Every time a new Grand Theft Auto VI trailer drops, fans spend days pausing frames and arguing over what the next Vice City will look like. Italian producer Lord Conrad decided not to wait. His new single, Rising Empire, comes packaged with a full audiovisual world of its own, a neon-soaked city where fortunes show up overnight and nobody seems to sleep.
Lord Conrad, the stage name of Corrado Garibaldi, built his sound in electronic dance music, and 2026 pushed him well past conventional EDM. “Rising Empire” runs 80s synthwave and distorted guitars into modern hip-hop and trap, with heavy 808s doing most of the damage underneath. The synths sound like they were lifted from a late-night chase scene, and the low end is built for a car stereo at 2 a.m. Anyone who only knows his earlier EDM catalog is in for a surprise.
The official music video is where the concept really comes together. Lord Conrad brings artificial intelligence and digital technology into the visuals, building a retro-futuristic city inspired by the atmosphere and aesthetic of GTA VI, with luxury cars and flashes of the financial markets glowing under neon. It’s an independent, fan-inspired project with no affiliation with Rockstar Games, and the market imagery is fictional artwork made for entertainment, not financial advice. The whole clip runs on ambition, the kind that wants everything a city like this has to offer and wants it fast.
That focus on gaming and online culture has history behind it. His track “I Minute” sparked thousands of user-created videos on TikTok, spreading through the platform’s creator community. Later, his love of gaming led to a collaboration with YouTuber PEPO3393, whose channel has more than 500,000 subscribers. The result, “VIDEOGAMES,” has been widely used across gameplay content. Both spread largely through other creators’ content. On “Rising Empire,” he did the world-building himself.
Next up is a modern hip-hop remix of “Push It to the Limit” from Scarface, plus another synthwave and hip-hop project built around trading. The 80s clearly aren’t done with him yet.
Gamers are still waiting on their first drive through the new Vice City. Lord Conrad’s version is already up and running. Watch the official music video, listen on all platforms here, and find more at his website.
