Games in the 2000’s had a lot of personality and attitude to them, probably by necessity. Technology had not allowed video games to be these sprawling 80-hour open-world adventures yet, for better or worse. Developers were probably saying, “Look, the graphics aren’t going to look realistic, and the gameplay can only be so good, so we are going to elevate everything else to make an entertaining product.” So much money is pumped into games now along with tech advancements that the attitude/persona of the respective games is gone. Games look amazing, but you don’t find yourself enraptured from playing the game.
Music can really add a lot to an art form, especially a video game. Early sports games during the Xbox/PS2 era spent a fair amount of money adding popular music or paying artists to create original music to the games’ respective soundtracks. Four games in particular had some of the most memorable soundtracks of my childhood. These games are:
NBA Live 2003
Before Electronic Arts became the scorn of video game consumers around the world, they actually created a basketball game that could compete with the 2K series (crazy, right?). The soundtrack to NBA Live 2003 contains my favorite song in this article and one of my favorite songs of all time, Angie Martinez’s “If I Could Go”. Everything about the song captures the essence of the early 2000’s, which is a golden era in the history of music. The simple yet addictive instrumental hook that opens the song captures you right away. Martinez effortlessly harmonizes about packing her things and being ready at a moment’s notice when her lover is ready to leave town. Not even about basketball, but it doesn’t matter. Other bops include “Whoa Now” by B. Rich which samples The Jeffersons' theme song and can’t help but make you smile. Brandy’s “Full Moon” is the perfect song when you’re just browsing through the menu and wait to start your game because you want to get to the chorus. The last song I’ll mention is the slow-building “Ballin’ Boy” by No Good. These are simply the highlights. If you can, give the whole soundtrack a listen.
NBA Live 2004
Before the Black Eyed Peas sold out, they had a nice mellow song called “Hands Up” on the soundtrack for this game. A perfect menu-browsing song for when you’re selecting your team or creating your player. Sampling the horn section from an older song, the Black Eyed Peas craft another simple instrumental hook will stick in your head for weeks. The galvanizing song of this soundtrack, however, has to be OutKast’s “GhettoMusick”. The pure unfettered energy from this song would have you playing games all night long. This effect should not surprise you as it comes from on of the greatest acts in the history of music. Finally, if you really want to know how much of a time capsule this game is, give Chingy’s “Right Thurr” a listen. If you don’t know “Right Thurr”, get ready to get transported to the summer of 2003.
NBA Street Vol. 2 and V3
I combined these two because the soundtracks capture a certain era of music instead of the singular year like the NBA Live video games. ”Chief Rocka” and ”The Choice is Yours” keep you going from game to game, but tracks like “React” by Erick Sermon and Redman and “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)” will be bumping around in your brain for weeks. De La Soul’s “Me, Myself, and I” headlines NBA Street V3 with MC Lyte’s “Ruffneck” and House of Pain’s “Jump Around (Pete Rock Remix)” acting as fine supporting tracks. While V3’s soundtrack is better than most today, it paled in comparison to Vol. 2 and acted as almost a sign of the end for the NBA Street franchise. While NBA Street HomeCourt came out a few years later, it sold poorly and was the clear end. At least we’ll always have these games to look back on.
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