It’s been nearly two years since the passing of the immensely influential rapper Nipsey Hussle. While we still grieve his absence, it’s still important to celebrate his legacy and continue working in his vision. This past December marked the ten-year anniversary of Hussle’s mixtape The Marathon. To honor the milestone work, an interactive visual experience will be streaming live tonight on YouTube.
Hussle’s management and label team partnered with multi-sensory entertainment company OkiDoki to create The Marathon Live Visual Album Experience, which features exclusive footage that takes us back to the time of the full-length’s birth. In a press release, OkiDoki’s creative director Kam Burk details the experience, stating they “wanted to create a dream-like world set in the era of 2009-2010 Los Angeles, a time when Nipsey was crafting and preparing to release his Marathon Mixtape.
“It’s almost like a virtual time capsule of this pivotal point in Nipsey’s career. We recreated his vehicle, a Mercedes SL550, and a lot of the landmarks Nipsey frequented and some historic Los Angeles sites using Jorge Peniche’s photography, google maps, 3D modeling software and made it beautiful and interactive in Unreal Engine. His family asked us to not make an avatar of Nipsey, so we had to cleverly use the vehicle, audio interviews and projected imagery and videos in the virtual environment to allow the viewer to feel Nipsey’s presence. Nipsey loved using his car as a music venue for testing out unreleased tracks so we created the illusion that the car is always the source of audio in each of the scenes.”
The Marathon Live Visual Album Experience premieres via YouTube tonight at 6 p.m. PST. Watch the trailer below.
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