This guy already got a pin

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I am probably not the first person to say this on this thread, but the first rap pin needs to be based on Wu-Tang Clan!

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The TNT pinball machine has some rap if I remember correctly.
https://www.facebook.com/TNTUKOfficial/photos/pb.429361350446208.-2207520000.1479221263./1112113818837621/?type=3

Played it a few times, just for the novelty. Don't bother.

Beastie Boys is at the top of my themes list for my first home brew. Its rich with a range of music, great visuals to build from, that make easily into modes.

It has a great beat for pace. Who can't imagine two spinner disks below the flippers as turntables 'mixing things up'. Well if you can't.... I can and. already have!

ok...now at the top of my list who need to wait for stern.... well everyone. Its probably going to take me a while.

Snoop would be awesome, and he would probably do it as well.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Outkast yet. I think they had a great mix of rap, paired with popular mainstream songs.

What about Cactus Jacks? It's half a polka pin....
"It's polka time!"

I was on the phone with Jack (JJP) a few months back, and I brought this up to him. He said it sounded like a cool idea, but he wasn't aware of them or the market potential.

Problem with pinball, or most other things in life, is that it's predominantly one colour/group.

Variety is the spice of life.

Crotchety old white males are what listened to rap music primarily and made it so popular. Reports that 60-80 percent of rap sales were from this same demographic. As far as a Pinball...I could be in depending on how it was done.

Have to disagree a little... Rap was brought into the mainstream in the late 80s and early 90s due to a lot of sales from white males, but it's likely not the same demographic that you see in this thread voting "No, I hate rap and everything about it".

Some white guys are open minded, and some aren't unfortunately.

LOL at pinside voting 49% for "No, I hate rap music and everything about it"

I think Wu-Tang Clan would be a great theme, but a Beastie Boys pin would be easier to market to the pinball crowd.

Beastie Boys rarely do any licensing deals so that would probably not happen.

Guys, what the hell... THERE IS A RAP GAME! Class of 1812. Drop the mic...

"My name is Belly, my breath is smelly, when it's black as night, I love to bite..."

"My name is Vamp, they call me a tramp, when the hips go bump, your heart will pump..."

"My name is Zom-B and I'm your host, revive my friends to score the most..."

"My name is Peter, I'm a red meat eater, touch my forks I'll stomp you dorks..."

"My name is Willy, don't think I'm silly, when the moon is full, your neck I'll pull..."

License individual songs. Era or geographical representation.

I need my 80s rap though... Doug E. Fresh - The Show, Slick Rick - Children's Story, Sir Mix A Lot - Posse on Broadway, Public Enemy - Rebel Without a Pause, NWA, Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One, EPMD, and so many other great 80's rappers and songs.

Rap is the only thing selling which still astonishes me. In todays hypersensitive world there's a huge double standard with Hip Hop/Rap music. The question is would a company be willing to bank on a pin selling?

Last year, rap/r&b accounted for 24.5% of all music consumption sales in the United States, making it the highest selling music genre in the country. 7 out of 10 of the highest selling albums were, you guessed it, rap/r&b.

Someone please take a chance on this.

I think people miss demos of pin buyers.

Rap fans as a group have 15 more years before they have the cash for pins.

I'm 35 and one of the younger guys I've seen collecting.

I'm up for any new ideas. It's not hard for me to choose rap over mustang or WWE easily. Of course rap is a huge genre and it would probably end up being some Kanye bullshit because *old man voice* that's what they call rap these days.

Considering the gigantic market out there for rap, why wouldn't someone want a rap pin to be made? I'm in the camp of I rarely listen to rap but anything to expose pinball to a new market is a good thing for pinball. As for disposable income, it doesn't matter if America has it or not, people will spend it anyway somehow if it resonates. I say sure - why not!

Collectors, yes. But on location, no. If you go to any of the barcades in my area on any given weekend, those venues are filled with anything BUT the majority demo that frequents this forum.

Problem with a beastie boys pin, is you can’t have your first hip-hop pin licensed after a group that didn’t even start from rap/hip-hop beginnings.

Wu-Tang Clan who began and rose from the origins of hip-hop would be a great choice and in the same vein as Maiden, not only do they have what is consider one of the greatest and purist hip-hop albums ever with the 36 Chambers, they have used some cool art styles over the years on group albums and promotions as well as solo albums, RZA bobby digital had a cool 80s SW poster vibe & GZA liquid swords utilised a street comic style - both of which Yeti could do some cool stuff with.

I still think Eminem would be the best choice as a licence, he has released several high value items over the years which have sold out almost instantly and then showed up for a lot more in resale. The biggest problem with a rap/hip-hop pin IMO is there just isn’t enough fans of the genre in our hobby nearly everyone I know is an old rocker and I guess AC/DC, MET, Aerosmith, Maiden prove it, but an awesome game is an awesome game and people can ignore theme as Maiden has proven so never say never, I’d love an Eminem pin so fingers crossed.

I don't think anyone cares aboot the punk years in relation to their rap career.

I'm open to anything that is a good game. Heck, I even bought IMDN.

I'm not a fan at all of Iron Maiden but I had a blast playing the pin. So I think that it just goes to show that its not always about the theme.

GZA came through the other night (he was performing next door) and played some pinball (Banzai Run) so there's that. Wu-Tang is the no-brainer for this. Tons of great music, 9 members to select & major crossover appeal in terms of what Stern seems to want to do (lifestyle brand).

As usual Law the point goes way over your head, take it out the sand for once there’s a beautiful world above ground

Would the price per game be.....50 cents?

Please explain.

As the Rock band well dries up (already have tables) I would hope we move on to bands like Foo Fighters or Black Keys.

The market research will show if rap belongs in pinball.

"Open mindedness" has zero to do with my taste in music and I resent the implication. I was hoping the debate here would remain civil(and for the most part it has) but someone always has to raise this invalid point. The music I listen to and purchase comes from a very diverse bunch in the music industry. Always has. Always will. As a "crotchety old white guy" I know what I like and what I don't. Not caring for the vast majority of rap music doesn't make me "closed minded." Move on.

Shawn

God no.

Now get off my lawn! And pull your damn pants up for chrissake!

License to Ill!!

Think of the song "Shes on it" or "Cookie Puss"

Familiar with them, and i'm still waiting for his point.

"Not caring for the vast majority of rap music doesn't make me "closed minded."

Wrong it is almost the very definition of close minded, tbh.

gotcha.

I don't think a pin would sell enough based on locations.

Home market seems to sell more nowadays.

Right I replied to you twice in between jobs but thought I would just use them both.

I thought the point was pretty clear within the first paragraph of my initial post. But I’ll take another stab at it just for you.

First thing I love the Beastie Boys and their rap style would be awesome for pinball, but for a first mash up/cross over of pinball and rap/hip-hop you have to go to the biggest names most of which started out as rap mcs and are also purer form of genre which imo as a rap fan is important for a first release.

Plus I always thought the idea of any cross over is to promote both sides in this case pinball & rap/hip-hop and when doing that for your first time the Beastie Boys loose out to the heavy hitters: Wu-Tang, NWA, Run DMC, Public Enemy all come before Beastie Boys and like I said I f’in love them.

That’s also pretty ignorant, as their early years leading into the group reshuffling/rebranding shaped their evolution into a hip-hop group, without those early years and tracks like a**hole they would have never developed their rap wrecking crew style, without that there wouldn’t be any Beastie Boys, without the Beastie Boys there wouldn’t be any Eminem, without Eminem their wouldn’t be NF, so early years matter just in this case there’s bigger names that where founded from rap origins to begin with that should get the shot first!

Rap is crap unless it’s old school. Long live Rock n Roll.

Rap sucks for a pin title, face it!

Thanks. Neither of them make much sense and I really have no idea what the hell you're trying to say.

Why can't you exactly? I'm sure you think you've explained it but you haven't.

Anyway, it's just bogging down this thread so let's let it go & agree that the other person makes no sense. We need to keep this thread clean for people to yell and hate rap music.

It's one thing to think "not my cup of tea", but often on these forums the idea of a pin based on hip hop culture is met with strong opposition. I really don't like rock or metal at all, but I'll play loads of Metallica and Maiden and totally get into it. I even start signing some of the bits I know as I play haha.

I'm certain at some level, this boils down to race or intolerance. Not for all, but definitely for some.

I'm happy to have games like Maiden. They take me out of the genre of music I gravitate towards generally, and introduce me to something new.

I think a well executed Wu-Tang pin would transcend many musical borders, and probably create a lot of appreciation for the great music they've produced.

And let's face it, if your introduction to hip hop was the garbage that currently is available, you'd probably be right to have this negative idea of it. But give 90s hip hop an honest chance, and you'll see the music was part of a much larger thing. It touches on many hot subjects, including many of the socioeconomic issues that plague North America.

It was an ingenious platform of music that allowed the artist to tell a real story the resonated with those living it, and introduced the rest of us to a reality we were likely ignorant and oblivious to.

Pinball needs this!

Something like this? Might be a market, it does have over 185million views

Beside the debate as to if Rap is viable for a pin, or which group/artist makes the most sense, I would like to open the convo here as to which games already have a rap backbone to them.

The only one I can think of is Class of 1812, which is partly why I think I'll never be able to get rid of it. It's got DJ'ing/turntablism in it (20+ year hobby of mine), the main play tune is soooooo funky, and each character raps. Doesn't get much cooler than that for an original themed early 90's pin. Just goes to show hip-hop's far reach across demographics back then, which is when it was starting to catch real fire with the nation.

My vote would be Wu-Tang for the true hip hop heads and due to their immense number of classic albums that could be modes and mini modes, making you unlock all the characters and their best individual album (RZA, GZA, ODB, Insp. Deck, Raekwon, UGod, GFace, Method) plus other mini bosses like Cappadonna. The Shaolin land martial arts themes and hand drawn art on many of the albums is ripe for the picking if licensing works out.

My vote for what I think would be an all around pin community pleaser, that could be good for all ages, would be something like Run DMC, given their crossover into mainstream rock in the late 80's and they're a known brand that speaks to classic upbeat rap party music.

An honorable mention for a game that is artist related, but not necessarily about them exclusively, would be if Outkast was the foundational artist of a game that had a fictional story line, like Alice Cooper Nightmare Castle. Think of Big Bang Bar with a little more urban street stories mixed into it.

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I'd be down for a Vanilla Ice pin, but the speakers would have to be Cerwin-Vega.

Buy a Mustang and replace the songs with your favorites. NWA's California is a track on my Mustang and fits perfectly.