Gaming

An Interview With League of Legends Rapper Badministrator

August 10, 2012

One of the things that I feel really makes League of Legends stand out from other video games is the absolutely obsessive fan community. These amazing people range from the number-crunchers who spend hours devising the most optimal build for every character to the more creative individuals that create entirely new content based on this immersive game.

Enter B@dministrator, a man who over the course of one year has released thirty nine character-specific songs onto YouTube. Needless to say, his popularity has grown by leaps and bounds over the course of the year. He has racked up almost five million views on YouTube and has been featured on the League’s own Summoner Showcase multiple times. He was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his history, his music and his love for League of Legends.

AiPT: Thanks for doing this interview. Do you prefer Badministrator or Visix? Are there stories behind either of those monikers?

Badministrator: Badministrator is fine. There isn’t much of a story to tell on that, I made the name up quickly because I needed a LoL account and I wanted to stop using Visix for things because I got tired of people asking me how to say it. VisiX is something I used for a while since college when I was making trance music, it’s from a song I did called Visibility Xero.

AiPT: How long have you been making music?

Badministrator: About 15 years.

AiPT: What are your favorite genres of music? Are there any specific bands that you find influential?

Badministrator: I mostly listen to 90s rock like STP, Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, etc. My music on youtube is obviously not influenced by these bands, I don’t listen to any rappers really so my rap style is original for the most part.

I listen to rap very seldom. For the most part I’m not into rap music.

AiPT: In your Reddit AMA you mentioned that you don’t really listen to popular rap because you find it “lacks musical depth and focuses on things that aren’t important to [you]”. Can you name some rap artists you do enjoy listening to?

Badministrator: I listen to rap very seldom. I like a few songs off of the new Aesop Rock album and I like some MF Doom stuff. For the most part I’m not into rap music though. Most of the content I enjoy doesn’t have the sort of production I enjoy and vice versa. It’s hard to find a combination that I like.

AiPT: How did you get into League of Legends? How long were you playing League before you started writing songs about champions?

Badministrator: My friend got me into it, he was really into DotA but I didn’t really like it. He said I should try League because it was less serious. I think I played for about 7-8 months before my first song.

AiPT: What were your thoughts when your YouTube channel hit 1,000,000 views? 5,000,000 is rapidly approaching. Anything interesting planned for that milestone?

Badministrator: I thought it was weird that people watched my videos that much, I still think that. I don’t have anything planned for 5 million. I’ve honestly never planned anything ever. This is just a hobby that I do in my free time. I usually just get an idea and knock a song out in the same day.

AiPT: I’ve noticed that earlier in your library there are mostly “cover” or “parody” songs such as Breathe, It was a Good Game, or Dear Summoner. These songs have your own lyrics but use the original artist’s hook and flow. Was it a conscious decision to stop borrowing these attributes as you developed your songwriting, or is it something you may revisit down the road if the mood strikes you?

Badministrator: I was doing parodies because I didn’t know how to rap. I never rapped before my Urgot song. I basically just got bored and started doing my own thing. It’s probably a good thing I did it this way because people love parodies since they know what to expect. For an unfamiliar song to make an impact you really have to do a great job, with a parody it honestly doesn’t even matter a lot of the time if it’s any good.

AiPT: Have you ever wanted to go back and rewrite one of your previously released songs? Have you ever thought of doing a “Part 2” to any existing song?

Badministrator: I get asked to do this all the time and the answer is unequivically no. I don’t want to do this. If I do eventually remake or continue something it will only be because I got sick of people pestering me about it.

My favorite hook is the hook about hooks that gets you hooked from The Hook.

AiPT: Do you have a favorite or least favorite song that you’ve released? Do you have a favorite line or hook?

Badministrator: Least favorite rock song is probably “The Berserker” (Olaf) just because the production quality isn’t great. Least favorite rap song is probably “Animal Spirit” for a lot of reasons. My favorite hook is the hook about hooks that gets you hooked from The Hook (Blitzcrank). I also like the hook from Prison (Ryze) and Why So Serious (Shaco). It’s hard to pick really.

AiPT: You’ve gotten a bit of flak in the past for your attempts to branch out into rock music. While the total views on your rock videos aren’t necessarily that much lower than some of your rap songs, they do place towards the bottom of your “most viewed” list. What do you think the reason for this is? Do you find that you’ve been discouraged from writing any more rock songs due to the past responses?

An Interview With League of Legends Rapper Badministrator

Badministrator: I imagine it is mostly due to my previous audience. If you make 20 rap songs and pick up 10k subs the people who subbed to you are going to be mostly rap fans. Most people are nice about it anyway, it’s really a vocal minority that rages against something making it seem like a bigger deal than it is. I honestly do whatever I want, I am not discouraged at all. There are less rock songs because they are harder to produce with all the instrumentation I have to record, it’s really that simple. I have a full time job and a wife so I just don’t have the time.

AiPT: You currently have 39 songs available on YouTube and for download, and with over four million views on your YouTube channel there is obviously a demand for your content. Is there a reason you have chosen not to attempt financial gain from your work?

Badministrator: I basically want to keep this a hobby which I have. I am not a rapper, just a guy messing around. I recently monetized my channel with overlay ads, they will generate a little bit of revenue so I can do giveaways but won’t bother anyone listening.

AiPT: Recently you posted on your Twitter “So many collabs…” Are there any collaborations that you are working on that you would like to mention, or would you prefer to maintain some secrecy?

Badministrator: I recently did a collab with Falconshield for the SOTS3 contest, I did a collab with The Yordles called #RammusSwag, I did a collab with BrotherBlake called 1v1 Mid Eve vs Ward, and I have recorded some unreleased stuff with PlayerPoV and am always talking with Plentakill about future projects we might do. I am forced to turn down a lot of other people due to lack of sufficient time. I probably get five collab requests a week.

I have played with a lot of pros and notable people but they’re all just normal people honestly.

AiPT: Are your IRL friends or coworkers aware that you’re Internet famous? If so, what do they think of your notoriety?

Badministrator: Kind of I guess. They know I have a YouTube with a lot of views but it’s really niche. None of them play LoL so basically there isn’t any effect on them. If I had to sum it up I would say that they generally don’t pay attention to it except to make a joke every so often.

AiPT: Do you have any memorable experiences that stemmed directly from your LoL fame?

Badministrator: Not really. I haven’t had the time to go to any live events where this might happen. I have played with a lot of pros and notable people but they’re all just normal people honestly. Recently I duo queued some ranked games with Dyrus on his main where everyone in the game was 2400 Elo except me (I’m about 1750 usually). That was pretty fun.

AiPT: How often do you play ranked? What is your current Elo? What was your highest and lowest Elo?

Badministrator: Not often. I am constantly on call for work and paranoid I will be interrupted and screw people over. My current Elo is about 1700 on my main and 1600 on my smurf but I have a very small amount of games played. I have been as high as 1850. My lowest Elo was when I first started playing, I dropped down to 900 straight away. I went back to normals and learned a couple champs. When I jumped back into ranked I won 22 games in a row as Urgot/Xin/Lux which got me to about 1300 I think then I kept winning about two thirds of my games until I hit 1600. Around then I had to stop playing because of work and season 1 ended shortly after.

Being mad doesn’t make you better, it just makes you mad.

AiPT: In your song “Back in the Day” you reminisce about a simpler time for League as well as comment on your stance of the current Meta. Are there any points made in the song that you would like to elaborate on? Do you think that in-game experience is being hurt by the large numbers of players trying to emulate the pros?

An Interview With League of Legends Rapper Badministrator

Badministrator: That song is not about me as I did not play Beta. It is written from the POV of a beta player in the same way I write in the POV of a champ for most of my songs. The message of the song is essentially that I think people sacrifice enjoyment of the game to seem more “pro” in their approach and that this does not improve your experience or anyone elses. Being mad doesn’t make you better, it just makes you mad.

AiPT: Has your fame within the League community affected your in-game experience either for better or for worse?

Badministrator: Every time I die someone says “WRITE A SONG ABOUT THAT LOLOLOL”. I play on my smurf when I don’t want to deal with it. A lot of people see me in game and tell me they love my stuff and some people go the opposite route. Overall I’d say it’s not too big a deal. I say hi and good luck and don’t make it a big deal and the topic drops usually in the first few minutes. I tend to ignore people who constantly reference my channel in game because it’s distracting. The worst part is the same “jokes” every game telling me that I should write a song about the game or I suck or I should delete my channel or whatever. I’ve heard it all before ya know? It’s tedious.

AiPT: I read on your reddit AMA that Lux is your favorite character (as of 10 days ago). Do you prefer playing her as mid or support?

Badministrator: I prefer playing her in ARAM. I can’t play her in a real game because you can’t do enough damage to carry poor teammates from mid lane as lux and you can’t support with her because people rage that you aren’t picking a champ Xpecial would use.

AiPT: Who are your other preferred champions to play?

Badministrator: Ryze, Cass, Brand, etc. I like to play AP mid for the most part. My second favorite role is support and I generally pick Soraka or Leona.

AiPT: Are there champions you don’t necessarily enjoy playing but find particularly interesting, perhaps as future song subjects?

Badministrator: I don’t play any bruisers but they all make for good songs. Maokai is very unique.

I think [League]’s fine the way it is.

AiPT: I also read you don’t enjoy—or at least don’t often play—top/jungle champs. Any reason for this?

Badministrator: You play the whole laning phase on an island. Also they require you to all-in and if your team doesn’t follow up you die and people play the blame game regardless if your decision was correct. I just don’t want to fail the team by playing something I don’t have experience with which causes me to never get experience. Vicious cycle I guess.

AiPT: If you could add one feature to League, whether it be a UI improvement, a character, or an item what would it be?

Badministrator: I think it’s fine the way it is.

AiPT: Lastly, marry/fuck/kill: Teemo, Alistar,Trundle. What do?

Badministrator: Kill Teemo because Teemo. Marry Alistar because he is very supportive. I guess that means I have to fuck trundle, hopefully when he tells people they’ll think he’s trolling. No one really sees him much anyway.

Want to show off your love for LoL? Check out these League of Legends t-shirts and posters from J!NX Clothing.

You can find B@dministrator’s full library of songs on his YouTube channel. His songs are also currently available for download on Mediafire. Also don’t forget to check out his own3D.tv livesteam and be sure to follow him on Twitter as well!