In a rather uncommon crossover in the gaming realm, we sat down with HipHopGamer to discuss his thoughts on DMCA takedowns, his Gaming and Guidance program, and more.

Interview conducted by Drexxin & Kary

Waddup HipHopGamer! Thanks a ton for taking time out to make this interview a reality. What’s new in life? Thanks for having me honored to speak with you, and what's new in my life just a ton of new projects that I’m working on, such as new music I’ve made for new video games releasing this year, new projects with my gaming and guidance program that will help impact the kids in the hood, and just enjoying my family more and more while being creative in my passion of gaming and hip-hop.   What’s your opinion on the PS5 so far? Do you think they are staying competitive against PC gaming, especially considering the hype of the RTX3090? PS5 is the best gaming console ever made hands down, and not only are they staying competitive against PC Gaming but as long as Sony has incredible exclusives on the market they will always be the best, keep in mind as powerful as the RTX3090 is the PS5 games like Spider-Man Miles Morales, Last of Us 2 etc... still look better than all those PC Titles. Also the DLSS 2.0 with NVIDIA is legendary but Sony has their own way of using Machine Learning to use low resolutions to increase frame rate while outputting 4K results via AI Upscaling so yes it's crazy.   What are your thoughts about esports and its prevalence in the mainstream media? Do you believe it will ever reach the heights of general gaming in terms of popularity? I love the fact that esports is getting more attention, but I don't  like the fact that esports has turned into this "marketing buzz word" that everybody wants in on because most companies don't know nothing [sic] about esports let alone care about what it. They just want to see what they can get out of it and that's it. Will it ever reach the level of popularity like the general gaming culture? Well it can get there but collectively these companies have to understand that esports is just apart of Gaming not gaming as a whole on its own. Most importantly a lot of the esports players are just that, great players and very introverted. Too many companies are trying to push them to be something that they're not in terms of being cool, and entertaining and media ready.   " Not so long ago, public opinion had gaming as a hobby, but more specifically, a waste of time, Do you think that view is changing? The Gaming as a hobby/waste of time view is definitely changing in the eye of the public. I'm extremely happy that the world is starting to catch up to what I knew pretty much all my life since I was 4 years old my grandma taught me about video games - so yes, to see more people catch on is incredible. What I’m most excited about is that the public still have no idea how far it's going to go because they so far behind in understanding why gaming is #1 and it will stay #1 and before they even knew it was #1 it was already #1 to those like myself that've been involved from the beginning.   You work on your own philanthropic movement called “Gaming & Guidance.”  We at Esports Heaven are super invested into charity work and programs. Can you explain what this movement is and what you hope to accomplish through it? The Gaming & Guidance movement was started with my self and my boy Tivon Skinner from CraftKeepersInc. LogitechG allowed me to create something that would impact the culture from a community standpoint so we all came together to make this happen. This movement has 4 layers to it and those layers will continue to grow and expand but the goal of what I want to accomplish with this program is to show how gaming is a tool to bring any and all people together and the guidance will allow us to open conversations that will lead to better development of character within a person. Also, our program is designed for all ages which I love so there is no limits to what we can do to impact the culture in every way. Most of all what we do is very very real, meaning we have all the uncomfortable conversations for example. I had kids that were not too fond of cops and they said what they felt to the cops and the cops responded back, and then we were all able to have some understanding and were able to move on from certain things and still play a game of Street Fighter together and have some strong bonding and building moments. And seeing that was like," Yo, this is crazy, especially being from the hood."   We can’t do an interview in this day and age without bringing up COVID.  A lot of people outside of the gaming realm speculate that we’re one of the most unaffected by the pandemic.  Can you explain how, if at all, life has changed for you during these tumultuous times? I'm a people person period so COVID... oh man, I just want to get back outside and do more stuff in the community; I want to go to gaming events, I miss so many people - so yes, can't wait to get back out there. In terms of gaming not being affected I mean it's simple - gaming been online for so long now, and the entertainment you get from this level of interactivity is second to none, period. Even before gaming got to be major online the need for gaming entertainment as a whole, even back in the day - it was able to survive any recession, so it's nothing new and it's just more telling now that more eyes are on the gaming space from people that never paid attention to the power of the gaming world. The last thing i want to say about the COVID situation is my heart goes out to those that lost loved ones during this time because of COVID and I pray we get out of this sooner than later much love to everyone. Tell us a little bit about Hot97 and how you got partnered with them. I don’t think a lot of gamers know about Hot97 and just how big of a deal that is if they don’t follow hip-hop. Well, HOT97 is the #1 brand for Hip-Hop & R&B and, come on... my name is HipHopGamer so it's an honor to connect with the brand the way I have. So i got partnered with HOT97 due to an interview I did on the red carpet for a Facebook game called GIG-IT. I spoke with Peter Rosenberg and it was a great interview, but it was also cut short and I asked the question about gaming on HOT97. Eventually i was offered to come to the station to have a talk about it and after quite a few meetings we decided that me being the first digital personality to bring gaming to the brand would be a great move going forward. So far I’ve been with them for quite a few years now and in this moment we're looking into new ways to do things that only the combination of HOT97 and HipHopGamer can deliver to the industry in all areas.   What’s your opinion on the music DMCA takedowns that have been happening on Twitch? I think the DMCA takedowns [are] dumb period. Here's why: all Twitch and these Record Companies have to do is figure out a way to do a partnership, with Universal Music Group, and other companies like that so that all music can be used in streams so us gamers can do what we do the way we wanna do it. To me, the ego level and all of this greed that happens behind the scenes is stupid and this is what i mean by companies getting in the culture of gaming and not understanding what gaming is about and the true value it has. For example, if you look at a game like Among Us that blew up on Twitch to the point where you have Congresswoman—THE AOC—playing the game - it was huge. Imagine if there was a certain song in the background when that happened... OMG, it would've been even bigger. To me, I think that Twitch—as great of a platform it is—and these record labels, as greedy and ego driven as they can be, if they don't find a middle ground it will be a wasted opportunity and it's whack to see these DMCA takedowns. I don't like it all.   You’ve done a ton of different interviews with A-list celebrities. This seems pretty far removed from Hip Hop and Gaming.  How did this part of your work life occur? I have to give a big shout out to a great friend of mine that i call my sister Kim Walters cause she truly, truly gave me a chance to do major interviews with superstars early on in my career. Before I was even with HOT97 and it was just me with the HipHopGamer brand by itself, I've been interviewing huge celebrities. See below: Samuel L. Jackson Talks 'King Kong: Skull Island,' His Favorite Curse Word - YouTube Kevin Hart Talks Gaming With HipHopGamer Ride Along Xperience Ice Cube Presence. - YouTube Tony Hawk And HipHopGamer, Tony Hawk Pro Skater Is Back In HD Let's Get It. - YouTube Can Tiffany Haddish Bring Cardi B. & Nicki Minaj Together For A Song? | #WeGotGame - YouTube Scarlett Johansson Loves Busta Rhymes, Nas, And Street Fighter OMG! - YouTube   That’s a wrap on the interview. Any last things you’d like to say or mention here before we close out? Much love and thank you for considering me valuable enough to talk and be on your platform for this interview. God bless and thank you always.

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Michale Lalor is the Editor-in-Chief at Esports Heaven. Follow him on Twitter at @ESHDrexxin. Kindly support us by following Esports Heaven on Twitter and keep tabs on our website for more interesting content. Cover image courtesy of HHG's Instagram