Nas. Street Fighter...
"And the first major film soundtrack to consist almost entirely of hip hop music"
“They want to blow me with the double barrel, found no sorrow I brawl with Blanka, caught Bison in a thinker”
- Nas (One on One)
In 1994, The Street Fighter movie was released to mostly unfavorable reviews. But in contrast, the soundtrack was a milestone, being the first major film soundtrack to feature mostly hip-hop songs. Below is one of those songs (One on One) by Nas. The track is an underrated gem within the discography of 90s hip-hop and is probably most known by well-versed “Nasty Nas” enthusiasts. The song even features some lyrics that nod to Street Fighter’s most popular antagonist M.Bison played by the legendary Raul Julia 🕊
Amazingly, Hip-Hop was thought to be the perfect promotional soundtrack for the earliest moments of fighting games. What could be more perfect for the Street Fighter brand than underground beats and complex rhyme schemes? We later saw Hip-Hop woven into the Street Fighter brand with the sequel to Street Fighter II; Street Fighter III / Third Strike
At the same time, Hip-Hop was able to use the legendary Fighting Game intellectual property to make history in film soundtracks.
The soundtrack found some success on the Billboard charts, peaking at #135 on the Billboard 200 and #34 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, selling over 500,000 units in the United States.
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