Agreed. I have a ton of faith in Harmonix not losing sight of the stuff they know this game was made for. Anything else that helps to expand the coverage of the branding far and wide though only gives them more money to work with to bring other stuff in.

The press release doesn't mention specifics, but says "song from his catalogue of hits." So it may not be new stuff. Or only new stuff.

When I hear "catalogue of hits", I'm thinking it has to include at least a few of the older classics.

That's not even scratching the surface. Other than over-sampled guitar riffs with an occassional solo, boring bass charts and drumming to a human beat box, I don't see the fun in playing instruments in a rap tune either. I'm sure it will be great for parties, but as a 95% solo player, this doesn't sound fun to me.

Y'all complain about repetitive charts not being fun. I can't think of anything more repetitive than rap. Off the top of my head, I can't think of rap that incorporate all the instruments (other than maybe Young MC and Bust A Move) in a way that makes it fun yet challenging.

Case in point: Beastie Boys tunes are repetitive as hell.

Even on vocals, these rap tunes are going to be horrible with all of the censoring. This is evidenced by Sir Psycho Sexy.

I'll reserve final judgments for when they're released. While I'm glad they're branching out and they might end up being great tunes, I'm skeptical of how they'll turn out.

Someone on the RB forums shared this Riders on the Storm mix:



I guess it came from NFS: Underground 2, another EA title. That might be fun to get in Rock Band.

Deeeeez Nuuuuutz

It's 1994 all over again.

I just noticed that the press release says that the TV show premieres next Tuesday. Wonder if we'll get the track pack next week to coincide with the show's premiere, or "later this year" to coincide with his new album?

I ed for that in my original response to the news. I really don't want this just known to be coming but TBD...

If you're going to tell me something's coming, tell me WHEN (Pearl Jam's Ten).

Don't tell me something's coming, but with no dates (SRV, JA, "GNR").

Further, if you're telling me someone's coming (Snoop), tell me WHAT specifically.

I like partial news less than last-minute, yet complete, news.

Who?

...and after some research and listening to them.. how awesome. I can finally play guitar and do vox on expert and possibly get 5 stars to a song without knowing the words.

That would be the Roots, who defy every stereotype about hip hop not being good live.

That's fine. It's clear from several of your posts that you don't like rap, and you don't want to play it in Rock Band. We get it.

On the contrary. I like rap (old school.. Whodini, LL, Kool Moe Dee, Doug E Fresh, etc.). However, I don't think it belongs in Rock Band.

The easy solution is to not buy it. It's not like they're going to stop releasing rock DLC.

I'm definitely interested in some rap.

The Roots would be awesome. So would Saul Williams or the Coup.

Okay, great, now guess what, you don't need to buy it then. I swear, none of us will put a gun to your head.


How can anyone who likes rap not even know who The Roots are, yet alone not think they are fantastic? Well, I guess I can understand if the only rap you listen to is 20 years old.

Niggytardust FTW. I'd buy it for the name alone.

Remember back when YYZ was released, Harmonix said they have it setup so that no single instrument is required for a song. So if something just has vocals and drums then even it could be released. That means they really aren't restricted to the songs or the types of music that they can release.

A great album. His rendition of Sunday Bloody Sunday was very good.

To be honest though, i liked his first two albums a little better.


edit: Whatever happened to them mentioning they might even branch out into jazz? That would be incredible. Get some Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, or Sarah Vaughan.

And I won't buy it, but what I want to know is what does it bring to Rock Band and what was Rock Band initially created for? When Guitar Hero was created it was instrument specific. It gave air guitarists and real guitarists a gaming platform. It chose songs to give a decent guitar challenge.. a what if of classic and modern songs that had good guitar parts to really highlight that instrument. Rock Band came along incorporated the same in the use and challenges of bass, drums and vocals. IMO, it wasn't about one part or instrument, but parts to a whole experience.

At least, that's what I get from reading post after post about charting, even if you don't like the song. And for that you get the HMX bands, the Grateful Deads, the Coheed and Cambrias, the country packs.. all which I feel at least belongs in Rock Band because they do just that.. incorporate all of the instruments and vocals.

It's also why I feel that Rock Band is better at this than Guitar Hero World Tour. I find a lot of boring patterns in playing even the more famous songs off of GHWT. Long stretches of silence during the vocals (Hotel California). Repetitive simple drum beats (On The Road Again).

So has the criteria changed from that? Was that the criteria to begin with? That's what I felt Rock Band was about. And as far as DLC, I've looked at it from artist, song, overall instrument fun/challenge. As much as I like No Doubt, I didn't pick up the songs that were going to keep me playing basic 4/4 over the course of the song on drums, or strum thru 3 chords at a slow pace.

So that's where I don't see Rap "fitting in" to all of this. As Shagrath pointed out, Beastie Boys is a group I try to steer clear from so I don't die from sheer boredom.

Blah, blah, blah, blah.

So who's familiar with the Roots enough to put a 5-6 song playlist together? I'll give 'em a listen tomorrow at work.

That is why it is good they are releasing specialty cuts (YYZ with no vocals, rap with perhaps no guitar maybe?) as DLC. If that is a concern for someone they can easily avoid it. If, like me, they like a good bit of rap they can pick it up. In my house i do vocals and my wife plays drums. The guitar is never ever picked up - so even if the songs lack a guitar cut i won't care one bit.