To celebrate the tenth anniversary of Nipsey Hussle’s ‘The Marathon’, the late rapper’s YouTube channel has published a digital experience video of the legendary mixtape.
The video features previously unseen content and audio interviews, including a recreation of one of Hussle’s characteristic cars — a Mercedes SL550 — that travels through various Los Angeles neighborhoods and visits landmarks that were integral to the making of the 2010 mixtape.
The production team aimed to create a dream-like world, set in LA around 2009/2010, a time when Nipsey was preparing to release his Marathon mixtape. The result is a virtual time capsule of this pivotal point in the legendary rapper’s career. The artists utilized the various functions of the Unreal Engine to incorporate Jorge Peniche’s photography, Google Maps, and a 3D-modeling software.
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.
Kam Burk, creative director OkiDoki
Enjoy the visual album experience of Nipsey Hussle’s “The Marathon” in its entirety below!
