You might not think that there’d be much overlap between Wu-Tang Clan, Sega, and Canada’s largest video game convention, but they’re all coming together in a fun way this weekend.
At Game Con Canada (GCC) and its sister business conference NAGIS in Edmonton, one of the celebrities in attendance is rapper Young Dirty Bastard (YDB), son of the late Wu-Tang co-founder Ol’ Dirty Bastard (ODB), who occasionally performs with the group. And on a more gaming-related note, YDB also contributed music to Sega’s acclaimed 2025 action-platformer, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance.
MobileSyrup caught up with YDB for a quick chat about attending GCC and NAGIS, working with Sega on Shinobi, and what he’s looking forward to seeing in Edmonton.
What attracted you to Game Con Canada and NAGIS?
YDB: First of all, it was the money. Second was, if we could innovate [with] anybody, I’m happy to do it. Especially because we got the young ones here — [talent manager and music producer] Young Danno is out here. [gestures to Young Danno beside us] He’s actually a young manager. [laughs] He follows his father everywhere. I think with the children it starts there — that leads on to the generation of wealth and being innovative. And I think in the long term, we have people like myself come and talk to different crowds and in worlds and creatures — because we in a cosplay world — just seeing alike and seeing eye-to-eye and [having] communicative skills with our public is very big.
And I think we could go further into our minds and stop trying to stay on a simple base. Going into the digital world, it gets kind of tricky. Because how do you get the consumer to really purchase something digital, and how do you get that connection that’s far? Really far. Everyone’s trying to tap into it. I think the more time goes, the person captures the skill of how to use the spirituality of the digital side. It all comes together eventually.
What was it like to work on Shinobi and how did you bring both your lifelong fandom of games and artistry into that world?
YDB: Oh man, Shinobi was amazing. Freaking Inspectah Deck: ‘He was like swinging swords like Shinobi!’ [from Wu-Tang’s 1997 single ‘Triumph.’ That’s probably the first time I heard [of] Shinobi, and I was a little trooper listening to hip-hop music, and then in the video games, it all like branched together in a big tree, a family. And then I was playing Sega since I was a young one. My father went to Japan before he passed away, and actually bought back the Dreamcast, and before anybody had it, it was straight from Japan, and I actually had the Japanese version. I couldn’t play no American games on my system. So I’m in America with a Japanese Dreamcast — fucked up, basically! Sorry to curse.
But I had some ill games on. I don’t really remember the games. I think Soul [Calibur] was one of them, and that was it. It was a phat moment. Phat means, that’s fly. It was a fly moment. It’s a beautiful experience. And then I just stuck with that, and eventually, I got to the point where Sega manifestation happened. And then now we collaborate, and we’re working together, we flying back and forth, having dinners. I think me and Sega gonna take this world to a whole ‘nuther dimension.
Pie in the sky, what are some other video games you’d want to work on?
YDB: If I had the opportunity, I’ll work with Dirty Magic [his new clothing line featuring Shinobi apparel in partnership with Sega]. Dirty Magic is definitely a world of — basically you want to be a ninja, but you don’t want to tell everybody you’re a ninja. Because a ninja doesn’t talk. He moves like Joe Musashi from Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. [waves to passerby] How you doing there, sir?
Coming from a different artistic space, what is it that’s appealing about video games? What makes them special?
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance. (Image credit: Sega)
YDB: It’s so much colour that grabs your attention. Don’t sit too close to the TV! But the colour does grab your attention, and you don’t want to have a seizure. It’s like when you started off in preschool, it was all about colour, and without the crayons, it was hard to visualize what you really wanted to put on that paper, because the colour grabs your body, and it makes you more alert. So, I think it’s the colour first.
What are you most excited about checking out while you’re here in Edmonton? Any particular spots in the city or even Canada as a whole that you’re looking forward to?
YDB: You know what? If y’all have a museum or something I could check out, I would like to do that. My game plan is to put my statues everywhere I went. A statue of me or my father, or even my son. And that’s what I’m here to do. When it’s all said and done, I’ll leave a statue. So I get connections with these museums! Yo, we talk, it’s my statue. Voilà! Tell ’em about me.
Anything in particular you’re looking forward to from Game Con Canada? I know you’re performing.
YDB: Hmm… Yeah, we are performing, and it will be slightly amazing. [laughs] I ain’t gonna say a lie to you, it’s gonna be Michael Jackson. Because we put everything together as we go. It’s all a freestyle, and that’s how hip-hop bring it to you. It’s that raw feeling, and long as we’re more productive every day and staying on our tippy toes, I think we’re gonna fulfill every moment.
YDB has a panel at Game Con Canada on Friday, June 19 at 11:50 a.m., and on Saturday, he’s performing Shinobi music during the Cosplay Halftime Show from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Game Con Canada takes place from June 19-21 at the Edmonton Expo Centre, with NAGIS running June 18-19 in the same venue. GCC tickets start at $45 (single-day) or $108 (weekend pass) for adults, with lower-cost options available for children and youth.
