Here's a little Q+A with one of our favorite 8-bit inspired musicians, Random.  We met Ran early in the Unity days, and have been vicariously following his exploits ever since (trust me, you do not want to see me rap). 

Here's some good background on what makes Random tick, along with news on how YOU can make your way into his next project.  Check out a few of his tracks here (personal favorties include "Splash Woman" and "Grow Up"), and the albums Mega Ran and Mega Ran 9 (available entirely for free!).

Unity: What was your reaction when you first heard the news about Mega Man 9? 

I went through a few stages.... Denial, doubt and finally, acceptance and optimism. At first I thought it was a joke. I mean, after all the years, who wouldve thought they'd come back to the 8-bit series? When I heard that the rumors were true, I immediately thought, "it's gonna stink. I honestly didn't play past Mega Man 4 on the NES, the gameplay just wasn't fresh anymore to me. But I think the time off created such a desire that it made the anticipation that much bigger... best believe I grabbed MM9 on the first day....and shamefully I still haven't cleared it. I think I broke a few controllers in frustration.  

Unity: We know your major gaming influence—who are some of your hip-hop inspirations? 

Hip-hop wise, I was heavily influenced by mid-90's east coast underground hip hop... Eric B. and Rakim, KRS-ONE, Kool G. Rap, LL Cool J and more. Nowadays I find most of my inspiration outside of hip-hop.. like in classical music, or videogames...or just from things I experience in life.

Unity: Who are you collaborating with these days?  What do you feel they bring to the table creatively? 

I draw so much inspiration from so many things and people, so I've been working with a few awesome producers and musicians. K-Murdock, of the group Panacea, and I are working on a project called Forever Famicom, where he'll make the beats off of plenty of the classic NES games, and I'll lay the vocals.

I've recently signed a deal with a Japanese label, River City Records, to release an album called Randomonium' this year; it'll contain some of my biggest "hits" if you can call them that, along with some new stuff. Collaborators on there include DN3; my DJ, Samik, Young B, DJ Prolifik, Wordsworth, 88-Keys, Naledge of Kidz in the Hall and more.

So to coincide with that state-side, I'm making a free download mixtape that'll drop soon with collaborations with Mickey Factz, Epic-1, Maja, Wordburglar, the other Random (the famous Swedish chiptune king: randomizer.se/) and many more.

I also want a contribution from YOU reading this! Send me a shout out in mp3 format to randombeats@gmail.com and I'll put you on the project!  

Unity: What keeps you coming back to Mega Man?

If the music wasn't so darned outstanding, I'd never have bothered with it. It's so easy to make a nice painting when there's an almost unlimited palette of colors to choose from.

I haven't even scratched the surface as far as Mega Man tunes go. I could probably make 5 more Mega Ran albums... not saying I will.. but not saying I won't either ;-)


Unity: What’s the best advice you ever got about music? 

1) "You're wasting your time."From an ex girlfriend... Needless to say this was the beginning of the end. This is when I learned to use negative criticism to my advantage.

2) "Do what makes you happy... and don't look back." and this was from a 7th grader that I taught.  These kids teach me something every single day.


Unity: Which elements do you feel are most important for capturing the interest of existing Mega Man fans with one of your tracks?  How close/how far can you or should you go from the original theme? 

I don't know. I read all of the feedback, positive and negative, on the Mega Ran albums, and I take whatever part of it that could be true, and I give it some thought. So if you're on a forum and you just say "This sucks," that isn't gonna help to make the next one better.

I read one comment that said that I had done too much to the tunes, to the point that they weren't recognizable. I gave that some thought, and decided that a true Mega-Fan like myself should be able to pick them up... plus I tell you what song they're from on the CD cover!  If I had just rapped over the exact tune, that would've drawn the ire of the hip hop 'purists,' who would say I didn't exhibit any real musicianship by putting more effort into manipulating the original tune. It's like P. Diddy, during the Bad Boy heyday... I didn't want to hear Biggie rapping over the same exact tune Diana Ross sang on 30 years prior, I'd rather hear some skill going into it.. ya gotta 'flip' it sometimes.

I don't think I'll ever please everyone, so I won't try to... Though I'd really like to know what Inafune-san would think of my tunes.... regardless, I just think it should be fun. it kind of hurts my ears when I hear people rapping on videogame beats and using all sorts of profanity... it's a very confusing feeling, since these game sounds are supposed to return the listener to their childhood.

Unity: If we want to see you perform live, where should we go? 

I should be at your friendly neighborhood anime convention, as I do about one of those a month. If you know of one coming up and I'm not there, let me know! tell them to contact us at contact@megaran.com I'm very easy to get a hold of. This summer I'm planning a huge tour to get to any place that'll have me. I'm very thankful to the fans who have made this a success and therefore I want to play wherever I can to give back.

Thanks for listening and thanks for the interview!