Dan Bull Talks About His Style & History

Being the lucky chap that I am, I was lucky enough to get a brief but nonetheless enlightening interview with the YouTube video game rap star, Dan Bull. He kindly took some time out from his schedule to answer a few questions for me, so without further ado, lets get down to brass tacks.

So, lets begin with how you got introduced to video games?

I had a Game Boy as a kid, I loved playing Tetris, Mario and all the other titles everyone knows. I didn’t really become a gaming geek ’til my parents bought a PC, and then I was attached to it like a limpet – and pretty much have been ever since. Well, not the same PC, obviously.

What was the first thing you can remember in regards to gaming?

I remember my friends having consoles and me not having one. I was jealous. I’m making up for it now by pretty much spending all my spare cash on gaming. I just got myself a tidy graphics card and am hoping to get a 3D gaming setup soon.

In the “League Of Legends Rap” you make a lot of self referential lyrics, are you actually that good?

Absolutely not, I suck at the game. It’s just a bit of fun, or perhaps the lyrics are my way of compensating for my crapness in game.

If you where given the resources, what kind of games would you make?

I love open world games, I love exploring. For me, one of the most important aspects of a game is the level of detail that goes into creating a believable and interesting world, which includes the level design, architecture, soundtrack and game lore. I had the idea of creating an MMO based on Google Street View, then I realised that’s kind of already been done. It’s called real life.

Which of your Game Raps is your personal favourite?

The first one I did, “Generation Gaming” is probably the best one as a personal statement about myself. It goes through all the consoles and systems I had from childhood up until recording the song, and my favourite games on each. I now use the chorus of that song as the theme tune for my gameplay channel, DanBullGames.

Could you choose an overall favourite game?

It would probably between Civilization IV and Oblivion. Don’t make me choose…

Paragon or Renegade Shep?

I always play Paragon first with the intention of being an absolute twat on the second play through. But I never do a second play through.

Your raps have a very unique style, who was the inspiration for your style?

Rappers I am inspired by are Eminem, Busta Rhymes, Ghetts, Ludacris, Brother Ali. Anything I hear that I like really.

I’ve noticed that you sometimes use internal rhyming to build a better flow in your raps, does this ever present any problems?

Not really – it’s one of my favourite parts of the writing process, trying to find as much relevant stuff to rhyme as possible and then build it into a really tight structure. I’m glad you noticed it because a lot of people only spot the punchlines and not the actual structure of the rhyme schemes, which is the aspect I enjoy more than any other.

Which other YouTube artists would you like to collaborate with? And which major artist?

YouTube artists I’d like to work with include George Watsky – I even made a music video asking him if he wanted to collaborate. I recently discovered Hopsin who is cool. Mainstream artists. It would be awesome to do something with Morrissey but I can’t imagine that ever happening.

Aside from your rap channel and Dan Bull Games, do you have any plans for the immediate future?

My aim at the moment is just to work on releasing plenty of new content for those channels and hoping to see them grow. You can help by going and watching some of my videos now 🙂

Well that’s all we have thus far, but cross your fingers that we can hear more from Dan soon. In the mean time, you can find his newest video here.  Ladies and Gents I give you, Dan Bull and the Borderlands 2 Rap.

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