“Music is very important to basketball culture,” says NBA All-Star Chet Holmgren of Oklahoma City Thunder. And he’s not the only hooper who knows how closely intertwined the two worlds are. “It has the ability to affect your emotions and your spirit. Music can motivate you and inspire you in ways that other things can’t, ” explains the Philadelphia 76ers’ five-time All-Star Jaylen Brown.
We’re backstage at the massive Intuit Dome, home of the Los Angeles Clippers, where the latest in the annual NBA 2K video game series is being revealed in a grand media event. Fans and content creators have flown in from around the world for the annual celebration of the game’s global community, while an audience of hundreds of thousands are watching via livestream as pro ballers Stephon Castle, Chiney Ogwumike and Tyrese Haliburton talk through the latest changes. There’s a lot of screaming.
“I think everyone has a story like mine,” offers Brown a little later. He spent his youth staying up until the early hours of the morning playing NBA 2K with his brothers and being introduced to some of his favourite artists. “And yes, we broke a couple of controllers along the way,” says Brown who, at over seven feet tall, towers over NME like he’s performing on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. “It just goes to show how passionate people are about the game, and how embedded in the culture it is.”
Over the past 20 years, NBA 2K has also become a big part of basketball fandom – though it took a while to find its shooting range. The first entry arrived in 1999 for the Sega Dreamcast and was met with middling reviews. Over the next few years though, each release gained in popularity thanks to online multiplayer and the decision to go multi-platform. In 2005, a soundtrack was added – featuring hip-hop legends The Roots (‘Set It’) and Blackalicious (‘Excellent’), as well as celebrated rappers Common (‘The Movement’) and Ghostface Killah (‘Milk ‘Em ft. Trife Da God’) among others.
“Around that same time, you had Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater which was one of the first titles that really showcased how important music was to establishing the culture within a game,” says David Kelly, 2K’s music boss. “It could have easily been a sterile product with the typical jock jams but the team took a wild swing with rap, hip-hop, R&B and electronic.”
Since then, the games have celebrated the past, present and future of music using the soundtracks. Jay-Z oversaw the picks for the 2012 edition, Travis Scott curated the sound of the 20th anniversary of the series while rappers such as Lil Wayne, Jack Harlow and Quavo have appeared as playable characters. A couple of years back, J. Cole even took on the prestigious role of NBA 2K cover star. “We have over 100 years of history to lean on with the NBA – and using music as a way to honour that legacy is really important to us,” says Kelly.
This year, NBA 2K27 spotlights the golden age of hip-hop with cuts from Mos Def, Mary J. Blige and A Tribe Called Quest alongside rock classics from The Killers and Stone Temple Pilots. “We’re very established in the rap space but we’d be doing ourselves and our players a disservice if it was just one note,” says Kelly. “I grew up playing FIFA games and their global approach to music was a real reference point for us.”
The slogan for NBA 2K27 is “Ball Over Everything” but the audio team shaped the soundtrack around the theme ‘2K Up All Night”, with bangers around pre-drinks with your friends, late night raves, staying up until 5am and then heading home.
“We’re always trying to be authentic to our audience in terms of what they’re interested in but we also look at the history of basketball. Our player base has become really diverse in terms of age range, gender and where in the world they are, so we want to include music for everyone but obviously basketball has a major hip hop background,” fan-turned-game-ambassador Ronnie Singh, better known as Ronnie 2K, tells NME.
Another big addition to NBA 2K27 is the inclusion of legendary Harlem court Rucker Park, which has launched countless basketball pros and acted as a proving ground for numerous rappers and DJs. Jay-Z and Nas have both praised the venue in their lyrics and 2Pac’s sports crime film Above The Rim was filmed there. The in-game version of Rucker Park was based on a creative made by Brown and rapper A$AP Ferg, with nods to an ancient Mesoamerican ball game known as Ōllamalīztli – the world’s oldest known team sport.
“We have such a place in culture now that we’re sought out,” says Ronnie 2k of how the soundtracks come together. French Montana got his spot by texting Ronnie and telling him just how much it would mean to be included. The team also takes requests from NBA pros. Last year, the league’s Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander curated an entire playlist for NBA 2K and there are more athlete takeovers planned for 2027.
“We want the artists that have already made it to have a spot on the soundtrack, but we also want to showcase new artists that really add to the authenticity of the game,” says Kelly. To do that, they leave no stone unturned. A handful of the team regularly attend buzzy gigs early enough to catch the support acts, while Kelly trawls Bandcamp and Soundcloud for undiscovered gems. “Back in the day, we’d be digging through crates in record shops to find interesting vinyl. This is the digital version of getting those dusty fingers.”
They also take recommendations from the various offices around the world. The France team introduced Kelly to melodic rapper Nono La Grinta, which is why ‘Paris’ is on the new edition. 2K Dublin suggested the alternative R&B of F3miii. “I fell in love with him straight away but we had trouble choosing which of his songs to include,” says Kelly who, after some passionate debates with his colleagues, eventually went for ‘LOSTWITHOUTMARIA’. A spot on NBA 2K is a massive deal for these newer artists, typically giving them up to a 400 per cent boost in listeners on Spotify, according to Kelly.
“I love those games so it’s an amazing feeling to get that co-sign,” says London-based musician Master Peace, who’s on this year’s edition with the “very British and tongue-in-cheek” guitar banger ‘Good Times’. “That song talks about me beating the odds, so to have it on one of the biggest sports franchise games in the world is an emotional thing.”
Peace grew up inspired by rappers The Notorious B.I.G and Big L while his early anthems straddled the worlds of punk and hip-hop. More recently though, he’s been tapping into his love of all things indie rock. “To have that alternative side celebrated in NBA 2K27 is a big deal for a Black artist. I got on the soundtrack by being authentically myself, and not what people might want me to be.”
It’s a similar story for Irish rising star F3miii. He broke out at the end of last year with the Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino-inspired ‘Noble’, but it’s the Michael Jackson-influenced synth pop ‘LOSTWITHOUTMARIA’ that you can hear on NBA 2K27. “I’m glad I can show people what else I can do,” he tells NME over Zoom ahead of appearances at Reading & Leeds festivals. “Being on these soundtracks is a unicorn opportunity. The level of exposure they offer is absolutely huge.”
Growing up, he played a lot of basketball until he got injured and turned to gaming for his hoops fix. He and his mates still buy every new NBA 2K title. “The games being good is a big part of the appeal, but the soundtrack is such an important part of it too. The variety of music they have is really sick, especially the stuff that’s being made by Black artists. It’s not just hip hop anymore,” F3miii continues, with NBA 2K27 also featuring ‘Talk Of The Town’, Reggie B’s dance collab with Fred Again.. and Sammy Virji. “To have two Black Irish artists on the soundtrack is a big win for us.”
“We don’t just want to repeat what’s worked for us in the past,” says Kelly of the constantly evolving sound of NBA 2K. “We don’t want to keep it strictly rap and hip-hop. It’s funny to talk about genre in 2026 because it’s all bled together but we do want to help push the conversation around Black music forward. I’m very much a guest in the space but I’m honoured to do the work.”
‘NBA 2K27’ is out now. The soundtrack is available to stream here
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