3 Great Hip Hop Songs That Reference Video Games
If you are a fan of Hip Hop music and playing video games in your spare time, then you might be interested in learning the names of three famous Hip Hop songs that reference some of the video game industry’s most iconic titles.
Hip hop/rap and video games are entirely different mediums, but they have grown up together, and there has long been a connection between nerd culture and these two exciting music genres, which is why we see so many hip hop artists and rappers referencing video games in their lyrics.
Artists have also littered their tracks with lyrics about various other key areas of popular culture, such as comics, movies, celebrities, technology, sports, news, and even political figures.
Let’s dive straight in to reveal the names of the most iconic hip hop songs that have included one or more lyrics about video games.
Three famous hip hop songs that have referenced video games
Over the past few decades, countless hip hop artists and rappers have referenced various iconic video games in their songs.
Back in the day, you would hear the names of traditional gaming consoles being mentioned in songs, such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo Gameboy, Sega Genesis, or the PlayStation, and hit titles like Super Mario, Goldeneye, and Mortal Kombat.
These days, you often hear lyrics referencing modern consoles such as the Xbox and Playstation (PS4/5) and games like Call of Duty, EAFC25, Fortnite, Grand Theft Auto V, and so on.
Some of the contemporary artists have even sung about classic table & card games like blackjack, roulette, craps, and poker, which can now be played online.
For example, in 2025, many people who enjoy playing slot games on 10bet and other traditional favourites from various award-winning online casino software providers have said they have heard these games being referenced in hip hop songs more than ever.
Without further ado, the three most famous hip hop/rap and other contemporary songs that have referenced video games are the following:
- You can find references to the Final Fantasy video game rival characters Cloud Strife and Sephiroth in a track called ‘Streets’ from Doja Cat
- Artists JPEGMAFIA referenced scenes from a game called Contra in his song ‘Nasty,’ comparing it to the LA issues at the time
- In a song from Schoolboy Q called Hoover Street, the rapper referenced the Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, and iconic Goldeneye video game
You can listen to most of these tracks for free right now on YouTube, which also has countless other videos of hip hop/rap/pop songs that have referenced video games in their lyrics.
Honourable mentions
Aesop Rock referenced the video game Zelda in a song called Babies with Guns. The game Crash Bandicoot was mentioned in a song called PTSD from City Morgue.
A song from Lupe Fiasco called They.Resurrect.Over.New. referenced the video game/movie TRON, and Yung Lean’s song Pikachu referenced the character Pikachu from the Detective Pikachu video game.
That’s not forgetting Ski Mask The Slump God & Juice Wrld’s song Nuketown, which referenced Super Mario, as well as Denzel Curry’s Pyro (Leak 2019) that referenced the Fallout video game, and Mac Miller’s song Diablo, which had a lyric about Mortal Kombat.
Some of the other iconic video games that have also been referenced in songs over the past two decades are Angry Birds, Call of Duty, Donkey Kong, Fortnite, Forza, Gears of Way, Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, and Tomb Raider.
Other notable artists who have referenced video games in their music are 2Pac, Apathy, A$AP Ferg, A$AP Rockey, Beanie Sigel, Big Sean, Bliss n Eso, B.o.B, Bugzy Malone, Cardi B, CeeLo Green, Childish Gambino, Curren$y, Wu-Tang Clan, Wyclef Jean, The Game, Machine Gun Kelly, The Notorious B.I.G, Tyga, Redman, Nicki Minaj, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Jay Z, and many others.
Final thoughts
References to video games in songs are becoming more common than ever in many music genres, not just hip hop and rap. We can also hear these references in Grime, Techno/E.D.M., Dance, Drill, and Pop.
If you would rather stream songs from these artists on a music streaming platform instead of watching videos on YouTube, some of the most trusted sites in 2025 are Amazon Music, Sound Cloud, Spotify, and Pandora.
Others to try are Pandora, LiveOne, Reverbnation, Jamendo, SoundClick, Last.fm, CC Trax, Jango, Audiomack, and Noise Trade, to name just a few.
Some of these tracks will be free to listen to. In other words, they will be included in your subscription, but others won’t be included. You may have to pay extra to unlock some of these tunes that reference video games if you want to listen to them.
