Calling themselves “ genuine Damage, ” the virtual rap collective ( who are all characters in the game ) thrilled the sold-out crowd at Paris ’ AccorHotels Arena with a visually and sonically dazzling debut of their one, “ GIANTS, ” an original cut created particularly for the event .
The group was based on characters in League of Legends and fronted by real-life artists Becky G, Keke Palmer, the Los Angeles-based rapper Duckwrth, Nigerian-American rapper Thutmose, and Soyeon, a rapper and singer from the K-pop group, ( G ) I-DLE, who besides participated in last class ’ s championships as separate of the one-off K-pop group, K/DA. The five artists performed on stage in an elaborately choreograph production alongside holograms of their League of Legends interpolate ego. The in-game characters, who range from a street-smart assassin name Qiyana ( voiced by Becky G ) to the time-traveling Ekko ( voiced by both Duckwrth and Thutmose ) are all fictional LoL champions with original backstories dreamed up by the team at television game developer Riot Games.
Reading: The True Story of True Damage: The Virtual Hip-Hop Group That’s Taking Over the Internet IRL
true Damage debuted an original birdcall “ GIANTS, ” composed by Kole Hicks and Harloe. The music video for “ GIANTS ” was released to coincide with the hatchway ceremony and has already amassed more than 16 million views on-line. The club-ready hip-hop track was besides released to streaming outlets and is climbing up the digital charts ( As of this writing the song has more than 6.4 million streams on Spotify and was included on this week ’ s New Music Friday Playlist ) .
Michal Konkol true Damage ’ s introduction follows the ball-shaped success of last class ’ south K-pop inspired group, K/DA, which featured singers Madison Beer and Jaira Burns, along with I-dle members Miyeon and Soyeon. K/DA debuted their lead, “ Pop/Stars, ” with an AR performance at end year ’ south League of Legends World Championships, and the sung reached total 1 on Billboard ’ s World Digital Song Sales chart the follow week .
As for True Damage, Riot Music Group fountainhead, Toa Dunn says he ’ s been excited to see the response to the group both from bet on fans and from music fans, which proves the two worlds are more associate than people might think. “ I think the future looks bright for this young collective and I wouldn ’ thyroxine be surprised to hear more from them in the future, ” says Dunn, who set the imagination for the group and picked the artists involved. “ As for following class ? Anything is possible. ”
amazon We spoke to the artists behind true damage to find out how this virtual group pull it all off in real life .
How did you get involved with this project?
Duckwrth: I am very much a large pull the leg of, so anything that has to do with animation, games and toys, I ’ m exquisite. When Riot Games reached out and said they wanted me to do a poetry for their fictional character Ekko, I picked my yack up off the land and casually responded with a “ Sure, I ’ m down. ”
Becky G: I was conversant with [ the concept ] because I had seen other artists participate in former years, but I ’ megabyte not a game, so I had no idea what I was stepping into. I have two younger brothers though — one is 18 and the other is 20 — and they ’ ra pretty boastfully on video games. I asked them if they knew what League of Legends was and they freaked out. It was about like everything else I had done up to now was kind of cool but this was by far the coolest. so I knew I had to get involved .
Keke Palmer: I learned about it through my team. I ’ five hundred hear of the game before, through friends and my little brother, but I never played. It was after I attended the [ Riot ] headquarter that I rightfully understood the sight. Gaming has been elevated so greatly over the years, and I wanted to be a separate of the exhilaration .
What was it about the partnership that made you want to get involved?
Soyeon: After working on the K/DA Project last class, I ’ ve enjoyed play LoL, so I was very respect to receive another offer from them .
Thutmose: I love the global culture League of Legends has built and I consider myself a ball-shaped artist, so being a part of something this historic and revolutionist is irresistible. And the opportunity to voice Ekko was indeed cool — I would have never imagined being able to voice a television game quality. Of course working with amaze artists like Becky G, Soyeon, Duckwrth, and Keke Palmer was thus stimulate for me angstrom well .
Becky G: One of my brothers is autistic, and he found a condom space in this residential district of bet on and felt like he very belonged somewhere, so I knew I had to get involved .
Bartosz Plotka What’s the main difference between writing or performing your own stuff versus being part of this project?
Thutmose: Honestly not besides unlike. I was very accurate on how I executed my lyrics and visuals to create a worldly concern for the hearer [ Thutmose was besides separate of the Spider-Man : Into the Spider-Verse soundtrack ]. Of course, League of Legends takes it to a unharmed new level .
Duckwrth: Everything League of Legends does is bad : huge production, huge team, lots of organization and doing the same thing over and over until it ’ mho perfect. My team is base right now. I typically travel with three band members and two or three crew members. So this League production decidedly hits different. Funny enough, I fair came off of a few sphere dates with Billie Eilish, so 20,000-seated venues are no longer a extraneous dream to me. But still, performing with a hologram version of yourself and your character decidedly puts League of Legends on a level of their own .
Becky G: Where it doesn ’ metric ton feel excessively extraneous is that I am embodying a character, and for me, being an actress adenine well as a singer, I ’ m familiar with that. The chief difference is that I ’ megabyte singing a sung as person else, but in a weird means it still felt very on-brand for me because Qiyana is besides a rapper and singer and she ’ second Latina like me .
Palmer: I had to kinda get into the universe of this character [ Senna, a woman who was cursed as a child and spend years in a lamp ] as opposed to the song being fitted specifically around me, so that was a unlike know. But it turned out well .
The response from both gaming fans and music fans has been huge. What do you think it is about this collection of artists that has been so powerful?
Palmer: I think true damage is special because of the diverseness and the different genres of music that we all do. We came together to perform this original song, having never met and that to me is pretty dope.
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Becky G: In the Latin community, we ’ re then big on collaborations and it ’ s so aplomb to experience that in this kingdom. There ’ second korean pat, a little spot of spanish, English. I besides love that my character Qiyana equitable a badass girlfriend who ’ s very empowered and creating her own narrative. She comes from a set of exitas as you would say in spanish and she has that pressure to succeed, but she ’ s show that you ’ re so much more than where you come from ; taking that means and saying, “ No, this is who I am. ”
Thutmose: I love how passionate the stallion team is. I bring heat to everything I do, so to work with like minds is just the greatest feel .
Palmer: This is the Super Bowl of gambling ; this is the future. I ’ thousand fair glad to be a part of it all .
