Jay-Z Announced As Executive Producer Of NBA 2K13 Video Game
Jay-Z, award-winning musician and minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, is extending his talents into yet another forum: video games. The Associated Press is reporting that 2K Sports has hired Jay-Z to executive produce their latest hoops-oriented endeavor, “NBA 2K13”. Given the rapper’s obvious love of the sport, he seems like the perfect fit to tackle such a project.
“This has been a unique opportunity to collaborate with 2K Sports and be a part of one of the best sports video games in history,” Jay-Z said. “NBA 2K13 will be the next evolution in sports and basketball culture, and I’m ready to usher in the new era of the franchise.”
In addition to providing input into the game’s menu design and other visual representations, the rapper selected 24 tunes that will be featured throughout the experience. Jay-Z, as you may already know, is no stranger to designing eye-catching visuals; just recently, the rapper helped redesign the Nets logo and color scheme.
Jason Argent, vice president of marketing at 2K Sports, had nothing but positive things to say about Jay-Z’s involvement in the project. “He’s been unbelievably involved,” Argent explained to the AP. “We’ve had hour-long sessions and his input has been super valuable. He put together an amazing job creating the soundtrack, and was very integral in the creative visual process of the game. He’s a true artist.”
At present, “NBA 2K13” will feature songs from a wide variety of musicial artists, including Too Short, Eric B. and Rakim, The Hours, Phoenix, Puff Daddy and the Family, Daft Punk, Santigold, The Dirty Projectors, Justice, Mobb Deep, U2, Coldplay, Nas, Kanye West, Roy Ayers, and, yes, Jay-Z himself. After all, what’s the point of having the guy as your executive producer if he isn’t going to contribute some of his own music to the project?
Fans can expect “NBA 2K13” to arrive on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, and PC on October 2, 2012. For a quick, official glimpse of the game in action, take a look at the official announcement of 2K Sports and Jay-Z’s collaboration below.
