It was the first time you heard a particular note, drum beat or electronically created sound that made your ears tingle, your heart skip a beat and resonated with your soul. This is “My Song” – a series where the music that makes the person is spotlighted. James Bullock writes about a song that became synonymous with the yearly release of WWE/wrestling video games.
Like many wrestling fans that so happen to be gamers (or simply enjoy entering the digital WWE ring on a yearly basis), I make it a tradition to create a WWE Superstar of myself and some of my closest friends. So when I found out I could rip music off of CDs onto my Xbox 360 or Playstation 3 hard drive, I went about my way making a list of songs that would be appropriate for certain characters. For my personal character, only one song truly profound and exuding lyrical ecstasy could work: Lupe Fiasco’s “The Emperor’s Soundtrack”.
Not only is the production incredible and sounds unlike any mainstream rap song (then and now), its open-to-interpretation lyrical presentation features a wrestling-esque statement in the hook that I (through the rapper’s words) audibly displays my lack of fear for the weapons of my comparatively weak-minded foes (whose external focuses could prove to be their undoing) while throwing out the observation that I too – once again, via the lyrics – could become weak if I coast or “sleep” on my talents while being unaware of the aforementioned tools/weapons of my enemies. The song’s addictive from a sound perspective and is easily identifiable once you hear it, has the perfect entrance point for a wrestler to come out to (right after Fiasco says, “I told you,” five seconds in), and showcases a drum beat that would have people bumping. It’s so disappointing I can’t put music on my Playstation 4 to really give the perfect, digitized version of myself that one figurative spark he’s needing to join the ranks of The Undertaker, Triple H, The Rock or even Zack Ryder.
