Independent game publisher Communal Games, LLC is set to release its Old School Hip Hop party game, Hip Hop Vocals. Fans of 80s and early- 90s Hip Hop music can soon add a little flavor to their live and virtual gatherings with a game that tests their memory of classic songs.
“We are really excited to present Hip Hop Vocals to the Old School Hip Hop community, a party game tailor-made for our culture,” says the Company’s Founder and President, Lamont Barnes. We have curated a collection of songs, artists, and terms that will not only take players on a trip down memory lane, but hilariously determine who really knows Old School Hip Hop songs.”
Hip Hop Vocals is a card game that tests how well players know the lyrics to songs by reciting verses, describing its content, and explaining Hip Hop related terms. However, players cannot mention a song’s hook or any forbidden words. The cards are worth 1 to 5 points based on their level of difficulty. Teams attempt to correctly answer as many cards as they can within two minutes. The first team to reach 50 points or the point total established at the beginning of the game wins.
Barnes, an Old School Hip Hop fanatic, designed Hip Hop Vocals upon reflecting on endless gatherings with family and friends that regularly led to a debate over why Hip Hop was better ‘back in the day.’ “Since my generation proudly calls Old School Hip Hop the genre’s ‘Golden Era’ due to its emphasis on lyrics, then let’s test how well we actually know the lyrics to our era’s songs,” says Barnes.
A serial entrepreneur, Barnes created a rough prototype of the game on index cards and shared his concept with a small circle of family and friends. The game earned high marks due to its fun, yet challenging rules. Both casual and hardcore Hip Hop fans can easily repeat the hooks to songs, but they often stumble when asked to recite the lyrics. “Old School Hip Hop fans believe that they’re the ultimate Hip Hop head until they’re required to recite a song’s lyrics- especially when there’s a time limit,” says Barnes. “We have yet to test the game without players bursting into laughter because another player fumbled through an ‘easy’ song.”
Hip Hop Vocals comes with over 400 cards split evenly between cards that must be recited and cards that must be described. There are also 18 Bonus cards that can be strategically used throughout the game. Game rules allow players who don’t know the lyrics to certain songs to exchange the cards before play, or describe the cards for lesser points. Even casual Hip Hop fans can play and earn points by using a bit of creativity describing the cards.
Unlike trivia-based games that quickly grow stale after memorizing the cards, Hip Hop Vocals has high replay value since it relies on each player’s distinct memory of a song, which results in a unique outcome every game played.
Hip Hop Vocals is currently in production and is expected to be available for shipment in April 2021. Customers can reserve copies by placing a pre-order purchase.