The preeminent videogame rapper is back with a new album, a new partner, and more of the gaming samples and references that define his work. Mega Ran has teamed up with Noveliss (of Detroit’s Clear Soul Forces) on Maverick Hunters, named after a cancelled Mega Man X spinoff that was to be developed by some of the talent behind Nintendo’s Metroid Prime. The two emcees play off each other with style throughout, particularly on “Dear Summer,” whose video is being premiered exclusively here at Paste.
On “Dear Summer” Mega Ran and Noveliss break down climate change in a way anybody who grew up with the NES can understand: through references to Mega Man and Faxanadu. Heck, there’s even a Chris Jericho hat tip in there for the pro graps fans. The focus is solidly on our changing environment, though, and the impact we’ve had on it. The video (which is directed by Kevin Parkinson of Vinark Motion Pictures) sees the two rappers performing out in the desert, in and around the ruins of an old building, in the kind of desolate landscape you’d find in post-apocalyptic environmental disaster movies like the Mad Max series. It’s a big stylistic change from the Mega Man-influenced art on the album cover, and proves there’s a lot more to Mega Ran and Noveliss’s work than just videogame references. That’s one of the hallmarks of Mega Ran’s music: using videogames to comment on the real world and our daily lives.
Check out the video for “Dear Summer” below, and find Maverick Hunters pretty much wherever music is sold or streamed, including Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music.
