Video game and hip-hop fans have often wondered about the whereabouts of the Def Jam fighting series. In the early 2000s, Def Jam Vendetta and Def Jam: Fight for New York were incredibly popular on the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox home consoles. The games featured iconic and legendary hip-hop artists battling each other in crazy fights. But ever since then, none of the games have seen a rerelease on modern hardware, and we might finally know why.
After receiving questions from multiple fans, legendary rapper Ice-T posted multiple tweets about the Def Jam games. It’s something that’s been brought up for a long time, as many of his fans wanted to see any of the games get rereleased in some fashion. Ice-T finally commented on the speculation for why the Def Jam series has seemingly disappeared.
People Need to Get Paid
“Maybe because they’d have to pay for voice and music rights again. Maybe?” The response was to a quote tweet with gameplay footage of Ice-T’s character in Def Jam: Fight for New York. Players were able to control Ice-T and beat down other rappers who were featured as characters in the game. But that wasn’t the end of the conversation, as Ice-T followed up with another post after reading the replies.
“Here’s the BIG problem… I don’t think they paid ANY of us ANYTHING to be in that original game… I know I didn’t get any type of substantial money. It was a situation where you didn’t want to be left OUT of the game. Well… Yesterday’s price is not Today’s price…!” Judging by the response to his fans, Ice-T wasn’t happy with getting nothing from being part of the Def Jam games.
The consensus among fans over the years has been that Electronic Arts would make a lot of money if they ever found a way to rerelease all the Def Jam games. Since the release of Def Jam Vendetta back in 2004, there have been two sequels that followed, with an additional port of Def Jam: Fight for New York released for the PlayStation Portable. But if EA wasn’t looking to pay a lot of money to all the rappers in the games, it’s no wonder they haven’t been revisited.
When asked about other video game series that he appeared in, Ice-T pointed out that he was compensated for being part of them. “Yes sir!… GTA paid me though… lol. So did Gears of War…” Fans also asked the rapper if he would consider taking some other form of payment if a money agreement couldn’t be reached. Understandably, Ice-T replied “… I’m a married man… No. SMH.” As much as fans would love to see these games make a comeback, the people involved with them need to get paid. Nobody works or is involved in something for free.
