At an NBA Ballers event in Jay-Z's 40/40 club in New York City, Public Enemy's Chuck D made the rounds with Grammy-nominated rap producer Just Blaze to talk about his latest project ... playing announcer for the upcoming Midway basketball game.

How's it going, Chuck D?
I'm great - it's a great feeling to be able to talk about sports and gaming and be in the house of Jay Z.

What did you decide to get involved with NBA Ballers?
I've done voiceovers in a lot of different games, in the over 20 years I've been involved I've done a lot of work everywhere. It was a no brainer, Johnny V (John Vignocchi, NBA Ballers Designer) reached out, and had my voice in mind for the game. He's a big rap fan, and kind of thought I'd fit, and I said, "Hell yea, I think I'd fit." And it was just as fun doing it as seeing the end result.

How about those play-by-plays? Maybe you can start a new career as a sportscaster.
It was something that I'd heard done by NBA sportscasters forever, and things I've always said to myself, so it was almost like, revisiting your own passions.

So, are you totally obsessed with the game now?
I'm not a gamer, but I love the creative end. I love to create things, you know? Same thing with songs - I like to write songs, I don't necessarily make a song to listen to it myself in my room. I want to make it for somebody out there.


Why does this series have such a draw for kids?
Number one, it ain't kids. My brother's four years younger than me, and all his boys, they gather around at his house, eight deep to play video games all damn day. I mean, and he's 47 years old.

I think there's about three to four different generations that have their own different standards on what they think a great game is. For his age, it's maybe just how the game moves, how many things they can do. I think for the younger standard, all the other things that the game offers, like the graphics and all those hip-hop auras and sensibilities all over the game, all these things converge on two or three things.

I mean, we're doing this interview in Jay-Z's club in the middle of New York City. And most people aren't able to get to the city and be in the middle of this scenario, so people around here might be like, "OK, big deal. I see this lifestyle every day." But there might be a young person in eastern Tennessee, or a different part of the world, that can look at this whole offering of what hip hop and basketball has in a game, and have it be a little bit of a release from their everyday lives.

You keep bringing up hip hop and basketball. Why are those two institutions often combined?
Well hip hop is 30 years old, rap records are almost 30 years old. Most of these ball players that play in the NBA are under 30 years old, so it's been there all their lives. So the culture of sports and the culture of music and entertainment has been a side-by-side thing.

So, about that sportscaster career...
Yeah, I mean, I think voiceover play by play is a wonderful resume to actually do play by play for real. I think if I did play by play for real, it'd take about half a year to brush up on my skills, but this is a wonderful example of showing that I can.