Eleven teams from all over the world will compete in the sixth League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational this month to the sound of a new anthem, “Set It Off.”
Riot Games partnered with local South Korean hip-hop artists DPR LIVE and DPR CLINE to create a gritty anthem to deliver the creative theme of this year’s MSI.
“We wanted to not just bring that Korean culture into the anthem, but to lead with it,” said Carrie Dunn, creative director of esports for Riot Games. Riot “knew this anthem should be made by Korean artists.” And the DPR collective was on the top of Riot’s list, mostly thanks to the range Riot heard within DPR LIVE’s work. DPR LIVE brought a “unique and infectious” confidence to his work and a “natural tie-in” with this year’s Korean-based MSI, according to the publisher.
For the first time since 2019, the MSI finals will also have a live performance of the anthem that, according to Riot, pairs perfectly with the event as well as “connecting to Korean culture.” The track “Set It Off” seems to instruct the listeners to set up the perfect in-game plays to the beat of “set it off like this” and “take notes.” DPR LIVE said he’s “extremely honored” to be the first Korean artist to perform and “represent our motherland” at “such a big world scale event.”
The anthem should bring confidence and boldness to the stage of League’s first international event of the year. Like the competition itself, this track isn’t for the faint of heart and is tailor-made to accompany the best players on the main stage. The modern sounds we’ve learned to associate with MSI thanks to the previous anthem, “Starts Right Here,” return once more in this 2022 song, with the positive surprise of the Korean language added in the second verse.
The esports and music industries impact each other on various levels, and according to DPR LIVE, the “meshing” of these two “cultures” elevates them. He feels that being present at such a time and witnessing this happening is “powerful.” The artist also believes music collaborations related to esports are becoming more sought after, saying that this opportunity is something he and his team “have been looking forward to” but they weren’t able to “find a good entry point till now.”
With this first collaboration with Riot, the DPR collective found their way into esports music—and “Set It Off” might not be the last song we’ll hear from them for an esports event. “Now that we’ve officially stepped into this esports world, I can only see greater opportunities arise from here on out,” DPR LIVE said on possible future collaborations with Riot.
League fans can expect the artists to give their “one-thousand percent” on stage during the opening ceremony for the MSI finals on May 29. MSI 2022 begins on May 10.
