Music Video of the Day for 10/12/10

Kid Cudi - "Erase Me" feat. Kanye West

The Rapstars Are Takin' Over... The Def Jam Rapstar Review

Note - The videos are from my Ustream channel of me rapping... so I'll leave it at that.

The hip-hop genre has been left out of the dust in the modernized boom of rhythm gaming that is dominated by the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises. Instruments are fun and all plus there are exceptions of including some rap songs in these games and other karaoke games like Singstar. However, there has never been a true karaoke game that defines rap music. In other words, there has never been a game that is really meant for rappers that want to spit their game to the world. Get on the Mic was the first and lame attempt at it, but Konami and 4mm Games decided to make things right with Def Jam Rapstar. The karaoke element is spot on for a game like this, but its the extra community features that makes Rapstar something special in the rhythm genre. The potential is also there for things to come as it lays out a solid framework to how to make a good rapping game and plus it is one of the cheaper party games to get this holiday season on consoles.

If you have been a veteran of karaoke games, Def Jam Rapstar is simply SingStar but mainly hip-hop and rap focused compared to all the poppy stuff SingStar offers. This is definitely a game meant to be loved by hip-hop and rap fans, because if you're not from the get go, then you might as well stick with SingStar on the Playstation 3 or Lips on the Xbox 360. There are three modes in Rapstar with Party, Career, and Freestyle. Party mode is basically your quickplay mode where you can play any song along with making playlists if you want to rap consecutive songs. It is pretty straightforward when it comes with this mode especially playing alone or with another player. Multiplayer consists of duet and battle modes where players can duet rapping verses at a time or be certain rappers for the song (One player as Dr. Dre and the other as Snoop Dogg in "Nuthin' But A G Thang" as an example) while battle is both players rapping out the same song and the higher score wins. The duets are handled pretty well for the most part as there are standout songs where they shine. Career mode is the bread and butter of the game as play tiers of songs for mics to unlock the next stage and status of the game as the goal is to well, become a Def Jam Rapstar. It is unfortunate that some songs, especially the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" are locked from the get go as you have to play the career mode to unlock them. You think by now rhythm game developers have learned that all songs in these games have to playable from the start, but yet they still haven't figured that out in 2010. Then again, it does give incentive for players to play career mode to unlock those songs and other customizable elements which I'll mention later on. Plus, there are various quick challenges that test your timing and scoring skills for more microphones such as getting scoring a certain number in a limited number of phrases. Freestyle mode allows players to simply freestyle with beats given by the game. This plays a huge part in the video uploads as players can show what they're capable of besides the main songs in the game.

Players are judged by lyrics, timing, and pitch (in certain songs) in Rapstar. While knowing the lyrics and having good timing are key factors towards getting a high score, you do have to sing to have a good pitch rating in some songs. This is usually the case with songs that have ladies singing the choruses. In addition, you can BS the lyrics to a certain extent as long as you keep your timing and combo multiplier going since all you have to do to max out the orange bar in the various phrases to score points. Once you fill up a yellow meter next to the one I just mentioned, you will activate platinum power, the game's version of star power that doubles your multiplier. It is still though about having a high score keeping that multiplier active throughout a whole song to get those "Off the Chain" ratings and be up high on the leaderboards. Even the difficulties don't have that much of a difference as the game can still be pretty generous even on hard if you don't know the song that well, but there is an unlockable expert difficulty where you rap without the lyrics being displayed. The major other feature of Rapstar is the community aspect where you can customize and upload videos to the game itself and its website for other people to watch and rate as long as you have a Playstation Eye or the Xbox Live Vision camera (also Kinect when it comes out too according to the developers). The video customization ranges from adding audio and visual effects to make your performance stand out from just another video of you rapping in some room. These videos of your performances or freestyles can are uploaded in 30 second chunks for the whole world to see. It is pretty similar to SingStar to how these community features play out besides customizing your videos like crazy having an echo and some money flashing on the screen.

The tracklist is basically all the songs you can think of that has influenced rap in a major way throughout its whole history from the 80s like "It Takes Two" to more recent stuff. The artist lineup is also a who's who of the rap game over the years from Slick Rick with "Children's Story," Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Notorious B.I.G., and 2Pac along with the artists of today with Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, 50 Cent, and Drake. While I'm happy with most of the tracklist the main game offers in terms of the diversity of serious and party-like songs, there are some songs by artists that make you cringe like Ja Rule, Soulja Boy (even though "Turn My Swag On" is one of those guilty pleasure songs which I'll admit), and others I would namedrop. At least there's downloadble songs in the future assuming Konami and 4mm Games go by a weekly schedule releasing them, but who knows how long the wave of DLC will last pending on the game's success and demand by the community. The major disappointment in Rapstar at its core is the fact that radio edits are used in all these songs along with their edited out music videos. You can still curse in the game if you know which ones pop up, but it is bleeped out in the lyrics' display and it can disrupt the whole flow of the performance.

Despite some glaring flaws, Def Jam Rapstar is truly the karaoke game hip-hop and rap fans have been waiting for years. Finally, someone made things right making a game for those that their dreams of being a rapper. The usage of radio edits in all the songs is disappointing, but keep in mind Konami had to release this thing with a Teen rating. It would be nice to play these songs uncensored later down the road, but come to think of it, a Mature-rated karaoke game does not really make that much sense from a business standpoint. The tracklist is very solid including songs that were big back in the day and still are today along with more recent tracks the kids are used to these days since you have to attract as many people as possible. Sure there are missing artists due to licensing issues by other publishers, but the potential of weekly DLC is a good thing for the future to keep players busy. Speaking of keeping players busy, the community features will keep this game going for the long run with the video uploads, freestyle mode, and online leaderboards. Generally, it is those party games that everyone that knows rap music can enjoy and it is at an affordable price of 70 dollars with a microphone compared to the triple digit bundles that DJ Hero 2 and Rock Band 3 will have. There is indeed lots of potential with Def Jam Rapstar as it is right now and hopefully it can become a legitimate franchise in the future.

Score = 8/10

Pros:

• Solid tracklist having the who's who of rap music.
• Community features like customizable videos that can be uploaded and rated will keep this game going,
• Core rapping/singing mechanics are also solid,
• One of the cheaper new party games to get this holiday season.

Cons:

• Radio edits for all the songs as the blurred out lyrics can be distracting at times
• Some songs are locked, which is unfortunate but it does force you to play career mode
• If you're not a fan of hip-hop and rap music, then this game is simply not for you.

Okay... My Obligatory Def Jam Rapstar DLC Wishlist

In case you haven't been noticing what's going on with me lately, I have been playing lots of Def Jam Rapstar since its release last Tuesday and tearing up the PS3 leaderboards (my review will be up on Monday). Konami and 4mm Games are planning a weekly schedule of downloadable songs with music videos (hopefully) being two bucks per song. There's already some songs out for download on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Store even though there's more on XBLM than PSN at the moment, so hopefully the Playstation Store can catch up this week. In the meantime, here comes the obligatory wishlist of what I want as downloadable in the game and keep in mind there will be more 90s and 00s stuff than the old school offerings (Also the game needs more lady rappers reppin - Only Lil' Kim & Salt-n-Pepa I think on the disc).

Twista - "Overnight Celebrity"

Cali Swag District - "Teach Me How to Dougie" (Well, why not haha)

Fabolous - "Young'n (Holla Back)"

Craig Mack - "Flava in Your Ear (Remix)"

LL Cool J - "Doin' It"

LL Cool J - "Headsprung"

Missy Elliott - "Get Your Freak On"

Missy Elliott - "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)"

Outkast - "B.O.B."

Outkast - "Rosa Parks"

Eve - "Who's That Girl?"

2Pac feat. Dr. Dre - "California Love" (Obvious pick)

Young Money - "Every Girl" (I saw the video yesterday & realized it can be fun)

Nas - "If I Ruled The World"

Ludacris - "Move B****" feat. Mystikal & I-20

50 Cent - "In Da Club" ("I Get Money" was a good choice for the disc though)

Ice Cube - "Check Yo Self" (Remix)

Ice Cube - "You Can Do It"

Warren G - "Regulate"

Warren G - "I Want It All"

Dr. Dre - "Dre Day" feat. Snoop Dogg

Busta Rhymes - "Touch It (Remix)"

G-Dep - "Special Delivery (Remix)"

Black Rob - "Whoa"

Ghostface Killah - "Cher Chez La Ghost"

Redman - "Da Goodness"

Pras - "Ghetto Superstar"

The Fugees - "Fug-ee-La"

M.O.P. - "Ante Up"

Mobb Deep - "Quiet Storm (Remix)" feat. Lil' Kim

Mobb Deep - "Shook Ones Part II"

T.I. - "Why You Wanna"

T.I. - "U Don't Know Me"

Rick Ross - "Hustlin"

N.O.R.E. - "Nothin"

Ludacris - "My Chick Bad" feat. Nicki Minaj

Notorious B.I.G. - "Mo Money, Mo Problems" feat. Diddy & Mase

Fat Joe - "Make It Rain"

Three Six Mafia - "Stay Fly"

The Game - "How We Do" feat. 50 Cent (Almost forgot about this one)

Dr. Dre - "The Next Episode" feat. Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg - "Drop It Like Its Hot"

Kanye West - "Can't Tell Me Nothing"

Jermaine Dupri - "Welcome to Atlanta" feat. Ludacris (Either that or the remix)

Cam' Ron - "Oh Boy"

Juelz Santana - "There It Go (The Whistle Song)"

Ying Yang Twins - "Wait (The Whisper Song)" (Potential lulz there)

Lil Jon - "Snap Yo Fingers"

E-40 - "Tell Me When to Go"

Too Short - "Blow the Whistle" (What's my favorite word?)

Well that's it for now... hopefully there will be long DLC support for the game as long as the community keeps at it with their user-generated content.

MvC3 NYCC '10 Video Blowout

New York Comic-Con is going on right now and for the rest of the weekend and of course Capcom is there revealing more characters for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds. On the Capcom side, the new fighters announced are Nathan Spencer from "the new" Bionic Commando game and Arthur from the Ghouls n' Ghosts franchise. Yay at new Capcom characters finally making debuts in the fighting genre especially Arthur since its been a while for him appearing in an actual game. On the Marvel side, is the return of Magneto (Playtime has ended!!!!) and a surprise addition that is M.O.D.O.K. All the trailers for the new characters are below.

Oh I should mention that Marvel announced the Konami X-Men Arcade game for Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network for a release likely next year, so yay at more old-school beat-em-ups!

Music Videos of the Day for 10/8/10

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

Linkin Park - "Waiting for The End"

La Roux - "In for the Kill" (2nd video)



Ke&ha - "Take It Off" (Alternate video)

Swedish House Mafia vs. Tinie Tempah - "Miami 2 Ibiza"

Kanye again stealing the show...

Kanye West performed on SNL tonight and killed it as expected with "Power" and "Runaway." Yup, it feels good to be a Kanye fan lately with "Power" brainwashed in my mind because of The Social Network, still delivering on G.O.O.D. Fridays despite all the leaks, and the hype for his new album increases as its gets closer to release.

The Social Network... Yeah, Its That Good.

I watched "The Social Network" last night and boy did it lived up to the expectations and the positive buzz. Like most people, I was not really excited for it at first because well it is a Facebook movie and who in the world wants to see that? I was totally wrong when I found out who were behind it, which are David Fincher (director) and Aaron Sorkin (screenwriter) considering their pedigree of movies they worked on. Its also worth mentioning that the cast is pretty good for the most part as I didn't have any glaring issues with them. Anyway, it is based by a book called "The Accidental Billionaires," so it is pretty much a loose tale of how Facebook was born and became what it is today. It does seem crazy that the popular site had a bumpy road before getting 500 million friends and eventually became a movie, but the movie-ish part actually worked out after all. Who of thought that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook creator played by Jesse Eisenberg was that really a jerk yet a genius at the same time. He does seem like one of those guys that are all that intellectually and yet he has a tough time being a person with a heart. It seems to be the case where his mindset is the company first and everyone else second betraying those he trusted the most, which is his best friend, Eduardo Saverin, played by Andrew Garfield, to get where he is today being the youngest billionaire out there. The theme pretty much fits the movie as you can't get 500 million friends without making a few enemies.

Making something as successful as Facebook does come with a price, which is the case how "The Social Network" is all about. It is actually cool to see the whole process go down of how Facebook was able to be the juggernaut it is today from the dorm room to its offices at Palo Alto, California. What makes the movie that good though is how nicely put together it was from the pacing, the tone, how the setting was perfectly nailed down (being that it took place in 2003-2004) and more. IGN actually said it right that this movie is very Rashomon-y (shout out to my philosophy friends with that reference) in terms of how scenes played out going back and forth between the past and present of that movie. In other words, when the legal discussions were rolling out between Zuckerberg, Saverin, and the Winklevoss brothers, they go back and forth telling the stories on how it all went down. It is also pretty crazy how prior experience from a company that used to have it all to have a big role on the rise of Facebook with Sean Parker (co-creator of Napster played by Justin Timberlake). Actually, I gotta hand it to Justin as this is his biggest acting role yet and handled it pretty well. I didn't expect him to be great of an actor, but he proved me wrong. It is also worth mentioning Rashida Jones (the main chick from I Love You Man) and Brenda Song (yeah that Brenda Song) are also in this movie as they played their parts well for the most part. In addition, the theatrical score is also one of the best things in this movie by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as the movie gets all moody at times and Nine Inch Nails-like music is spot on for it.

In a nutshell, "The Social Network" is that good of a movie from every end. Fincher and Sorkin pretty much nailed the Facebook story at all angles (of course not all of it is true being based on a book that also told the tale loosely) making as movie-ish as they can to make it feel like a movie that has protagonists, antagonists, and whatnot. The college lifestyle at the time the movie was taking place was also spot-on being 2003 and 2004 as I noticed little details that made me laugh and smile. There are also funny moments in this film as Zuckerberg had some funny lines, but the Winklevoss brothers had most of those moments being that they were twins too. I highly recommend watching this film as soon as possible as it is one of my favorite movies of the year and highly up in the ranks with "Inception." In the meantime, let's do the "Power clap" since that Kanye song is also perfect in the commercials for this movie.