¡Mayday! meets Mafia II

By Adrian Ruhi8/18/2010

Love video games? What about hip-hop? Well, the good folks at Gamertag Radio, who have made a career out of mixing those two seemingly unrelated passions, have the perfect event for you: The Mafia II Community Launch Party.

 Taking place Sunday, August 22 at Grand Central in Miami, attendees will be able to play Mafia II by 2K Games before its August 24 release. If that wasn’t enough, Miami hip-hop heroes ¡Mayday! and Garcia will be performing, along with DJ Sharpsound.

¡Mayday!  will likely play new tracks from its upcoming sophomore LP, Stuck On An Island, set to be released October 12. Garcia will debut his new live set up that includes a DJ and a drummer.

 The event starts at 8 p.m. and is free for everyone 18 and older. The first 200 people (21 and up) at the door from 8 to 9 p.m. will have open bar access. And if you’ve already pre-ordered the game, bring your receipt and you’ll skip the line outside.

 The show is being co-hosted by hip-hop radio legend Miss Info of Hot 97 in New York, along with Gamertag Radio founder Godfree (Danny Pena) and co-owner Peterocc (Peter Toledo).

 Pena, 33, was born in New York City but moved to Miami in 1992. He started Gamertag Radio, a website and weekly podcast, in 2005 as a way of mixing his two passions: Hip-hop music and video games.

 “I always wanted to do something different and unique,” he said. The podcasts often feature music by up-and-coming rappers and groups, and the show has interviewed acts like Snoop Dogg and Cypress Hill.

 Toledo, 36, who knew Pena through his wife, officially joined the Gamertag Radio team in 2006 and has become co-owner since.

 “We became good friends through our common bond of hip-hop and games,” he said.

 Although the two grew up on a healthy diet of old school hip-hop (think Sugarhill Gang and Fat Boys), they’ve embraced up-and-coming and local artists, and it shows in the events they put on.

 Their annual Community Vibes event has grown bigger and bigger each year, and the 5^th edition, held in February, featured performances by ArtOfficial, ¡Mayday! and Garcia, and had out-of-town fans waiting outside the venue for hours before being let in.

 The Mafia II Community Launch Party also poses an interesting new challenge for Pena and Toledo: They’re taking the event to New York City on August 28.

 For more information on both the Miami and New York events, check out Gamertag Radio.