In the annals of early 2000s popular culture, few collaborations capture the era’s blend of hip-hop celebrity and nascent video game dominance quite like the theme song for EA Sports’ NBA Live 2003. At a time when having a featured spot on a video game soundtrack could propel an artist into millions of homes, Brooklyn rapper Fabolous and legendary producer DJ Clue were chosen to create the iconic intro track, “It’s In The Game.” Years later, Fabolous, speaking with Scoop B Radio, recounted the unforgettable experience, providing a rare look at a moment when music and sports gaming intersected perfectly.
The game itself was a critical moment for the EA Sports franchise. After an unsuccessful run with NBA Live 2002, the developers “went back to the lab and brought in some fire power.” The 2003 iteration featured then-New Jersey Nets All-Star point guard Jason Kidd as its cover athlete and made a conscious shift in gameplay, keying in on the halfcourt game and defensive strategy, which notably included players like Dikembe Mutombo and Kenyon Martin, who were “having nightly block parties on their respective teams.”
Beyond the gameplay, the developers understood the power of music. NBA Live 2003 delivered a feature that was revolutionary for its time: anyone who purchased a copy “got an added bonus. They got a copy of the NBA Live 2003 soundtrack on a CD.” The tracklist was stacked, including heavy hitters like Busta Rhymes and Flipmode Squad’s “Here We Go,” Angie Martinez’s “If I Could Go,” Joe Budden’s “Drop Drop,” and Freeway and Memphis Bleek’s “Let’s Go.” Yet, it was the explosive, highly technical intro track by Fabolous and DJ Clue that anchored the experience.
Fabolous was a natural and compelling fit to provide the intro vocals. Coming off the success of his debut album, Ghetto Fabolous, and building a massive buzz on the mixtape circuit, The Brooklyn rapper was in a league of his own, rapping about sports and donning the most exclusive of exclusive Mitchell & Ness throwback jerseys. Fab was a natural fit as the game’s intro vocalist. His performance on the track was packed with the kind of intricate, hoops-centric wordplay that solidified his reputation, particularly when dropping bars like:
“‘I’m the crowd favorite and I believe the fans love the way I finger roll it with either hand, my handles pull it through presses plus I can play the lane and block shots like bulletproof vestes.’”
Recalling the recording process, Fabolous noted that the collaboration extended beyond the studio booth. It provided him with a unique immersion into the technology behind the gaming phenomenon.
“I was a bigger video game fan then,”Fabolous told Scoop B Radio, adding: “It was a cool experience. The whole video game. I actually got to visit the EA Sports headquarters and got to see the stuff behind games; the real geeky, techy side, that was even cool. It was really, really, really a cool experience.”
The creative challenge was equally fulfilling for his collaborator, DJ Clue. The producer explained that the work offered an unusual level of artistic freedom, coupled with a technical requirement to integrate the sounds of the game itself. Clue reflected on the magnitude of the project, telling Scoop B Radio: “I think that sometimes you get caught in the moment and you don’t realize how big something is that you are doing,” he said.
The collaboration required a unique approach to sound design: “They gave me no restrictions on how to be with sound, but they gave me sound effects that they wanted me to actually incorporate into actually beats.” He specified the raw material he was given: “The whistle, the feet squeaking, the dunk, they gave me all those sounds.” This meant an innovative, reverse-engineered process that tied the music directly to the action: “So I was in the studio, I was doing a beat and I came up with the beat and they came up with the rap and I had to go back and put the sound effects in from what he was rapping about.”
Fabolous also revealed that the partnership included an interactive promotional element on the road. “I did a tour stop where in each city somebody would come on the bus and play me in NBA Live,” Fabolous said. Naturally, the celebrity had a competitive streak: “I pretty much beat everybody that we played. A couple of them were girls, I had to beat them too.”This early-career venture for Fabolous and DJ Clue stands as a definitive moment in sports and music marketing, forever cementing their creation as one of the most memorable video game theme songs of its generation—a true demonstration that the game was, indeed, in the game.
