most people.
Secondly, by eliminating the instruments, all of the techniques you learn in game have a real-life application.
In Guitar Hero and Rock Band, once you completely learn a song, what have you got besides a couple thousand hits on YouTube for your flawless rendition of “Through the Fire and Flames,” carpal tunnel syndrome and no girlfriend? Not much else.
But every time you learn a song in Rapstar, you’ve also memorized the lyrics to a classic track that you can feel free to bust out any time said song comes up.
Without instruments, Rapstar might become a glorified game of karaoke, except less difficult because there’s no pitch in rapping. But I think any game in which I (hopefully) get to rap The Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” at full volume with my friend is a worthy investment.
If you’d rather rap “Gin and Juice” than try in vain to sing “Any Way You Want It,” e-mail Ayres at [email protected].
