Overview

Since coming on the video game music scene in 2007 with his hip-hop ode to Megaman, Mega Ran, Random has amassed a diverse, and expansive, fanbase due to his impressive lyrical ability. Hailing from Philadelphia and working as a teacher (until 2009), Random has become one of the most in-demand Nerdcore artists in the United States.

No stranger to videogame concept albums, Random announced that he would be following up Forever Famicom with an album devoted to the music of Final Fantasy VII. Following a free digital pre-release, Black Materia is the end result of Random's work and it retells the story of Final Fantasy VII through rap, but also provides a good amount of contemporary social commentary, which is all-too-frequently missing from modern day hip-hop.

Although undeniably hip-hop in nature, this album is incredibly accessible to more traditional fans of videogame music due to the sampling and lyrical content of each track. These are not just rap songs that feature "One Winged Angel" or "Birth of a God", they are rap songs about Final Fantasy VII that feature "One Winged Angel" or "Birth of a God". And by god, they are incredible.

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The primary musical focus of Black Materia is on the themes of the individual characters from the game. "Cloud Strife" is every bit as gritty and determined as FFVII's pointy-haired protagonist, with a great lyrical flow and a great backbeat. The sampled piano works as a perfect counterpoint to the grainy vocal effects and provides uncertainty and momentum throughout the track. Cloud's story continues on "Mako Reactor" which also encapsulates the events of the opening bombing mission of the game and adds a late 90's hip-hop feel to the album.

"Cid's Theme" transforms the story of Cid with appropriate hip-hip elements ("We hijacked the Highwind and scratched off the serial") and sees a more faithful sampling of the original character's theme, in all of its swelling MIDI glory. The ending is a bit abrupt, and the track is on the shorter side, but the piece is remarkably solid with fast, relentless strings of syllables flying over the slower, more determined theme composed by Uematsu.

One track that fans of the original soundtrack will likely hunt for is "Aerith's Theme" and it is the track that sold me on the album. The familiar piano theme is not heard until almost three minutes into the track which may be off-putting to some. The first three minutes are an ethereal recollection of Cloud's meeting Aerith, blending elements of horrorcore hip-hop with haunting background vocals provided by Spiral Arm and a bass-heavy backbeat. Random's bold decision to creatively integrate the expected "Aerith's Theme" to fit his style as a hip-hop lovesong which trails off into an instrumental coda works perfectly, although it may require a bit of patience on the part of the listener if they are skeptical of the opening three minutes.

"Tifa's Theme", told from Cloud's perspective, preserves every bit of tenderness which Uematsu imbued the original with, but adds humor ("We were inseparable/But strictly a platonic thing") with profound regret ("Her dad starts tripping/Telling me I can't see her/Man, crushed like red pepper/Think I felt tears falling when they told me to forget her") over a simple rhythmic backbeat. Unlike "Aerith's Theme", the main theme of the original is heard throughout the track which will likely make this one a fan-favorite.

The humor added to Tifa's theme is given free rein on "Don of the Slums (Interlude)", a musical ballad of Don Corneo. This track is, much like the portion of the game, more of a comedic aside than anything else ("Hi Tifa, nice to meet you/Your shirt is almost see through!") While the weakest track on the album in terms of rapping and innovation, it provides a good laugh or two and calls into question the casual Japanese usage of sexuality in roleplaying games ("Crossdressers, whorehouses... are you sure this game's for teens?")

"Cry of the Planet" is perhaps the most noteworthy track on the album and breaks the fourth wall by focusing on not on Final Fantasy VII, but on the real world. Random samples Uematsu's theme perfectly and faithfully while providing lyrical context to make it applicable to both the problems facing the modern world ("Yesterday a young mom threw a baby in the garbage/and a bomb exploded right in an Afghani market") and the apathy with which they are received ("The planet tried to warn us/But we worry about the trivial/Superstars,interviews, millionaires, drama/What's gotten into you?") With "Cry of the Planet", Random reminds listeners of the social commentary that both videogames and hip-hop can provide. It's anomalous from the rest of the tracks on Black Materia but is arguably the most important track on the album.

No arrangement of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack would be complete without "One Winged Angel" and Random's reimaging is imposing in both intensity and length. The opening minute is rapped from the perspective of Sephiroth and gives a bitter energy to his anger which was wholly absent Advent Children's too cool to care antagonist. The remainder of the lyrics are from the perspective of Cloud and feature a catchy chorus and thumping backbeat that integrates the choral "Seph-i-roth" perfectly into its syncopation. At 4:15 into "One Winged Angel", the familiar victory fanfare is heard and the track is musically over. What follows over the course of the next 12 minutes is a spoken autobiography of Random's life, which I initially confused with the biography of Cloud Strife given the nature of the album:

"After that was finally all over, man, I had to get back to real life. Shoot, I was way behind on school... bills... everything was going crazy. Eventually, man, I got it together. Wound up graduating, got a little job. Never really felt fulfilled at the job, so I took a part time at the studio..."

I had my suspicions he was no longer talking about Cloud at this point, and once he mentioned teaching a hip-hop class at Temple (University) my suspicions were confirmed. Also confirmed was Random's obvious emotional investment in the character of Cloud, and it was this precise emotional investment which helped Black Materia be as strong of an album as it is. Most all of us see aspects of ourselves in video game characters and recall them fondly when we hear their themes, but unique is the gamer who sees an aspect of himself and then makes a hip-hop album about it.

Summary

Black Materia is a project that simply works. Were it attempted by an average rapper, it could have easily come off as cheesy and awkward as an afterschool special. Thankfully, Random is far from average and the care with which Nobuo Uematsu's original tracks are sampled help propel Black Materia to stratospheric heights despite the few missteps along the way.

Overview

One year ago Random released Black Materia, a hip hop concept album featuring mixes of some of the most iconic themes from Final Fantasy VII. Many nerdcore fans embraced Black Materia without hesitation, as did traditionalist fans of Final Fantasy who might not have had much exposure to urban music beforehand. Both fanbases combined to make Bthe release one of the most popular nerdcore albums released to date which is, perhaps, why Random chose to revisit the project by releasing Black Materia: The Remixes. With the addition of six new tracks and the collaborative talents of several friends (from within the nerdcore and mainstream hip hop scenes), Random has focused and refined the sound of Black Materia and, in the process, created an entirely new album. The end result is a synthesis of sound that improves on the formidable original in most every way.

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Comparing the tracklists of Black Materia with The Remixes may lead to a bit of confusion as to which tracks from the original album didn't make the new cut, which are new, and which are actual remixes. The majority of the songs on the original received updated remixes but "Birth of a God", "Introduction" (the opening monologue of Advent's Children), and "Don of the Slums (Interlude)" were trimmed from The Remixes, with the only real musical loss being "Birth of a God".

Of the six new tracks offered on The Remixes, three are devoted to the themes of ancillary characters that did not receive their own tracks in Black Materia. Ninja Girl" (Yuffie) proves that Random can make a great track about his least favorite character with an appropriately bright and bubbly track that anyone who played through FFVII will relate to ("She called herself a thief/but she got caught bout it/Now I don't hit women/but I thought about it"). By contrast, "Valentine" — which features RoQy TyRaiD — is a more serious track with a distinct horrorcore feel to it. This is owed to the fast and grandiloquent lyrics flowing over an effectively ominous piano line and the repeated chorus of "atonement, redemption". It is a nice change of pace from Random's more light and silly style, but sticks out a bit from the rest of Black Materia and The Remixes.

Rounding out the three new character tracks is "Cait Sith", which features Adam WarRock lending his trademark vocal talents to this incredibly enjoyable theme. WarRock's blazingly fast lyrical delivery guarantees that you will need to listen to the track multiple times to catch all of the game references, which won't be hard to manage thanks to the grooving bassline and sampled "doo doo doo" clarinet line on the track. I spent more time listening to this track than Cait Sith ever spent in my party, which is a testament to how compelling WarRock and Random can make a song.

"Escape from Shinra Tower" makes use of the boss fight theme "Fight On!" which was curiously absent from Black Materia. Juice Lee and Ilyas are featured brilliantly on this track, providing a good point/counterpoint flow that keeps the feel of the album fresh and energetic until Random comes in to bring, the track to a crackling conclusion. The final new track, "Final Fantasy", is a bit of braggadocio rap that intersperses vague threats and boasts with references to the abilities, eidolons, and characters from the Final Fantasy series. Lost Perception's remix has a more classic hip hop feeling with a backing organ track, while JonWayne's is more chip hop in nature but both feature enough references to the various games in the Final Fantasy franchise to make the most straight-laced fanboys wave their hands in time with the beats.

With the new tracks and omissions addressed, we can now focus on the main draw of The Remixes which are, well, the remixes! "Absolute" is a more focused solo hip hop track after it loses its deeper backing vocals on the chorus and concentrates more on Random's rapping. The same can be said for "Aeris", which still manages to maintain its haunting, surreal quality despite having its three minute long epilogue trimmed from the remix. "Avalanche" is given two remixes, one by DJ Jinnai and the other by Random's long-time collaborator Lost Perception. DJ Jinnai's is enjoyable for its almost a capella rendition of one of the most vocally rhythmic songs from Black Materia while Lost Perception's features some great mixing and distortion effects that help create a mix that stands apart from the original.

In an exception to most on The Remixes, "Cosmo Canyon" is almost doubled in length with "Return to Cosmo Canyon" which features a truly excellent second verse from Random that helps correct the somewhat abrupt ending to the original version. Another drastically changed track is "One Winged Angel", which makes use of RAHM Nation alumni Storyville to help it come across as more blistering and angry than the rage-filled original and definitely benefits from a shorter, less biographical cut on The Remixes. Hardcore fans of Random who want to hear more of his life story can soak it in from the 16+ minute version on Black Materia, but more casual fans will likely prefer the shortened remix.

One aspect of The Remixes that will please all fans of Random's rapping is the inclusion of the Japan Remix of "Cry of the Planet" which he released after the disasters of March 2011 with proceeds going to the Japan Relief Effort. In my original review of Black Materia I said the following about "Cry of the Planet": "[it] is perhaps the most noteworthy track on the album and breaks the fourth wall by focusing on not on Final Fantasy VII, but on the real world... providing lyrical context to make it applicable to both the problems facing the modern world and the apathy with which they are received. With 'Cry of the Planet', Random reminds listeners of the social commentary that both videogames and hip-hop can provide. It's anomalous from the rest of the tracks on Black Materia but is arguably the most important track on the album." The Japan Remix of the "Cry of the Planet" shows just how important and applicable the message of the original track is, and fans would do well to pay attention to the message of both versions.

Summary

There was little room to improve on Black Materia either thematically or musically, but Black Materia: The Remixes somehow manages to accomplish just that. Many of the longer pieces from the original album ("Aerith", "One Winged Angel", etc.) are focused into laser-sharp remixes while shorter pieces ("Cosmo Canyon") are given a longer run time to develop and never feel padded. In closing, Black Materia: The Remixes is the Neo Bahamut — or perhaps Bahamut ZERO — to Black Materia's Bahamut, It is a near-perfect hip hop album that proves modern rap can be light-hearted, socially conscious, and enjoyed by video game music fans regardless of who they took out to the Golden Saucer.