10:11 PM - May 11, 2010 by Steve_OS
2K Sports and Duck Down Music Announce Winners of NBAŽ 2K11 Soundtrack Contest
Bay Root Productions takes home title of top producer and Yung Automatik wins top honors in the MC category resulting in new original beats for top selling hoops video game franchise
New York, NY - May 11, 2010 - 2K Sports, in collaboration with Duck Down Music, today announced the winners of its soundtrack contest for NBAŽ 2K11, the next iteration of the #1 selling basketball video game franchise*. After more than several hundred thousand votes were cast, Bay Root Productions, a collective from San Antonio, TX, was selected as the top producer and Yung Automatik from Aurora, IL was chosen as the best MC for the track "Go Hard or Go Home", and both will have the opportunity to be featured on the upcoming NBA 2K11 soundtrack.
"2K Sports is known for soundtracks that raise the bar in creativity, while complementing the different sports titles we develop," said Jason Argent, vice president of marketing, 2K Sports. "By partnering with Duck Down Music to attract the best aspiring producers and MCs to create unique and original music for NBA 2K11, fans of the franchise will once again have a soundtrack that matches the quality of the acclaimed gameplay."
The NBA 2K11 contest was rolled out in two phases. The first phase was the Producer Contest, which launched on March 8, 2010, and challenged producers to create one sample-free instrumental, resulting in more than 500 submissions within a two-week window. Duck Down Music and representatives from 2K Sports then selected the top ten instrumentals on March 22, 2010 with the overall winner being voted on by the general public at http://www.duckdown.com/nba2k11/producer. Bay Root Productions received 47% of more than 200,000 votes that were cast during the voting period.
The second phase was the MC Contest. Beginning on April 6, 2010, MCs had four weeks to submit one clean song using Bay Root's winning instrumental track. The top ten songs were determined by Duck Down Music and 2K Sports on May 4, 2010, and posted on www.XXLMag.com for fans to hear the submissions.
Together, the grand prize winners will have the opportunity for their song to be placed on the music soundtrack for NBA 2K11 and become the featured track in NBA 2K11's upcoming NBA Finals TV Spot that will air during the first week of June 2010. In addition, the winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York City, where they will have the special opportunity to perform the song live at Duck Down's CMJ Showcase in October 2010. For a full recap of the rules and regulations, and to hear the final 10 tracks selected, including the grand prize winners, visit http://www.Duckdown.com/NBA2K11.
For more information on 2K Sports, visit http://www.2KSports.com.
2K Sports is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
*According to The NPD Group estimates of U.S. retail video game sales through March 2010