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Kanye West. Lyrical genius, world-renowned superstar and… game designer?
According to reports, the American rapper pitched an unreleased game about his mother ascending directly to heaven to Nintendo legend Shigeru Miyamoto at E3 in 2015. Sounds about Kanye.
The rapper would then go on to announce the game himself the year after at an event in New York, with the name of the game being the same title as his 2014 released song ‘Only one’ which West wrote about his daughter North from the perspective of his late mother – Donda West. When announcing the title, West stated the main premise of the game – which was the idea of his mother travelling through to the gates of heaven.
However – prior to the rapper revealing the game to the public, it’s claimed that West attempted to get gaming giants Nintendo to take on the project by speaking to Shigeru Miyamoto.
Current Twitch lead community producer Zachary Ryan took to Twitter today and told us the inside scoop on how this bizarre event unfolded.
Ryan travelled to New York in 2016 to interview Miyamoto for Nintendo’s upcoming title at the time – Star Fox Zero. West’s name came up in a conversation Ryan was having with a Nintendo representative about ‘The Life of Pablo’ – the rapper’s new album, to which Miyamoto overheard and began recalling an anecdote about meeting West at E3 via his translator.
here's a little story about one of the funniest moments i had in games media:
in early 2016, i flew to NY to shoot an interview with Miyamoto for Star Fox Zero. it was a totally normal interview and then as we were packing up our gear, someone mentioned Kanye's new record.
Ryan Tweeted: “He said that Kanye had shown up at the Nintendo booth unannounced and asked for an audience with Miyamoto specifically, right then and there.”
“He went on to say that Kanye showed him the prototype for a video game. In it, you played as Kanye’s late mother flying to heaven, set to a soundtrack conducted by Kanye himself.”
“He described, incredulously and in great detail what the game looked like and how it played. I was laughing because I sort of couldn’t believe it either.”
After West pitched the game’s initial concept and how it played, Miyamoto claimed that he was very ‘moved’ by the rapper’s pitch.
Ryan added to his tweet thread: “At the end of the story, he nodded and said ‘it was very interesting. There was a long pause and he added ‘it was very moving’.”
“Then he laughed REALLY hard and said ‘Kanye West wanted to make a game with Nintendo’ and then, in English, ‘Wow!’ and gave me two thumbs up.”
“I f*****g lost it. I laughed so hard. What an absurd turn of events. Not only that it happened but that the story was relayed to me in this VERY SPECIFIC way.”
Never change Kanye. Never change.
You can keep up to date with all of the latest Gaming News right here at GiveMeSport.
Manchester lad, living in Leeds. Lover of all things sport – although at the moment I’m in a chaotic relationship with Manchester United.
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