Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

[Image] Continuing with the music theme of Mike's article "12 great punk albums featuring songs from Dreamcast games", I found a way to tie the Dreamcast into an article talking about the second best genre of all time: hip-hop. Or Rap, if you prefer. Being a genre focused so heavily on lyrics, you'd expect the Dreamcast to have been mentioned at least once. Well, turns out it's been mentioned quite a lot. There appears to be quite a few Dreamcast stans in the hip-hop industry. As you can imagine, a lot of these songs contain naughty words and references to sex and nefarious happenings, so if you don't want to get your sealed game collection confiscated, don't play them round your Mum's house.
1. Del the Funky Homosapien featuring Khaos Unique - "Proto Culture" (2000)
You may know Del the Funky Homosapien from his work with legendary hip-hop group Hieroglyphics. If you don't know who they are, you should at least know him from his rap verses on the song "Clint Eastwood" by Damon Albarn-fronted cartoon megastars Gorillaz.

What you need to know is that Del and collaborator Khaos Unique performed for North American Sega employees at a Dreamcast launch party in San Francisco back in '99. You can view their performance of their song "Proto Culture" here. From the on-stage chatter prior to playing the song, you can really tell that they are hardcore video game heads, and have a lot of praise for Sega. Del even says that he had already been playing Dreamcast games from Japan prior to the US launch.

The beat to "Proto Culture" features a tasty sample of Morrigan's winning theme from Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, and lyrics to further exemplify Del and Khaos Unique's love for video games and Sega.

"Rival schools, Batsu - purchase you ought to. It came with one free CD, it's like I bought two. I hope they make part II for Dreamcast."
This song was released on Del's album Both Sides of the Brain in April 2000. A sequel to Rival Schools was released on the Dreamcast in Japan during December of the same year, so I'm sure Del was happy to see the sequel he was desiring in his raps.

2. Lil Wayne featuring Hot Boys and Mannie Fresh - "Shine" (2000) Later in the year, a pre-mega stardom Lil Wayne released his second studio album Lights Out. On the twelfth track "Shine", Hot Boys member B.G. raps these braggadocios bars:
"You don't wanna put your vehicle next to us. Cause all of our vehicles, we dress 'em up, with television, Dreamcast, DVDs."
It's nice to know that the Dreamcast was still cutting edge enough to be considered something worthy of envy when put inside a souped up whip. Nice.


3. DJ Clue? featuring Nature, Cam'Ron, The L.O.X. and Fabolous - "Fantastic Four, Pt. 2" (2001) Next up, we have a song by the legendary DJ Clue?, featuring some equally legendary emcees. However, it is a lesser known rapper called Nature (who was in Nas' group The Firm) who raps the following lines:

"The Dreamcast in the crib, never leavin' at all. Playin' NBA 2K for two days straight, fifty dollars a game."

They say that some of the best lyrics are ones we can relate to, and I'm sure there are many Dreamcast fans out there who too found themselves addicted to NBA 2K back in the day, playing it for "two days straight". Although, it's maybe not a good idea to mix your Dreamcast addiction with something as equally as addictive as gambling (pretty sure "fifty dollars a game" isn't talking about a Dreamcast game's retail price). 

After enjoying Nature's verse on this track, I had a look into his discography only to find this wasn't the first time he'd mentioned the Dreamcast in one of his verses. Check out his song "The Ultimate High" with Nas, from his 2000 album For All Seasons, if you want to hear him namedrop the console once again. Guess he must be a fellow Dreamer.


4. Big Cheese - "Dreamcast" (2007)
For number four, we're fast forwarding a number of years, away from the days when the Dreamcast was something fresh and new to brag about. That didn't stop early YouTube gaming guy Big Cheese from recording a song all about the Dreamcast that made it sound as exciting as it was when it was relased back in '99, insiting you go out right now and get one.

"This system came out in '99, and ever since then that system been mine. I got two of them with over 30 games, six controllers, I must be insane."
This is a great song, and a really fitting tribute to the console. It does well at not being overly corny like a lot of YouTube "rappers" tend to be. The beat sounds like it's possibly sampling the Dreamcast startup sequence and the chorus is catchy, with Big Cheese doing a call and response hook, calling out names of great Dreamcast titles, followed by the line "that's on the Dreamcast", just so you know the level of quality this system has to offer. The only bit that confuses me is the line "Mega Man X, on the Dreamcast". Was Mega Man X on the Dreamcast? I mean, I guess he could be playing it on one of those SNES emulator discs? Or did he mean Cannon Spike, which features Mega Man as a playable character? Hmm.

5. Trim - "Trimvan Hellseng" (2009) 
It's probably advisable that you keep an eye on your Dreamcast, because it seems that UK grime MC Trim is out to steal it. In his track "Trimvan Hellseng" he raps the following:
"If you ain't got a PS3, man is taking the Dreamcast."
Basically, if you don't want your Dreamcast nicked by Trim, keep a PS3 next to it.


6. Rick Ross featuring Young Scooter - "Thumbin'" (2012)  For this one, we return to the earlier theme of kitting out an expensive ride with a Dreamcast. This time, it's Miami rapper Rick Ross putting Dreamcasts in his Lamborghinis and Ferraris. Except this wasn't rapped in 2000, like B.G.'s verse. This was in 2012.
"She in love with my hustle, the Lamborghini, the 'Rari. I put TVs in the back. Sega, Dreamcast, and Atari." 

I scratch my head a little at this lyric. If you dropped all your money on such expensive cars and you had to install a video game console in them, surely you'd find something a little more expensive, cutting edge and envy-inducing than the Dreamcast or an Atari? What was the new thing in 2012... the Wii U? Anyway, unless Rick Ross has one of those rare RX-78 Gundam Dreamcasts in his Lambo, or a copy of Air Raid playing on the Atari in his 'Rari, I'm not very impressed.


7. BONES featuring Na$ty Matt - "MondayNightRaw" (2012) Up next is a track from cult cloud rapper BONES. Over a beat sounding like it came straight from a Three 6 Mafia album, the track's guest Na$ty Matt raps the following lines:

"Dreamcast on the f****n' screen, it's 1999 got the Lexus riding clean."
Like the previous track from Rick Ross, this was released in 2012, however cloud rap is known for evoking nostalgia, which probably explains the reference here. Did he put the Dreamcast in the Lexus? If he's rapping from the perspective of someone in 1999 like is implied, I'll let him off.
1MillionBlunts by BONES
8. Ugly God featuring Wiz Khalifa - "No Lies" (2017) 
A whole 17 years from the first entry on our list, we have a verse rapped by Wiz Khalifa, a rapper who is so famous in his home of Pittsburgh that the city council named a day after him (it's December the 12th, look it up). In this song from Ugly God, Wiz raps the following:
"PlayStation, Dreamcast, how I be ballin'. No games, f*****d your b***h and now she callin'."
I suppose if you ever had to chill with Wiz Khalifa, you could at least break the tension of him sleeping with your significant other by engaging in a polite chat about your favourite Dreamcast games.

9. Montana of 300 featuring Talley of 300 "Freeze Tag" (2020) Heading away from Pittsburgh to the cold streets of windy Chicago, we have a song from drill rapper Montana of 300, and to say the lyrical content of this song is violent is an understatement. Featured on his latest mixtape A Cold Day in Hell, this is a track that would probably give Tipper Gore a heart attack. 
"Freeze tag, b***h my heart as cold as a keypad. Ski mask, dissing me as dead as a Dreamcast."
First Dreamcast diss track confirmed? Well, Mr. Montana of 300, I will have you know that the Dreamcast is, in fact, not dead. You should see how many games are coming out for it this year! I wouldn't tell him any of that to his face, though.

10 MC Lars and Mega Ran - "Console Wars" (2020) Wrapping up our list on a lighter note, here's the most recent track of them all, from the excellent MC Lars and the equally as excellent Mega Ran. Released on the 23rd of April, "Console Wars" is a rapped history of, you guessed it, the console wars between Nintendo and Sega. The track itself is a great listen if you're at all interested in the history of video games, which, if you're reading this blog, I can imagine you are. Although it only gets a passing inclusion, the Dreamcast is mentioned:

"Then Sega dropped the 32X, Sega CD, the Dreamcast. It was not the same, Sega was out the game."
Did I say we were wrapping up on a lighter note? Oops.


What are some rap songs you like that mention the Dreamcast? Of course I've not mentioned all the songs in existence. Spit your rhymes in the comments or cuss out our mothers on Twitter, yo. Cough.