Lansing’s James Gardin scores a slam dunk with two songs in new NBA2K27 game
Multi-hyphenate entertainer James Gardin does not have “Basketball Player” on his extensive resume.
But two songs by Gardin, “Move Out the Way” and “Watch Yo Step”, can be heard on the video game NBA 2K27.
“What’s crazy is I’m not a huge video game player in general, but when I was in high school,” said Gardin, who graduated from Sexton High School. “I haven’t owned a console since the first XBOX. That lets you know how long I’ve been out of the game.”
The NBA 2K video game franchise began in the late 1990s. The 2K27 edition was released in September and is the top-selling video game of 2026, according to Circana.
Gardin was able to get into NBA 2K through sync licensing, a permit that allows the pairing of copyrighted songs and musical pieces with films, television shows, commercials, and other forms of visual media. To date, Gardin has landed high-profile placements with ESPN’s “First Take”, Peacock’s “Bel-Air”, OWN’s “Queen Sugar”, CW’s “All American”, and major brands like Saks Fifth Avenue, Tommy Hilfiger, Fox Sports, Puma, Square and Apple.
“Maybe I should get back into playing video games at this point, at least to hear myself in action,” Gardin said. “Video games are a huge placement to get in general, but people are telling me there’s songs they love because they were on 2K.
“I think it’s going to be a huge moment,” Gardin said, “especially for the companies I work with. I also think there’s going to be a whole bunch of people who get introduced to my music.”
For both of his 2K bops, Gardin collaborated with The Other Guys!, a production duo comprised of Grammy-nominated producer Ryan “Super Tight Woody” Woodcock and sync licensing dynamo Dennis Coronel FKA Soulplusmind.
“I just started pooling ideas, and said to them, can we make something that lives in this universe?” Gardin recalled. “They sent me four or five records, submitted them to some agencies, and a couple months later we found out we got two records picked for NBA 2K!”
In Lansing, Gardin has been recognized as a mentor with All of the Above HipHop Academy, a non-profit organization that mentors community youth using the elements of Hip Hop culture
He was picked by the academy’s higher-ups to be both their Lead Curriculum Coach and a Teaching Artist. His roles in their B.A.R.S. (Beats and Rhymes Sessions) and The Cook Up programs get him to be in sync with students who are gamers and keep him fresh.
“I want kids to know that they can take their art further than they’re probably thinking now,” Gardin said.
“Being in Lansing is not a hotbed for the industry, so they might think there’s a cap or a ceiling on what you can and can not do. But if you make good product, and you’re willing to network and do good business, I don’t think there is truly a limit to what we can do.”
The NBA2K placement is a huge play and Gardin said it is a way for people to start connecting with the rest of his music catalog.
“The next step is people saying we like this, let’s listen to his music to hear what else he has,” Gardin said.
“That could be the only thing that would really make it better. Right now it’s definitely a dunk, but to make it a slam dunk would be those other things.”
Gardin’s first placement, “Complaining,” from his LP ‘Sweet Jesus,’ was produced by his fellow AOTA teaching artist DeMarnio “TheyCallMeHeat” Stanley. He said he sees his success since as an opportunity to open more doors for Lansing.
“I want to do more sync education stuff for the city so people can understand that it’s not this crazy, secret, complicated thing,” Gardin said. “I get a lot of people who are trying to maximize on people’s lack of knowledge by overcharging for the information. I’m not interested in charging people for directions to the bathroom.”
