This story is part of our new one Hip Hop: The ’73 Series to Infinitycelebrating the genre’s 50th anniversary.
If you are the type of person who uses competitive fighting games like, Street Fighteras a way to unwind after a stressful day, you have something in common with the Grammy-winning R&B singer Neyo. Actually, said the singer my city that his love for Capcom’s fighting game series runs so deep that he brings his PlayStation 5 with him on tour so he can hone his skills and, more importantly, use the game to decompress so fans rightly don’t get hit by dragons in real life.
Speaking with my cityNe-Yo said he played Street Fighter since before he graduated high school in 1998. That’s plenty of time to relive the halcyon days of arcade gaming Street Fighter, when people would line up their quarters in an arcade cabinet and play sets with each other IRL. Those days may be gone, but now the award-winning artist plans to start his own Twitch channel to stream himself while playing Street fighter 6 after his The gentleman the tour ends.
But he’s not waiting for the tour to end to start getting some playing time. Ne-Yo says he’s started a new personal tradition of bringing his PS5, which is a massive console by the way, on tour with him so he can get his game. As a “traditionalist”, Ne-Yo supports the series’ poster child, Ryu, who happens to be his favorite character. Racking up wins with Ryu not only helps maintain Ne-Yo’s fight game senses, but also helps him relieve any stress that comes from dealing with unruly fans while on tour.
“As you can probably imagine, I live a somewhat energetic and active life [and] work with many people all the time. Most of my fans are really great [but] every now and then you run into this fool. You come across someone who is really entitled and you need a moment to relax after all this. I carry my game console with me almost everywhere I go and that’s why I don’t slap people, basically,” said Ne-Yo my city. “Going up [Street Fighter] and anyone I wanted to hit, I just had Ryu throw a fireball and I’m good.”
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Although The ridiculous size of the PS5Ne-Yo says it was never difficult to pack the Sony console into a backpack and lug it around.
“It’s not heavy anymore,” Ne-Yo said. “I’ve been doing it so long, I’m used to the weight, it’s not a problem.”
And it’s not simple Street Fighter he plays when he squeezes in some playing time. He revealed that he’s also big into other fighting games, saying he’s “unbiased” towards them Tekkenis “really excited” about what’s to come Mortal Kombat game and even “really fucked up” played a little Jump power before anime crusader shut down its online services in 2022. Basically, if you’re not playing an adventure game like Final Fantasy XVI, Assassin’s Creed Odysseyor Marvel’s Spider-Man, he enters fighting games.
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Ne-Yo has humbled famous musicians Street Fighter
Besides humiliating the people he hangs out with and being humiliated online in turn SF matches (Dhalsim players can be particularly troublesome for him, while Zangief mains are usually a smooth affair), Ne-Yo revealed that he has played and beaten rappers only and Lupe Fiasco in Street Fighter V.
“I played Wale Street Fighter regularly for a while. “He finally got tired of losing, so he stopped playing with me,” Ne-Yo said. “There was a point where Lupe Fiasco had to be really, really good Street Fighter. I played it. He is worthy.”
According to Ne-Yo, Lupe Fiasco beat a musician who had a reputation for being really good themselves, making people in the industry think of Lupe as amazing Street Fighter player. That is, until Ne-Yo named him.
“I played it. He is good. He’s not amazing, but he’s good,” he said. “Yes, I beat him.”
While Ne-Yo says he’s not aware of any other artists who bring their consoles with them while on tour, his door is always open to any and all contenders online or IRL. “If there’s anybody out there who wants to smoke, I’m around.”
Being the initiator that I am, I asked Ne-Yo which artist he would like to challenge Street Fighter. The Arkansas-born musician responded by saying he would love to face Chris Brown.
“I don’t know if Chris Brown is playing [but] I can imagine that he can just because he’s kind of a guy after my own heart in terms of martial arts and anime and all that stuff,” Ne-Yo said. “But if he does play, I’d like to test his abilities.”
I can imagine quite a few people would want to fight Chris from Clan Brown Street Fighter.
Ne-Yo really understands how Street fighter 6 changed the game
Recently, Ne-Yo dipped his toes into Capcom’s newest fighter, Street fighter 6. While he’s digging the flow of the game so far, he’s still getting used to its movement and all its new bells and whistles.
“[Capcom have] definitely took the street element of Street Fighter and increase that. I think it’s a cool thing they’ve done. I’m trying to get into the whole adventure game part Street Fighter. It’s not something I’m used to Street fighters, so I’m giving it some thought,” Ne-Yo said. “S Street Fighter, you kind of just want to get straight to the fight. You want to learn the combinations [and] get your strategy together before you go online and embarrass yourself.”
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Street fighter 6 has more of a hip-hop vibe than V made, which manifests itself in the streetwear of his fighters and the colorful graffiti imagery of his bucks and finishers. Street fighter 6 also includes an open world RPG mode called World tour where players can create their own fighter and learn moves from their favorite characters. While many players have used SF6A character creator to get celebrities like Ice Spice in the game, Ne-Yo doesn’t have time for all that and prefers to just get to his next conquest.
“I like that they put that detail into the game where you can actually create anyone with the sliders, but I feel like it takes a little more patience than having to sit there and say, ‘Okay, wait, let me adjust the forehead.'” Like that’s a lot, Ne-Yo said. “I just want to kick someone. Let me kick someone.