It is nice that music tends to be its own subculture but it would be nice if genres of music were applied across different sub cultures too. It does happen to an extent but I want more. A punk group that sings about retro computer games, a rap group that is focused on RPGs, a heavy metal band that only sings about sci Fi book plots.
@selzero I'm pretty sure everything on this list exists. E.g. there's a whole music genre called Nintendocore.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendocore
@TildeGartenzaun @selzero
There is also Nerdcore Rap that kinda fits the description, but still pretty broad. Here is a song by Hieroglyphics that is RPG inspired and themed. Yeah, back from the late 90-ies!
A lot of independent/underground hip-hop artists reference pop culture including video games in their lyrics, the most recent example, AJ Suede: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZD3ciOeNW0
There's a line about Abe's Odyssey. But I don't know of any artists being that narrowly themed, as to do this exclusively🤷
Dissing dark mages
But you are acting kind of sinister.
Getting wood for elves?
They should put you on a register.
You've got those Vulcan ears.
But your rhythms are a disaster.
Dark mages spell your end.
And live happily ever after.
@selzero@syzito.xyz @TildeGartenzaun@mastodon.social @m0xee@social.librem.one
But all the "dark" jam
Is just wiches and drows
Truth is - Mage's staff?
See the knob on dat.
Paladins be where it's at
Live in the light for real
Strivin' for the Holy Grail.
Peace.
@TildeGartenzaun @m0xee @selzero There's the famous hip hop / martial arts crossover...
Del the Funky Homosapien of Hieroglyphics did something like this with his Deltron 3030, it's not only a concept album set in the future, but in a way has established characters. Del didn't go as far as to make visual anime-like representations for them, Damon Albarn (of Blur fame) however did — this is how Gorillaz thing came together. Del is even featured in their very first video, those rap verses — it's him 😁
Del even performed 3030 live to promote the sequel album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJATP7RKh7U
The performance might be disappointing — and well, there is more than one reason for that: he mentioned he had a fever while they've been recording this, although this was 10 years ago he already wasn't exactly a boy, he was 40, and the least obvious one — he has to rap slower than he does on the record to keep in sync with the rest of performers. Anyway, it's not what a lot of rappers even dare to do and for people like me, who are familiar with the original material, it's still interesting.
Tajai, also of Hieroglyphics/Souls of Mischief did something similar with his Projecto: 2501 concept album, but it might be less obvious as it emphasizes music over traditional narrative.
Hiero is a very interesting collective in this regard, you can read about them on Wikipedia, and they did all that while "gangster rap" still reined supreme.
Here's another great album, a rather recent one: https://chongwizard.bandcamp.com/album/midnight-sons
Also a concept album, this time superhero-themed, but only loosely so, it doesn't have a central story in a traditional sense.
Problem with such things always was that people who are into sci-fi concept albums are rarely into rap music and those who are into rap music are seldomly interested in sci-fi concept albums, the intersection is very narrow 😅
I mean I can appreciate all the already mentioned AJ Suede's smart references, I can appreciate all the Godzilla/Mothra movie samples on MF DOOM's (as King Geedorah) Take Me to Your Leader and I can appreciate (the most obvious) Aesop Rock's attempts at making concept albums, but do most hip-hop fans? I don't know — probably not 🤷
@m0xee
@m0xee @selzero Being narrowly themed might get old pretty fast, but now I wonder if there's a rap group where the members do not only have rap names but characters based on fantasy characters like elves and orks.