How Russian rap fought with esports and video games – from Oxxxymiron to Morgenstern | news
On December 1, it became known that the rapper IAMMIND (or, as he asks to call him on his YouTube channel, AMAMIND) bought out the composition Team Unique by Dota 2. And this is far from the first time that hip-hop apologists fit with the esports industry. And this also applies to much more famous rappers than IAMMIND. Some held joint streams with professional players, others punched on popular titles, and still others even participated in the broadcasts of eSports tournaments. About the most famous rappers who have noted in the industry – in the material Cybersport.ru.
Kievstoner
Ukrainian rapper Kyivstoner (aka Albert Vasiliev), known for his group “Mushrooms”, is the deepest integrated into e-sports. The musician was a special correspondent back in 2017 born to win at the Dota 2 Major in Kiev. Then Kyivstoner recorded several vlogs for the club channel on YouTube. Later, the rapper often appeared on Dota 2 Maincast broadcasts as a guest analyst and commentator. In addition, Kyivstoner participated in various activities with popular esports players, mainly NAVI players from different disciplines, and also hosted Dota 2 and CS: GO broadcasts on Twitch.
GONE.Fludd
GONE.Fludd is one of the most popular freshmen of 2018: then his tracks “Mumble”, “Ice Cube” and “Sugar Man” were played from literally every iron. With esports, the rapper associates a single collaboration with the organization Gambit eSports… In 2020, when he co-streamed with Fortnite players Mark letw1k3 Danilov and Ilya Toose Chernyshov. On the official Gambit YouTube channel there is a video with a cut from this stream, which has collected about 35 thousand rubles. views. GONE.Fludd itself contains several references to video games in the lyrics, especially to Crash Bandicoot – there is even a Crash Bash track with a cover styled after the Naughty Dog title, as well as a few lines: “I have a mask on, Indicate, boy, ways of a service” and “I’m spinning like a hurricane.”
Morgenstern
The most popular performer of the past two years, Morgenstern, of course, also did not deprive the esports and video games industries of his attention. Many probably remember the advertising track “Dulo”, released by the artist this spring. In it, Morgenstern plays War Thunder, along the way talking about the advantages of the game and the large sum he received from the developers for this integration. This was probably the most successful War Thunder promotion in history, as the rapper’s clip has already been watched almost 80 million times in less than a year.
But even before Morgensch became an icon for Russian schoolchildren and the most talked about character in the country, he already crossed paths with esports. It happened in 2018, when the rapper, together with Big Russian Boss and Neuromonakh Theophan, performed at the Warface tournament in Moscow. True, then the young Morgenstern was far from the headliner of the event and could only dream of a “bath of attendants”.
In addition, Morgenstern participated in a collaboration with the mobile shooter Free Fire, which was timed to coincide with the finals of the discipline championship. And not so long ago, the rapper held a couple of joint charity broadcasts with the streamer Glad Valakas and donated the collected money for the treatment of a child with SMA.
Egor Creed
The most enviable groom of Russian hip-hop, Yegor Creed, turned out to be a huge CS: GO fan. After leaving Timati and his label Black Star, he began to stream the shooter on Twitch quite often. Moreover, Yegor Creed conducted some broadcasts together with well-known cybersportsmen, including s1mple and Zeusas well as other content makers of the popular platform. In general, the rapper is involved in a variety of media activities related to esports: he has had enough show games with professional players and streamers. Recently Yegor Creed even announced his own esports organization. However, so far this new project has slightly stalled and there is no information about it.
And Creed’s work has become a good platform for integration with the industry. For example, the musician recently released a track dedicated to PUBG Mobile, and the developers of the title announced a voice pack with the rapper’s phrases, which will later appear in the game. Earlier, Creed presented the video for GTA, which stylistically copies the title from Rockstar, but in fact the musician reminded listeners of a large number of guns in his arsenal and difficult relations with cops.
PHAT, Boulevard Depot and Yanix
And this trio in 2019 released a track called AFK, which half consisted of references to CS: GO, and half of obscene language (the editors are not responsible for the accuracy of proportions). In the video, the rappers played the role of shooter fighters in the scenery, reminiscent of the cards from the Valve title. The musicians in the game were controlled by schoolchildren playing in the computer club, as well as by popular streamers Bratishkinoff and Olyasha. In the PKHAT video, Boulevard Depo and Yanix were shooting fights, planting a bomb in an unrealistic skill, as well as a lot of Mademoiselles wanting to spend time with them and other Gucci clothes. For two years, the clip has collected about 6.5 million views.
Oxxxymiron
Despite the fact that the king of Russian rap and a lover of moss, Oxxxymiron, is a master of spinning the game in words, he practically did not have a special relationship with esports (but a new album was released). The artist’s only contact with the industry came in 2017 when he hugged a commentator. v1lat for a joint photo – unfortunately, the listeners did not wait for the fit. But Miron Yanovich had several references to video games. For example, in that very legendary “Moss” Oxxxymiron showed his knowledge of CCG Magic: The Gathering, reading: “Spun this swamp, as in” Mae-edzhik “”. The title does indeed have a map of the swamp, which is one of the main types of land, and most importantly, it really can be rotated. And in the track from the new album “Beauty and Ugliness”, the rapper drove the old-school arcade Carmageddon.
L’One
The main tiger of the Russian stage L’One (aka Levan Gorozia) has been actively cooperating with the esports industry in recent years. The musician was a guest of the RuHub broadcasts dedicated to the CS: GO major, participated in a show match with s1mple and an amateur tournament with a prize pool of $ 1.5 million. The rapper’s love for the shooter Valve eventually resulted in a track called CS RAW, dedicated to the game … Unlike many of his colleagues in the shop, Gorozia uses awareness in the specifics of CS: GO and its terms: “We fly out in split B on farms, light”.
Feduk
The author of one of the most annoying songs of our time, “Rose Wine” Feduk, also did not bypass the cybersport industry. In 2019, the rapper was invited as a special guest to the BLAST CS: GO tournament in Moscow. Despite the status of the event, the integration of the musician turned out pretty well. The organizers of the championship chose the rapper’s track “27” as the soundtrack of the event – an ambiguous decision in life, given that the song is about “Club 27” – the symbolic name of a group of popular musicians who left at this age. As a result, Zeus left NAVI (and he was not even 27) – and why was it necessary, Feduk, eh? But the rapper not only performed at the opening ceremony of the championship. True, it did not work out in the best way: due to technical problems, viewers of the broadcast did not hear most of the track.
Feduk has had a better esports experience as well. The rapper, along with other musicians, took part in the release of the Evening Urgant program, within which a CS: GO show match was held with the Virtus.pro…
Battle rappers
In battle rap, you can find a whole hotbed of references to e-sports and video games, but due to the noticeably reduced movement in recent years, it is simply pointless to list them all – all the heroes of the genre will be no-names for a wide audience. But in short, in modern battle rap there are about the same lines about Cyberpunk 2077, GTA, The Witcher 3 and Dota 2 as about the opponent’s relatives. Many of the representatives of the genre are actively streaming games, and some follow esports. For example, R1fmabes (that this name will hardly tell you anything) even broadcast The International 10 (2021), zealously rooting for Team spirit… But what can I say, even the founder of Versus Battle, Alexander Timartsev, who is also a restaurateur, actively streams on Twitch, plays Heroes 3.
References to games are found in every first battle rapper. Even Slava KPSS, who once triumphantly defeated Oxxxymiron, at one time compared his other opponent with a character from the fighting game Mortal Kombat: “You are a pitiful shadow like Noob Saibot.” Against the background of fairly simple and similar gaming and eSports punchlines, where there are mentions of NAVI, Dendi, Gabe Newell and much more, you can only draw a funny line Walkie T, showing how most representatives of the genre are aware of the intricacies and memes of our industry: Listen, Danya Letay, boy, tick – I’ll kick you 19 times like ALWAYS WISH“.
In a word, as the poet of the Silver Age sang, Russian rappers perform in the esports industry as strongly as the jaw of a Pithecanthropus. Perhaps such a close connection between fans of spinning the game and those who just love games. Thus, over time, there will be more integrations. So round, gentlemen.