Sydney hip hop stars collaborate with NBA2K video game in world first

When top-rated NBA video game 2K called on three of Western Sydney’s brightest artists to create bespoke music for its 2023 iteration, they headed straight for the basketball court.

Three of Western Sydney’s fastest-rising artists are lending their voices to the top-rated NBA video game 2K, in a world-first collaboration.

For more than two decades, the soundtrack of 2K has become an annual greatest hits of top hip-hop artists.

This year, 2022 ARIA award-nominated artists Chillinit and Barkaa, and up-and-comer Sahxl, created bespoke songs for the game, using the sounds of basketball.

It’s been a big week for Blake James Turnell, known as Chillinit, who appeared in Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday to plead guilty to breaching his bail and driving while disqualified, after walking the ARIAs red carpet, and performing sold-out gigs in Newcastle over the weekend.

“I genuinely play and love the sport, and also will wipe anyone in a game of 2K, so I made my song about that,” the 28-year-old said.

Speaking about the project, Sahxl, left, said: “This is me starting my journey. The way up to here has been amazing, and I can’t wait to experience the rest of it.” Picture: Christian Michael

The track Susan’s Son, from Chillinit’s fourth studio album Family Ties, gave him the money to pay $100,000 off his mum’s mortgage. He plans to buy her a car as well.

“The core of everything is family,” he told Confidential. “With a baby on the way I’m going to be wifey-oriented too.”

In the three years since his gold-accredited debut album, ChillinIt has morphed from an underground sensation to a household name. Picture: Christian Michael.

Chillinit’s partner, Natasha Rayer, is due to give birth in February, with the rapper saying he’s going to get a lion tattooed to celebrate a son (named Leo), or a daughter (named Lily).

“Fatherhood is 100 per cent going to change me for the better. I’m already seeing myself growing as a person, making better music. That’s going to elevate triple-fold once I get hold of my flesh and blood.”

The Court in Session campaign was extremely attractive to the young rapper, who has always promoted his music in a non-traditional forum.

“I never imagined I’d be walking a red carpet in a $10,000 Tom Ford suit. I felt like a superstar,” he said of his 2022 ARIA nomination. “And now I’ve got little brothers at home that play this game, and they’re so excited. I take it as a blessing to be working every day, so much that my voice is gone.”

Chillinit, left, Sahxl. middle and Barkaa used the sounds from a game of basketball to produce music for international video game NBA2K in a world first.

Also joining the collaboration is 19-year-old vocal prince Sahxl, who has been primed as one of Australia’s next breakout stars, teetering the line between R & B and hip hop.

At the age of 13, Sahxl caught the attention of APRA Billion Stream award-winning producer Khaled Rohaim, and has been steadily ascending since.

“I’m always playing 2K in the studio. That’s all we do. When I heard we were going to do a song for them, I was like ‘yo this is crazy’,” he said.

“We’ve never made a song like that with basketball sounds. I’m new to the scene, so it’s a big deal for me.”

Since her 2020 debut single, “For My Tittas”, Barkaa has swiftly climbed to the top as one of Australia’s most respected voices. Picture: Supplied

“It’s so cool seeing young people come up, watching them grind, and seeing how they move differently,” Chillinit said of his teenage colleague.

“From five years ago, where you could probably name a handful of rappers in Sydney. To now, you can name a handful from every suburb. That’s going to benefit the country, economically and musically.”

Hailed “the new matriarch of Australian rap” by GQ Magazine, Barkaa is a Malyangapa, Barkindji woman from Western New South Wales, now living in South West Sydney on Gandangara land.

Her song, ‘Ball on ‘Em’, is a track intended to amp people up, and honour Aussie NBA star “brother Patty Mills”, who “defied all odds”.

“He’s somebody we as a First Nations community are constantly inspired by and in awe of,” she said.

“The lyric ‘pass it to them young ones, they gon’ run the game strong’ is saying that this is and has always been bigger than us. We got to pass that torch over to our youth when our time is up and know that our future is in good hands.”