Following the announcement of its May 26, 2026, release date, “Grand Theft Auto 6” is sure to drum up speculation as to the big-name musical talent Rockstar Games has enlisted for the highly anticipated video game. Danny Brown is among those wondering. The rapper spoke to Variety before his set at last week’s THPS Fest, a livestreamed event promoting Activision’s upcoming “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4” remake of the classic skate games that drops July 11. The game features music from Brown, as well as Adolescents, Urethane and Lupe Fiasco, who all performed with Brown at the event attended by Hawk himself and many other pro skaters. Popular on Variety Related Stories “I’ve done a lot of things with ‘GTA,’” said Brown, referring to “Grand Theft Auto 5’s” iFruit Radio station, which he curated and hosted. “Hopefully they have me back, last time I was a drunk fool,” he added. One of many in-game radio stations Rockstar curated for the 2013 title, which has sold more than 210 million units to date, iFruit Radio was added to the base game and its online mode in 2019 as part of “The Diamond Casino Heist,” one of many updates to “GTA 5” throughout its decade-plus run across three console generations. Brown also voiced Yung Ancestor, a rapper character in the update. That said, Brown’s relationship with gaming extends far beyond music. “I grew up with video games in my household my entire life,” said Brown. “We would get the console the first day it came out … I always just had any new game that came out that I probably didn’t really know about because [my dad] would read Game Informer and all that kind of shit,” he said. Even with one “GTA” in the bag, getting his music in a “Tony Hawk” game is a big moment for Brown. “That’s a dream of mine, to be honest,” said Brown. “‘Tony Hawk’ always had some of the coolest soundtracks,” Brown added, expressing his admiration for “Pro Skater 2” and “Tony Hawk’s Underground” in particular. “I played ‘Underground’ probably the most … I kind of correlate when I gamed a lot with depression, in some sense, without even knowing it,” he said. During his set for THPS Fest, which was attended by Hawk and many pro skaters, Brown performed a short but well-rounded setlist covering most of his discography, including more explicit songs like “Ain’t It Funny,” which revolves around substance abuse and was cut short during his set. Brown is known for party anthems like “Smokin & Drinkin,” which he also performed, but the Detroit native frequently gets into darker, more somber territory in his music. That was the case with his 2023 album “Quaranta,” but Brown is currently focused on more uplifting material. “I’m out of that phase,” Brown said. “I’m not depressed no more, I’m not an alcoholic, I’ve been two years sober … I want to make music to make people happy,” he said. To that end, Brown said he’s currently mixing a new album, and he also made an appearance at “Brat” producer and hyperpop artist A.G. Cook’s Coachella set in April, dropping new bars on Charli XCX’s “Party 4 U.” Despite keeping busy on the music front, Brown is still gaming. The rapper said he’s currently into JRPGs from developer Atlus, such as the “Persona” series and “Metaphor: ReFantazio,” as well as decades-old MMORPG “RuneScape,” which he started back up recently. Brown also stressed how much he values original music made for such games. “It’s all about the music, especially with me talking about Atlus games … they put so much effort into making the soundtracks,” he said. “Certain games, like ‘Disco Elysium,’ that kind of game brings me comfort with just a soundtrack … I think it plays a huge part, especially nowadays, not more so with licensing the music. And I know that sounds stupid for me because I obviously want my music licensed, but I really love when a game really has [their] own soundtrack,” he added. Brown isn’t alone in his sentiment. The soundtrack to the highly successful RPG “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” topped Billboard’s classical albums chart in May with 18 million streams. Still, gaming’s impact on licensed music can’t be ignored. Global Spotify streams for The Pointer Sisters’ 1986 song “Hot Together,” which was featured in Rockstar’s latest “Grand Theft Auto 6” trailer, skyrocketed 182,000% just two hours after it premiered last week. Luminate, the entertainment data company that powers the Billboard charts, likewise announced a partnership with Epic Games in April that will add music streaming data from Jam Tracks in “Fortnite” to Connect, one of Luminate’s platforms, to better track and observe the transmedia-driven engagement of music featured in the massively popular live service. Variety, Luminate and Billboard are all owned by Penske Media Corporation.