The CEO of DRAMA, Théo Hiribarne, who is makingUnrecord, is a former member of a popular French rap group named Columbine. The group is named after the notorious 1999 Columbine mass shooting in the United States.Unrecordis one of multiple bodycam-style gamesgenerating a lot of attention this year.Unrecordmight be one of the most viral first-person shooters of 2023 thus far despite only having a brief gameplay trailer to its name. The teaser trailer began making the rounds on social media recently and has drummed up equal parts praise, skepticism, and controversy based on its content, resulting inDRAMA recently addressing many of the comments surroundingUnrecord. The CEO of the studio responsible for making the game is apparently no stranger to controversial statements, having previously been in a group named after one of the most painful events in American history. The question is whether or not this controversy is for the sake of starting a dialogue or simply exploitation.RELATED:Here’s What Half-Life 2 Looks Like With Nvidia’s RTX RemixThéo Hiribarne is the CEO of DRAMA, although fans of French rap may know him by his stage name, Foda C. As Foda C, he was one of nine members in a group called Columbine that formed in Rennes, a French city not far from the English Channel. The name Columbine has been confirmed by members of the group to be taken from the tragic school shooting that took place in Colorado more than 20 years ago, and their debut album,Clubbing For Columbine, is even named after the popular Michael Moore documentaryBowling For Columbinethat followed the terrible event. The Columbine shooting sparked a lot of debate around violence in video games, incitingcontroversies around games likeGrand Theft Auto.
In an interview with music publication i-D back in 2017, the group made it clear that their name wasn’t a mockery or exploitation of the mass shooting, but more an “ode to adolescence,” a reflection on the tragedies that come with being young. Many of their songs speak about the hardships of being young, as well as expressing their youth through the typical no-cares-given attitude that’s reminiscent of other controversial hip-hop groups like Odd Future. The group was very popular in France, with multiple music videos racking up anywhere from 5 to 20+ million views on YouTube.
What exactly this means for the making ofUnrecordand its many controversiesis up for interpretation. Columbine broke up back in 2018 with the release of their final studio album. He certainly isn’t hiding from his work, with his status as a multi-platinum musician being displayed prominently in his bio on DRAMA’s website.
Unrecordis under development and has no set release date as of right now.
