Canadian rapper, producer, and singer K-OS paid a visit to Microsoft Canada this week for an experimental online session with his fans. Microsoft has a regular program they run called "Game With Fame" where celebrities can sit down on their couch and use Xbox Live headsets to chat and play games with fans across the country. Some artists see it as merely a promotional opportunity while others like K-OS are intrigued by the idea of actually having an activity to share with their fans. This past year the platinum-selling musician decided to play a tour with a twist, choosing to ban advanced ticket sales and instead invoking a policy where anyone can show up and pay whatever they felt the experience was worth. I normally pass on celebrity interviews, especially about video games or gadgets as its rarely their subject to discuss, but having crossed paths with K-OS at previous events and knowing his explorative nature, I figured if he was willing to talk to me about video games, he must have something interesting to say. Boy was I not disappointed. If you're a gamer, this is the kind of celebrity interview you want to read.

Kris Abel - How was the session?

K-OS - It was good, I mean.. it’s funny ‘cause I came here going ‘I’m not going to play any shooting games or whatever’, but I think the coolest thing about video games is that you get to do things you couldn’t do in real life and as a kid you didn’t really take it that seriously. As I grew up I’d see certain video games and think ‘that’s crazy, that’s kind of violent’. I kind of wanted to test it out, so this was my testing it out session of these things. It was good. We started with a racing game, which was kind of boring, which is cool, but then I started playing that Halo game, which I could kind of see myself getting into.

I remember a friend of mine on the bus, he was like the most peaceful guitar player and I’d watch him play Halo and I’d think ‘you’re weird’ because you’re a guy of peace and you’re like, shooting people like there’s no tomorrow. So it’s always been weird to me, but maybe it’s one of those great, inexplicable things that you shouldn’t take too seriously, it’s just a video game.

It’s a playground of the mind.

A playground of the mind, yep.

Did you play many video games?

I did growing up. My Dad is a computer engineer, so he was anti-Atari, he wouldn’t let Atari into the house. He was into Intellivision. All of my friends had Atari, we had Intellivision because he was so into the graphics, the Intellivision was a better game and he was into computers, and it just made no sense having all your friends go play Asteroids, and then they come to your house… it’s the kind of thing where you want the thing everyone else has. And then he got us Colecovision after that, but he would never get us Atari. He always thought it was a low-brow game.

After that I was always into video games. After high school, I’d get home and buy a Big Mac and go and play, like, at the arcade. But the day of the arcade is kind of over. I, I got into Nintendo for awhile and into the sports games, the NHL and football games. You know I haven’t played video games really since before I had a record deal. When I was just lounging around, playing my guitar, I’d play video games, but ever since I got my record deal, I’ve been working so hard I haven’t had time for video games. They’re going to give me an Xbox though, and I just got a place in Vancouver, so I’m going to see what it’s all about. So I feel kind of like a novice today, but no, I haven’t touched a joystick in so long, but I used to be like so into video games, which is why I said yes to this.

Who chose which games you played today? Is that something the fans chose themselves?

I think, they started with all these options, there was Resident Evil, Left 4 Dead. Again, I reacted to it, like, I can’t play those games, so they said ‘what about this racing game?’ and I was so totally bored that we ended up playing Halo. So at the end of the day I was like, I’m not going to act too righteous man, I just want to have fun. And it was fun. It was kind of dark, but at the same time so is watching The Terminator, it’s a hard line between video games, between what is entertainment and what is real. Obviously this is entertainment, so I’m going to check everything out now. We’re going to have an Xbox on the tour bus, so everyone’s going to be playing, we’re going to have four more games and I’m really going to jump into it.

Video games have really changed in recent years, now they have a social context. Did you get a sense of that today?

That was the illest part of it all. It was like, obviously there was people on there who just wanted to kill me. They didn’t even say hi to me. I just kept seeing some guy named “Absorbin” or something pop up and he just kept on shooting and killing me. So there’s that catharsis and then there’s other people I was on the headset with, talking to, and it was really interactive and I think that’s the cool thing about video games now, because back then you just brought your friends home and it was four, five, six people in the room, but now you can be like, across the country playing. And hopefully people learn about each other. That whole headset thing, I don’t know how many people actually have that, where you can be talking to the person, but it’s amazing. I keep saying that if technology can be used to bring people together it’s the most beautiful thing, man. I’m such a supporter of that.

Did they get a chance to talk to you or were they too busy playing the game?

Oh they were asking me questions like ‘is this the real K-OS or is it an imposter?’, ‘Are you getting paid for this?’, ‘Why did you make a song called “Natalie Portman, She’s Hot But Her Acting Sucks”?’ People were like ‘where are you going now, where are you going on tour?’

How do you handle that, when people ask you oddball questions?

I’m pretty down with that, I was once a fan of people too. Like I said weird stuff to A Tribe Called Quest years ago. I know I can flip it, I know what it’s like to like someone’s music and to meet them and not know what to really say and say what you don’t mean to say. So I don’t get too caught up in like me against them, it’s just someone who is trying to relate to you in a very small instance. Chuck D from Public Enemy told me something one time, he said “Never act weird around people who like your music, because to you it might fifteen minutes of your life, but to them it’s the fifteen minutes that is going to totally denote what they think of you.” So take that fifteen minutes and really know that for you, you’re going to move on, for them they feel like they know you through your music. I kind of take that rule and this is why I do these things because I want to catch a vibe off of people as well.

Have you ever gotten a sense of a relationship between music and video games?

Oh for sure. I think for me it’s like, anything your doing that is high energy, music can relate to it. I know for me, kids are lucky now because back then video game music was from the dudes who make video games, some weird trumpet noise that played just when you made it to the top, it still made you high because when that song came on you knew that it means you achieved something. I can only imagine now what it’s like, I heard TV On The Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” there, what a sick, crazy driving song to drive to. Or I know that one of my songs is on there and one of the FIFA games and I can imagine when there’s real music behind, like Guitar Hero would be the highest level of it, but when there’s real music, when you’re playing a racing game or a fighting game and your favorite song comes on, the Queens of the Stone Age or anything, I can imagine how dope that is, that kicks in when you do something, just get your blood pumping. Music is like the soundtracks of our lives.

I heard that Hey Ya by Andree 3000 was inspired by a video game that he saw in Japan. I don’t know if that’s real, but when I listen back to it, the way the song and noises go, with the keyboard sounds, so yeah music can be fun, and the chase, music is kind of like a video game, it’s kind of crazy, it’s like I totally relate to it. In some weird way, it all makes sense.