Fortnite‘s grip on popular culture is honestly pretty impressive. From stealing popular dances for in-game emotes to featuring some of the biggest stars in entertainment as character skins and even hosting virtual concerts from the likes of Billie Eilish and The Weeknd, the game has ingrained itself into music — especially hip-hop — as both a valuable tool for reaching a young audience and a favored pastime of the artists themselves — albeit, a sometimes frustrating one.
The next artist to team up with Epic Games is Don Toliver, who will be the focus of the special game Hardstone. Toliver teased the game/event with a trailer showing off some of the game’s environments, skins, and weapons, which will all revolve around the biker gang theme of his upcoming album, Hardstone Psycho. The collaboration is fitting, considering it was Toliver’s mentor Travis Scott who performed one of Fortnite‘s first-ever virtual concerts, breaking streaming records for the game in the process.
Since Travis’ proof-of-concept success, in-game performers have included Young Thug, Dominic Fike, J Balvin, Ariana Grande, Eminem, and more.
Hardstone will be a “8v8 turf war between two rival biker gangs (Hardstone & Wolves M.C.)… featuring music from Don Toliver’s new album, a fully custom map, immersive gameplay, & more.” You can play the game free on June 10th in Fortnite, by logging onto Fortnite and searching for “Hardstone” from the main menu.
