Def Jam Rapstar will reinvigorate music games

Amidst the widespread concerns currently enveloping the ill-health of the music games genre, the president of Def Jam Rapstar publisher 4mm Games has told MCV that his company’s hip-hop title can single-handedly resurrect the sector.

Def Jam Rapstar is a complete breath of fresh air, and it’s going to reinvigorate the music genre,” Jamie King told MCV in an exclusive interview. I think it’s going to surprise everyone with just how fun and viral it is.”

Elsewhere in his exclusive interview with MCV, King recalls his first visit to the American offices of Def Jam:

I had to stand in a room with [Def Jam co-founder] Russ Simmons and he said ‘So you’re the guy that made this game for us, right?’ and I was like Yeah.’ He replied ‘I don’t know about that’.

Def Jam has built up a brand over 30 years, and they are hip-hop. They know hip-hop, right? And so, on the face of it, I come from England, what the fuck do I know? I’m never going to be hip-hop, but as Kevin [Liles, ex-Def Jam president and 4mm partner] said, I like hip-hop, right? ‘You get it. You’re never going to be it, but you get it’.

And he’s right. I do. So all we can do at 4mm as fans of hip-hop is apply our gaming experience to just try and make sure that there’s a really authentic, proper game that we’ve made.”

To read the full interview, head over to the Features section tomorrow.