Today's random piece of music history is dedicated to the origin of Def Jam fighting games. ⁠ ⁠ It’s hard to forget where you were the first time you played as DMX and beat up Joe Budden, or tapped Redman to face off against Luda. But the origin of Def Jam fighting games–and hip-hop games in general–had gone largely untold for years. ⁠ ⁠ Thankfully, former Def Jam president Kevin Liles broke it all down to Okayplayer in 2018, when he revealed that the first rap-fighting game, Def Jam: Vendetta, was the result of a meeting he had with Electronic Arts. The label had been allowing games–like Madden and 2K–to use popular hip-hop tracks during the early ‘00s, so Liles figured it was time to combine the two worlds. ⁠ ⁠ “Why don’t we come up with something that hip-hop will be in and actually bring it to life,” Liles said. “And not just make a small game that people will just play for a couple of minutes, but something that people could engage with and actually tell a story and go through the whole process?”⁠ ⁠ With an eight-month deadline to bring it to life, the team at EA and those at Def Jam went to work. Method Man even told Okayplayer in 2018 that he suggested his own moves. “I needed for my character to beat everybody else’s ass in the game,” he said.⁠ ⁠ Vandetta–which Liles considers the first-ever hip-hop game– debuted in April of 2003 and was released on the Gamecube and Playstation 2, with Method Man, Budden, and Capone-N-Noreaga promoting it at shows. It was followed by the ever-successful Def Jam: Fight For NY and Def Jam: Icon. ⁠ ⁠ -⁠ slides 2 and 4: Def Jam/Electronic Arts⁠