How These Guys Make Money From Hip Hop And Video Games

If you could cash in on your passion, would you? The combination of hip hop and video games is almost as weird as hip hop and startups, but it’s real. The purpose of this post is to highlight a few leaders in this space and hopefully it can serve as inspiration for you to find a way to make a living with your hobby. Doesn’t get any better than that.

Mega Ran

Who is Mega Ran? A self proclaimed “nerdcore” rapper from Arizona. I first met Ran at E3 2 years ago and didn’t realize how big he had become online. Mega Ran music is super influenced by video game culture. His albums usually carries themes such as Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter and more. A normal person would probably think this is some weekend hobby, and nothing serious. So wrong. Mega Ran has become so large he actually quit his job as a teacher and tours full time now. He has done collaborations with major brands and is the first rapper ever licensed officially by Capcom. Not bad.

HipHopGamer Show

Gerard “HipHopGamer” Williams is the most known unknown personality in gaming. I say that because everyone in the gaming industry knows who this guy is, but he has yet to dominate the television screen, which is his ultimate goal. Gerard is the perfect example of “use what you have, to take you where you want to go.” He started recording his game review videos in his room with a Playstation Eye camera. Today he still carries that same authentic feel, except hes now being paid and treated to travel all over the states and more just so publishers can get his cosign for their games. He has been featured on top selling titles like Prototype and Twisted Metal with more to come. He also recently went into partnership with EGM magazine and has a content partnership with Sony Playstation. Not bad.

Konsole Kingz

Konsole Kingz is a hip hop and video games lifestyle brand cofounded by CJ Peters. KKZ hits this small niche vertical from all angles possible. They officially sell hiphop influenced virtual goods on both Playstation and Xbox 360 marketplaces. They also are responsible for many of the big video game release parties that you see with rappers and tons of celebs showing up. Publishers seek out KKZ not only for their release parties but for gaming events, soundtracks, models and more. To think this all started as a dvd magazine doing interviews, to now having corporate clients such as Microsoft. Not bad.

barry

What’s Up Homeboy:

I am from Atlantic City, NJ. You are doing it after Black In America:
Silicon Valley! This is a great article. I am a volunteer with a
non-profit called Patriots Technology Training Center in supposedly the
wealthiest predominantly African-American county in the US called Prince
George’s County, MD. We are located just outside Washington, D.C. and
about 30 minutes from Baltimore. Patriots provides STEM (Science,
Technology, Engineering, Math) education and experiences to middle
school and high school students predominantly in Prince George’s County,
MD.

We will be holding the Patriots 2012 Video Gaming Conference at Prince
George’s Community College Saturday December 1, 2012 from 8 am to 2 pm.
We will have 200 students broken into teams of 4 and tasked to create a
video game in 1 hour and 45 min. using the Fuse Labs/Microsoft Kodu game
engine. We will choose the 5 best games which will go to the finals
and then have celebrity judges choose the Best Video Game for a prize.

I will hit up these people listed here to see if they would be a
Celebrity Judge. Students of color and females need to see themselves
represented in technology, programming, and video game development as
well as simulation.

We would love for you to interview and talk with the President of
Patriots about the STEM program and how his program motivates students
of color to get involved.