Perhaps I'm chasing phantoms, here. Perhaps too much Portal is bad for the brain. I'll let you, gentle readers, decide.

I woke this morning and decided I needed some tunes to get me through culling the RSS fields. In a pleasant mood, I opted to listen to some upbeat hip-hop in favor of the discord of metal or hardcore. I've had Busta Rhyme's "Don't Touch Me" single (the first off his upcoming album, Blessed) stuck in my head for days now -- and have watched the video numerous times to scratch that itch. Yet, somehow, I never noticed the subtle nod to Valve's critically acclaimed First-Person Puzzler, Portal, until this morning.





At first glance, it doesn't seem like much. But take a moment and observe the background, the design of the table Busta's resting on. Combined with the blue entrance portal opening up and a member of Flipmode Square spilling out, the scene's Portal influences become very apparent.

I've posted the video below. Try to spot the portal around the 1:00 mark. Then, ask yourself this: is Busta-Bust such a fan of Portal that he requested the scene be put in his music video? Or was the decision the video's director. Regardless, it's awesome to see these kind of references made in mainstream media. I think we've become accustomed to Nintendo and Zelda nods. Twenty years later, seeing a fresh game (that isn't Halo) receive props from a hot star is... well it warms the ol' heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl0kXbEa66I