Def Jam Rapstar

Watching friends drop rhymes to Kanye West’s “Gold Digger” in a duet-style MC battle in the newly announced Def Jam Rapstar proves one thing (besides the fact that maybe your friends suck at rap): The game’s “grab the mic” energy is crazy infectious.

Featuring everything from T.I.’s Rihanna-speckled “Live Your Life” to Notorious B.I.G’s “Hypnotize,” Def Jam Rapstar certainly aims to make good on its promise to cater to an underserved hip-hop–loving audience. Its Lips-style take on the genre is no joke, giving these tracks all the flair they deserve.

Flashy menu screens let you pick your poison. Want to battle it out with a friend for high-scores by swapping rhyme duty throughout a Flo-Rida track? Can do. You’ll be judged on qualities like beats, notes, and words. And the inclusion of “words” as a category means that you can’t go all Rock Band by simply yelling nonsense into the microphone — Def Jam Rapstar has a word-recognition system to keep you honest.

Or do you want to live the dream with incredibly deep community options? 4mm has plans to go all-out with Vision-camera support to help you record your performance, then select the best 30-second clip to upload to the game’s website for all to see — and vote on. You’ll be able to tweak the video settings to include cool bits like stage lights or a beach scene.

Though the radio-friendly edits of the included tunes might discourage those wanting a grittier hip-hop sing-along, the full songlist hasn’t been revealed and a career mode has yet to be announced. But from the brief time we had with it, DJR’s heart feels squarely in place.