Nothing about rappers playing video games gets old, especially when it’s under the umbrella of HipHopDX’s Rappers Vs. Gamers: DXTurbo event.
For the second straight year, HipHopDX continued to highlight the AC cool relationship between the professional rap and gaming communities with the second #DXTurbo iteration. The annual funfest — which jammed over 400 industry influencers, artists and gamers inside Rostrum Records‘ headquarters — went down on June 22 and was non-stop, edge-of-your-seat entertainment for everyone who watched the livestream on Twitch and the main event for everyone who attended in person.
This year’s event was the follow-up to the 2016 Street Fighter V competition where Futuristic and Chris Tatarian won the Grand Prize. For DXTurbo 2, a joint partnership between Boost Mobile and NBA Playgrounds, which is basketball’s latest jam-packed video game extravaganza, was put in the top spotlight. The new two-on-two hooper channels the spirit of NBA Jam while allowing players to command crossovers, gravity-defying dunks and hilarious cheap shots from the era’s new legends such as Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and LeBron James.
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Rounding out this year’s rapper and talent list was former NBA All-Star Baron Davis, Dreamville artist Cozz, Trae Tha Truth, Kirko Bangz, Daylyt, Nick Grant, King Los, Khleo Thomas, Symba, R-Mean and DJ Chuck The Old Soul as well as professional gamers Brentiscool, Chris Tatarian, iMAV3RIQ, iPodKingCarter, Kitty Kaboom and Marq Teddy.
Friendly exchanges were conducted at the beginning of the event, but once NBA Playgrounds was fired up, all pleasantries were traded in for competitive glares. Symba was busy “talking smack” to his “Uncle” Baron while Kirko gloated in the faces of King Los and Cozz, since he was able to pick up the game’s controls easily.
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Guests were treated to delectable burgers from Son of a Bun (which prompted lines that wrapped around the parking lot) and sipped on 1800 Tequila to keep the thirsts quenched for the next round of cheers and smack talk.
#DXLive’s Jake Rohn and Marcel Williams, as well as Rynge and Jeremy Lopez, hosted the Twitch livestream (which reached nearly 100,000 viewers in real-time) and HipHopDX Editor-in-Chief Trent Clark and Associate Producer Ural Garrett held down the red carpet duties, where Krayzie Bone plugged the new Bone Thugs album, Amina Buddafly introduced her latest bundle of joy to the fame life and The Real Sidechicks of Charlotte plugged their upcoming soon-to-be internet-breaking show.
Watch live video from HipHopDX on www.twitch.tv
HG Locks, The Real Sidechicks of Charlotte, new Rostrum Records signees Caleb Brown and FREEWIFI, and Willie B were also on the scene and REAL 92.3 — LA’s Home for Hip Hop — and Homegrown Radio’s DJ Hed held down spinning the latest, greatest in Hip Hop from all the participants and cultural gamut as a whole.
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In the end, three isn’t a winner and no one remembers two and it was Kirko Bangz and iPodKingCarter who ran away with bragging rights — and brand spanking new PlayStation 4 1TB Limited Edition Gold Consoles, 1st Place Trophies and Samsung Headphones and GS8 Mobile Phones.
“It’s been two full consecutive years our Rapper vs. Gamers tournament is going strong,” says Sharath “Tommy” Cherian, HipHopDX founder and CEO. “Thank you to all the rappers, gamers, influencers and R&B singers for coming out, as we keep making this event bigger and bigger. An additional thank you goes out to our sponsors, Boost Mobile, Twitch and NBA Playgrounds, for helping us make the entire event an incredible experience for everyone who witnessed it.”
And there you have it, folks. On to the next one!
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Get a load of the incredible flicks from the second annual #DXTurbo event down below.
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