Since the Bring Back Toonami movement, I’ve been casually following the sub-genre of hip-hop/R&B music known as Nerdcore, and I’ve never once regretted it. There are so many artists who put everything they are into their music, and it shows. One such artist is one that I started listening to just a few short weeks ago.
Mega Ran, or Random is an artist who I was first exposed to through the Ghouls and Ghosts 2 EP with Richie Branson, and then through the Brentalfloss track “Ballad of the Mages.” His newest album entitled #RNDM is dropping next month, and we were given an early access version of the album. Does this album meet the standards of earlier albums such as T.R.A.P. or Blur Bomber? Let’s find out.
The first thing I noticed when starting the album was that there is a track-list of 20 full-length tracks on the Kickstarter edition (17 on the regular edition), which truly impressed me. Random released the second volume of his T.R.A.P. series earlier this year, so this being his second full-length album this year, it’s impressive that he is offering that many tracks on #RNDM.
Starting us off is an emotional track that seems as if it’s Random’s way of telling his fans that he’s still who he says he is, even with the success he’s experienced. “Same As It Ever Was” offers a prelude to future tracks with lines like “I think about where I’ll be when I pass away/a solo act like Tom Hanks in Cast Away/Hemingway meets Hardaway and Hathaway/throw the past away and smash the day,” which leads into “Infinite Lives,” which explicitly focuses on the idea of creating something that outlives you. Plus, “Same As It Ever Was” features Michiru Yamane, who has composed for the Castlevania series, as well as Skullgirls.
At this point, #RNDM reminds me why I adore Mega Ran’s style of rap with a positive message. The message conveyed in “Infinite Lives” can apply to a wide audience, not just rap fans with lines like “Tell me who needs forever/When our forever’s today/If I die, it’s right on time/It’s meant to be this way/Now tell me who needs forever, our forever’s today, come on.”
Then, we move on to a shift in the paradigm that #RNDM has set up to this point with a track called “Rushmore,” which carries on the idea that “Infinite Lives” set up about being known and beloved after we leave this Earth, but it’s a little bit harder its delivery. This means that while “Infinite Lives” had a lighter, more inspiring tone, “Rushmore” sounds more down-to-earth, as if it was a somewhat darker response to the prior track.
Then we have a whimsical track titled “Introvert Bars,” which has Random preparing to go to a party, so he “probably need to iron my shirt for this/ use my shoes i reserve for church for this/ gonna socialize till we suffocate/ each a bunch of stuff I hate, then be ask for another plate,” only to find that Netflix released the full first season of Daredevil, so he ends up staying home.
Following, there’s a very catchy track (read: extremely catchy) called “Your Favorite Song,” which incidentally is about how Random is “on a mission to make this your favorite song,” and how he wants to be played on Clear Channel and parodied by Weird Al Yankovic, among other aspirations. Then we are presented with what might be one of my favorite tracks on #RNDM, which is “The Meeting,” which sets up a meeting between Ran and “an old friend,” but listening to it, it’s clear that it’s really a meeting between Mega Ran and Random, who sides of the artist known as Raheem Jarbo. With Random telling Mega Ran that “I was your biggest proponent, but you probably think I’m jealous,/ Cause you’re too busy being a star to kick it with the fellas,/ You should be out in Ferguson speaking against injustice,/ But it seems you got better things to do than to discuss it,/ I wouldn’t be a true friend if I didn’t point it out./ Used to chalk it up to youth but I’m just disappointed now./ You said you’d come back for me, that musta been a lie,/ So I came to holler at you and give a final goodbye/ Nothing personal bro, I still consider you a friend/ But we’re way too different, so you’ll never see me again,” I think this track might be the most interesting of the album.
Moving on, we have a really heavy, really driving track entitled “Mackerel Sky,” and afterwards a track featuring Richie Branson entitled “OP,” which is exactly what it sounds like. “Laughin’ At Ya” is a really personal track that deals with the irritation Ran’s felt when people don’t look at him like a real rapper, just because of his content: “I started rapping bout my favorite games/everybody said that wasn’t real rap/Now we rockin at the concerts/all the homies talking bout they feelin’ that/people be like I’m a gamer too!/I be like what yo, what you playing dog?/they be like madden and call of duty!/I be like that aint quite the same dog…”
Then we’ve got “Revisions,” which deals with Ran’s weariness at liars, namely in his teaching career: “don’t get me started on the cultural bias/ selling lies to the students, teachers hoping you buy it/ can’t tell em that the principal you love so much/ could give a damn if you succeed, long as funds go up/ and now the best teachers want to be administrators/ hard to fight the power when you don’t know what’s for dinner later.”
Following that, Ran dishes some truth out through “A Poet,” where, at first glance it seems like he’s telling the audience not to try rapping or writing rhymes, but he proceeds to criticize the “normal” world through the lines: “My son, this is no time nor place for a poet;/ Grow up and join the big, busy crowd/ That scrambles for what it thinks it wants/ Out of this old world which is—as it is—/ And, probably, will be.”
Then we venture to paradise through “The Promised Land,” and into a scene with the “Space Defense Team,” which is a classic sci-fi nerdcore track that is set in the year 2300 in a fight between the artists and the Kaiju aliens. Then, we experience a case of “Miss Communication,” which Ran compares to “[It’s like] those games we played as lads/ An individual whispers in your ear and you pass/ The secret, and by the time the game concludes/ Everyone involved is utterly confused/ I mistook your friendly glances/ As intimations you were giving me chances…”
The next track is one that I truly hold dear, and it’s called “Believe!” which is styled after traditional black gospel music, and it allows a glimpse into Ran’s religious perspective, which was really fascinating to me. Then we’ve got “Losses,” which seems to be about moving forward and keeping your eyes looking into the future rather than the past, through the lyrics: “I left because I couldn’t take it/ the murderers and the rapist/ corrupt police ad their fakeness/ I pray that you find peace/ before the day that you meet your maker.”
We then reach the final track on the regular version of the album, which is entitled “Mighty,” which some might know has been chosen to play during the ending credits of the upcoming title Mighty No. 9. The Kickstarter version of the album contains three more tracks, “Pursuant Hearts,” an extremely catchy chiptune piece, “Killer Instinct,” a track that seems to be focusing on the video game of the same name, and “Beginnings,” which is a chilling tribute to the Kingdom Hearts series.
Overall, I think #RNDM is a fantastic offering to Random’s already large fanbase. He clearly loves everyone who calls themselves fans, and that’s evident with the massive track-list of this new album. Ran is such a talented artist, because while most artists will give you an album with 10-12 tracks that all pretty much sound the same, he gives a 17-20 track album which proudly displays several different sounds, from topics that needed to be discussed, to humorous songs that show off his whimsical side, to straight-up gospel music. #RNDM is a fantastic album. I honestly have nothing bad to say about it. Highly recommended.