NBA Live is going all-in on this year’s game. EA Sports has made tweaks and improvements over past editions, brought Russell Westbrook on board as its cover athlete, and added a Pro-Am feature. But one area they’ve continued to put a lot of time and energy into is the soundtrack.
Curated by MICK (formerly DJ Mick Boogie), the soundtrack (which has a Spotify Profile, as well) features a number of artists from Ty Dolla $ign and Vince Staples to Kendrick Lamar and King Los, and also has one of Uproxx Music’s picks for potential song of the summer in “I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times” by Jamie xx ft. Young Thug and Popcaan. The music isn’t so much the mix you typically see from MICK, with the tracks finding their way into the game in various situations, but MICK has included some of his own music in there as well.
The full track list is below:
Casey Veggies feat. Ty Dolla $ign, “Wonderful”
CZARFACE feat. Large Professor, “World Premier”
Fashawn, “Out The Trunk feat. Busta Rhymes”
Hoodboi, “Palm Reader feat.Lido”
Hudson Mohawke, “Scud Books”
Illa J, “All Good Pt. 2 feat. Moka Only”
Jamie xx, “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) [feat. Young Thug & Popcaan]”
Jidenna feat. Kendrick Lamar, “Classic Man (Remix)”
Kill The Noise & Madsonik, “Spitfire Riddim (feat. twoton)”
King Los, “Can’t Fade Us feat. Ty Dolla $ign”
Nick Catchdubs, “Bizness feat. Iamsu! & Jay Ant”
Oddisee, “Want Something Done”
OverDoz., “Manifesto”
Phony Ppl, “Why iii Love The Moon”
R. City, “Broadway”
Shash’U, “Sunset”
Shirt, “We Back (2015)”
Skyzoo, “Falling Out The Sky”
Tommie Sunshine & The Partysquad, “Alright (Jesse Slayter Remix)”
Travis Scott feat. Future & 2 Chainz, “3500”
Vince Staples, “Loca”
Your Old Droog, “42”
Uproxx Sports had the chance to speak with MICK about the NBA Live 16 soundtrack, his career, the best advice he’d give aspiring DJs, and more.
Martin Rickman: How did the partnership with EA Sports come about?
MICK: We were at a strip club … [laughs]. No, not really. The real honest answer is my DJ career has revolved around events and sports as a subsidiary type thing for a long time, and we were always in the same circles. Our relationship just kind of blossomed, and I went from events to mixtapes to other stuff, and now it’s evolved to music curation.
It seems like there’s always been a relationship between music and sports, and especially music and basketball. We’ve seen over the last 10 years (maybe seven or eight even) where the DJ element, the on-court, in game, has really taken more priority. Why do you think it’s done that?
My logic for that is pretty simple. We’re in a generation now where it’s not about any of that stuff, literally, it’s just about the lifestyle aspect of that. Everybody lives this media-sports-entertainment lifestyle. There’s not one person who does just one thing anymore. Every athlete you see in movies and on TV. Every rapper you see courtside at games. Everybody has a shoe deal. It doesn’t matter if it’s Drake doing Jordans or Jordan doing Jordans, everybody makes Jordans. The only difference now is the skills you bring to the table, but the table’s all the same, whether you’re a musician, or an ad director, or a basketball player, or a drummer, or a chef, or you could be the cool mayor. We’re all at the same table now because we live this lifestyle. It’s not like it was 20 years ago where it was all segmented.
Especially with the social element to things, and like you’re saying, people are running in the same circles even if they’re doing something differently. You’re going to have chefs who shout out sports teams. That didn’t used to happen. Now you can tweet about it, you can talk to the players and have an interaction. Everyone seems like they’re more connected even if they actually aren’t. There’s at least that superficial connection where it’s not as exclusive as it used to be.
Even living in New York, you go to a restaurant that’s the hot and buzzy restaurant, but Nas is an investor, so he’s there. And then, Carmelo Anthony is sitting at a table. It’s almost like that Frank Sinatra “Rat Pack” mentality, but it’s updated for this generation. The best people at all these different genres are all together trying to do cool stuff.
This obviously isn’t your first year doing the game, but how is this year specifically different from the others? I know NBA Live is trying to rebrand, and I’m sure there’s conversations you’ve had with them in trying to amp it up or really make things bigger and better.
First off, this year is the best game in a long time. It’s amazing. I think when people play the game, they’re not just going to be talking about the cool shoes in the game or the music in the game, they’re going to be excited to talk about the game itself, which is really awesome. I’m really looking forward to hearing people’s feedback. Musically, my job is just to keep up with that and find out what the cool stuff in the game is, what features and tweaks, which players are going to be focal points. Then try to find music that is current and relevant and keeps people engaged in what we’re trying to do. Every year, the vibe changes slightly, but we always try to pick the cool up and coming … we’re not trying to get Jay Z and Kanye under contract. We’re all about what’s next and what’s new, and what’s going to be the next big thing.
Do you have a favorite track on here? Is there an artist you expect to blow up really soon? I’m really happy to see King Los on here.
I’ve really, really enjoyed his stuff. There’s a couple guys on here – Shirt is from New York, and he’s good. Phony Ppl are awesome. There’s just some really good stuff.
How do you approach something like this as compared to just putting together your mixes as you’ve done in the past?
Songs don’t necessarily have to go logically, song to song to song, like you would when you’re doing a mixtape. So that’s kind of nice. You don’t have to worry about this to go with this, but you still want things to mix sonically with each other. You just try to find things that have hook, and I want to give you a lot of different vibes. Some songs are a little more aggressive and a little more energetic, and others are a little more relaxed and more chill. There are different modes, and different gameplays and different venues, and we want to make sure there’s music that fits all those different things.
It’s been fun tracking your journey because I’ve been watching it for as long as I have being from Northeast Ohio. Coming up through the ranks, doing the radio hustle, DJing for the Cavs, then putting an entrepreneurial spin on things, having mixes that have done really well, whether it’s Viva La Hova, or working with guys like Wale (on the Peter, Bjorn and John mix Re-Living Thing). Looking back, what’s been the most important thing you’ve learned that you’d pass on? Maybe not people doing exactly what you’ve done because your path is your path, and no one else’s can be that, but something you learned that you wish you’d learned earlier.
Advice I’d really give anyone that I’ve learned along my career is really that cheesy 4-year-old Golden Rule thing, “Do Unto Others.” I always try to make sure I treat people well, whether I meet somebody at the grocery store or it’s someone at EA, or Nike, or Adidas, or from the NBA. It could be a journalist. You never know what’s going to happen in life, and you never know where that person is going to go, and you never know where you’re going to go. It’s all about making sure you keep that in mind because the reason people get opportunities is because they’re there to help other people as well. When you create these real, lasting relationships with people through all walks of life, as you continue to progress on that, everything kind of comes full circle. That’s what happened to me. That to me is really the main advice I’d give to anyone.
People aren’t going to want to trust you with something if they don’t trust you as a person, if you don’t give something to them to allow them to do that. If you’re not making anything real with them, they’re going to see through that and find someone else who will give that to them. That’s why opportunities come up; you allowed yourself to be in a position to have that opportunity by making these lasting connections. And then you’re scoring a video game – is that something you ever thought you would do among all the other projects you’ve done?
Not really until that opportunity happened because I wasn’t sure how to connect the dots for that to happen. It’s interesting when you start to look back on your career because you start to see a pattern of all the things that unfolded to lead you up to that because you couldn’t see it at the time. It makes perfect sense. One of the best reasons I have a career is because I was able to create mixtapes that were different than everyone else’s, and kind of create my own lane in that world, which was a very congested and cluttered world at the time. But now it’s not about mixtapes; it’s about musical curation. Mixtapes barely exist anymore. It’s about songs and how they’re put together. We have Spotify and Apple Music and all that. When you think about where I came from, it was the next logical step for that. Factor in my love for tech stuff and my love for basketball and everything else it’s a perfect fit.
What’s your favorite project or mix that you’ve ever worked on?
Honestly, my favorite thing that I’ve probably ever done is something that just came out [on Tuesday.] I know that sounds really timely, but I just did this project for Leon Bridges, that singer from Texas. He’s awesome. I just remixed his whole debut album over all classic Texas hip-hop and soul.
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It’s amazing. It’s honestly a passion. I’ve been doing that and the NBA thing simultaneously all summer, and I had a baby. All three of them are my passion projects right now. It’s kind of exciting that everything’s happening in the same month. That was a similar mindset I approached for that as I did for the video game thing. It’s really cool for everybody to hear all this stuff right now. It should be a good month for me.
What’s next after that? Are you going to take a little bit of a break, or do you have something else you’ve got your sights set on?
I dunno, man. I feel like my October is going to just suck because my September is so great. I have a bunch of events. I obviously travel and DJ and stuff too, and I have a whole bunch of stuff coming up, from the Emmys, to tons of private events, to Fashion Week, to some galas and stuff coming up, which will be really fun. Before you know it, it’s holiday season. I’ll be doing a lot around the video game, including this launch party in New York. It’s really a blessing because everything feeds into everything else. This game will lead to DJ opportunities, which will lead to other projects, and those will lead to me having dinner with somebody who’s a cool tech dude and I can do something with him.
You be adaptable enough to let those things happen, and when those doors open, you walk through them, but so many people aren’t ready to do that – or they’re scared to.
I just try to be ready for any great opportunity that God puts across my plate and take advantage of it, if that makes sense. Sometimes you don’t get second chances to do these really cool things. I just want to make sure I’m always ready for when somebody like EA calls, and I can say, “Yeah, let’s do it, but let’s not just do it, let’s do something really awesome.”
