Mega Ran is both the Mega Man-themed alter ego of rapper Mega Ran (formerly Random; real name Raheem Jarbo, born September 3, 1977), and a Concept Album about said alter ego. What follows is a semi-humorous, hip-hop retelling of the Mega Man series. The plot (such as it is) begins when Random finds himself in Mega Man's body in Dr. Light's laboratory, and goes from there. It is made clear from the first line of the first song that everything that happens is a dream. The album also got a Contested Sequel by way of Mega Ran 9.
Also, Random openly endorses the practice of downloading bootlegs if you can't afford the album. We can't link here for legal reasons, but if you want to pirate it, you can do so with a clear conscience. He even mentions the practice in "Robot City".
In 2015, due to SEO conflicts with other similarly-named musicians, Mega Ran became Jarbo's stage name full-time, with all prior releases under the "Random" banner being reissued under the Mega Ran name.
Tropes that apply to Mega Ran
- Aesop Amnesia - After waking up from his dream, Random says he learned a valuable lesson... but he doesn't remember what it was.
- All Just a Dream - the first track on the album, "Intro" starts out by telling us that the whole thing is, in fact, a dream.
- Boss Fight - The song of the same name, as well as "Final Battle" and "vs. Metalman" (which features The Megas as Metalman).
- Buffy Speak - During the interlude when Ran wakes up, he can't remember the name of the Mega Man series or its title character, and refers to him as "the blue dude".
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin - "Intro", "Boss Fight" and "Bonus Track" which is on the Deluxe Edition. Also "vs. Metalman" which is about...well guess.
- Digital Piracy Is Evil - Utterly averted, Ran endorses it on his final verse in the short version of "Robot City".
- Laser-Guided Amnesia - in "Intro" Dr. Light suspects this is why Mega Ran doesn't remember him.
- Nerdcore - Ran doesn't actively identify as such (and he has a point, some of his stuff really is not nerdcore) but the album at least, seems to count.
- Race Lift - Mega Ran is black, as opposed to the original Mega Man who appears to be white. This makes sense, since Random is black too, and it's supposed to be a dream he's having.
- Sampling - Most of the music on the album is formed by laying heavy beats over the actual stage themes from the Mega Man games.
- In the brief between-song interludes, the cartoon is sometimes sampled as well.
