Grand Theft Auto IV: Hip Hop & Merchandising

Grand Theft Auto IV

The controversial and wildly popular video game Grand Theft Auto IV was released April 29th by Rockstar Games and immediately earned two Guinness World Records for the "Highest Grossing Video Game in 24 Hours and the Highest Revenue Generated by an Entertainment Product in 24 Hours" beating even the incredibly popular book Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows.

In addition to the relatively straightforward, though certainly not easy or siimple, release of the game for multiple platforms, a Grand Theft Auto IV: Special Edition was packaged in a "customized Grand Theft Auto metal safety deposit box", a book of production artwork, the soundtrack cd, an "exclusive Rockstar key chain for the safety deposit box keys" and a "limited edition Rockstar duffel bag".

Digital Singles from In-Game Station The Beat 102.7

One of the many factors in GTA IV's success is the choice of music in multiple genres and the innovative use of in-game radio stations.

Though one can purchase the soundtrack, The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV, with selected tracks, one can also go to Amazon and purchase individual tracks featured on the game's radio stations.

Such options put GTA IV in the forefront of alternative approaches to music marketing and sales at a time when games are becoming an increasingly important venue for such activities though the process of identfying songs while playing the game and eventually purchasing them still sounds pretty clunky but I'm sure all sorts of folks are working on that problem.

Liberty City Invasion - The Evil Genius DJ Green Lantern

The in-game station, The Beat 102.7, also includes tracks produced by DJ Green Lantern and included in an MP3 album, Liberty City Invasion (Music From and Inspired By Grand Theft Auto IV), released May 20th with a hard copy edition to follow.

But wait! The merchandising possibilities don't stop there!!!

And neither does the presence of hip hop music and culture.

Screenshot: LRG's Dead Serious Hoodie [lifted from Hypebeat]

Hypebeast posted a number of screenshots, including the one above, of LRG's Dead Serious Hoodie.

Eventually we'll start to see product placement and sales exploiting the full range of merchandise that can be embedded in such games.  But that raises questions of how far is too far because, for the moment, the appearance of such a hoodie adds detail to the game and an incentive for folks in the know to point out such details.

It's easy for me to gather this information now via blogs and Amazon but spotting such details, as Darrel Hormeku did for Hypebeast, separates the hardcore fans from the media leaches like myself.

Screenshot: Cope2 Graffiti [nabbed from Wild Style]

The Wild Style blog has screenshots of in-game Cope2 graffiti that adds another dimension of detail taken from hip hop culture.

Though I'm sure folks will eventually find ways to monetize the presence of such details, it's the fact that they're just there that is part of what makes Grand Theft Auto IV so cool.

On that note, Matt Johnston has a Flickr photoset of similarities between Liberty City and New York [via Wooohah!] which is quite nicely done.

Crime [Special Edition] - Alix Lambert

On a different note, due to an odd conjunction in time, a comment made by Nelson George that "video games are more important than hip-hop" for the upcoming book Crime by Alix Lambert, has been making the rounds of hip hop blogs where it's morphed a bit to inspire the question:

Are games bigger than hip hop?

I don't know.  Are apples bigger than oranges?

Guess it depends on where you shop.

Update:
Dr. Jay's makes an in-game appearance as Jr. Ray's.
GTA IV: Fitted sightings.

Official Sites:
Grand Theft Auto IV
Rockstar Games Social Club