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passionate-reply · 3 years

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This week on Great Albums: a fresh look at quite possibly the 80s’ most hated band, A Flock of Seagulls! Spoiler: their music is good, people in the 90s and 00s were just mean. If you want to find out more about how having the absolute best hair in the business ended up backfiring on these poor sods, look no further than my latest video. Or the transcript of it, which follows below the break!

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’m going to be diving into a discussion of quite possibly the most derided and lambasted music group of the 1980s: A Flock of Seagulls. With a strange name, a perhaps painfully stylish aesthetic, and equally trendy and of-the-moment music, that was, for a time, inescapable in popular culture, their legacy forms a perfect target for the ridicule all popular things must face in due time. But even moreso than that, I think A Flock of Seagulls have become not only a punchline in and of themselves, but also a summation of everything that was dreadful and excessive about the early 1980s, with its “Second British Invasion” of synthesiser-driven New Wave. I can think of no better example of this kind of abuse than a famous line from the 1999 comedy film, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. The film is largely a love letter to the 1960s and its Mod aesthetics, and the protagonist, a super-spy unfrozen from this era in time, dismisses the history and culture of the 1970s and 80s as nothing more than “a gas shortage, and A Flock of Seagulls.” But at the time of this writing, we’re about as far away from Austin Powers as the film was from the release of this album, the band’s 1982 debut LP, so I think it’s been long enough that we can start to re-evaluate A Flock of Seagulls’ rightful place in music history.

While this self-titled album was the group’s first long-player, their first release was the 1981 single “It’s Not Me Talking.” Notably, this track was actually produced by the legendary Bill Nelson, who also released it on their behalf via his personal label, Cocteau Records. Ever since discovering this for myself, I’ve found the connection between Nelson and A Flock of Seagulls fascinating, and also satisfying. Despite the gulf between their respective reputations, I do think their work has a lot in common, at the end of the day: swirling washes of synth disrupted by screaming guitars, not to mention that shared interest in Midcentury rock and roll aesthetics.

Music: “It’s Not Me Talking”

These two acts would, of course, go their separate ways shortly after, and they ended up in completely opposite camps, with Nelson becoming a cult favourite with little crossover success, and A Flock of Seagulls going on to create what is, undoubtedly, one of the most iconic songs of the entire decade.

Music: “I Ran”

What does one even say about a song like “I Ran”? Over the years, it’s certainly gotten somewhat overplayed, but I can’t really hold that against it. It’s just a damn good song. Both ethereally menacing as well as catchy and rather accessible, “I Ran” takes the atmosphere suggested by “It’s Not Me Talking” and kicks it into another gear, with a harder-hitting hook and the introduction of that highly distinctive and of-the-moment echoing guitar effect. Some will hear it as little more than evidence that the song is hopelessly dated, but I’ve never thought of it as anything other than satisfying to listen to. If you ask me, I figure all art that exists is essentially “a product of its time”--nobody ever said Michelangelo Buonarroti’s David was a lousy sculpture, just because you can easily tell it was made during the Italian Renaissance. At any rate, I’d encourage everyone reading to go back and listen to it again, trying to maintain a little neutrality. I’d recommend the album cut of it, which is significantly longer than the single version, and features a rich intro that sets the scene before that famous guitar ever makes an appearance, which I think really adds to the experience. By some reckonings, A Flock of Seagulls are sometimes considered a “one-hit wonder,” but while they certainly are remembered chiefly for “I Ran,” this album’s other singles were moderately successful as well.

Music: “Space Age Love Song”

“Space Age Love Song” is perhaps the band’s second best-remembered single, and takes their sound in a markedly different direction than that of “I Ran.” “I Ran” won popular acclaim by finding a new home for the guitar, in the midst of a sea of synth, and pushed A Flock of Seagulls into a similar space as acts like the Cars and Duran Duran, who had enough mainstream rock sensibilities to sneak a lot of synthesiser usage onto American rock radio...much as one might sneak spinach into tomato sauce when feeding picky children. But I think “Space Age Love Song” is much more palatable to listeners of pop, synth- or otherwise. It’s softer in texture, and really almost dreamy, capturing the hazy, buoyant feeling of limerence as well as any pop song ever has. I’m tempted to compare it to another synth-driven classic, whose influence towers over this period in electronic music: the great Giorgio Moroder’s “I Feel Love.” Much like “I Feel Love,” “Space Age Love Song” combines simple, almost banal love lyrics with an evocative electronic soundscape, painting a picture of an enchanting, high-tech future where human feelings like love have remained comfortably recognizable across centuries or millennia. A similar theme of futuristic love pervades the album’s second single, “Modern Love Is Automatic.”

Music: “Modern Love Is Automatic”

While “Space Age Love Song” uses simplistic lyricism to portray the relatable universality of falling in love, “Modern Love Is Automatic” gives us the album’s most complex narrative. In a world where “young love’s forbidden,” we meet a pair of star-crossed lovers prevented from being together by some sort of dystopian authority. The male member of this union, introduced as the “cosmic man,” is apparently imprisoned for the crime of loving, but the text suggests that he may escape from this prison--or, perhaps, even be freed from it. The title, repeated quite frequently throughout the track, is perhaps the mantra of this anti-love society, a piece of propaganda being drilled into us as thoroughly as it is into these subjects: Modern love is automatic, with no need for messy, unpredictable human input.

It’s also worth noting that the song is consciously set in “old Japan,” deliberately locating it in the “exotic” East. While East Asia was strongly associated with refined, perhaps futuristic culture, I can’t help but think there’s a more pejorative sentiment operating here, rooted in stereotypes of Asian cultures unduly policing sexual freedom, and other forms of personal expression and self-determination. Ultimately, despite its futuristic trappings, “Modern Love Is Automatic” isn’t really a song about technology at all, but rather authoritarianism. “Telecommunication,” on the other hand, engages more directly with that theme.

Music: “Telecommunication”

“Telecommunication” was also released prior to the self-titled album proper, and was also produced by Bill Nelson. While structurally similar to “Modern Love Is Automatic,” with an oft-repeated title, brief verses, and a generally repetitive musical structure full of meandering guitar, its text quite plainly discusses the titular field of technology, in a seemingly non-judgmental fashion--though it could be argued that the fairly upbeat music suggests a positive outlook on things like radio and TV. The one hitch in all of it is the very end of the last verse, which sets the song in the “nuclear age”--a nod, perhaps, to the darker applications of 20th Century technology. “Telecommunication” is perhaps indebted less to figures like Moroder, and moreso to Kraftwerk, who first solidified the rich tradition of stoic synth thumpers about everyday machines like cars, trains, and, of course, nuclear energy. I’m also tempted to compare it to an earlier work of Bill Nelson’s group Be-Bop Deluxe, “Electrical Language,” another bubbly number that playfully bats this concept back and forth.

The theme of “quotidian technology” is also present on the cover of this album, which features an interior shot of a living room, centered around a television set. The TV displays a figure playing guitar--perhaps one of those heroic rock pioneers of the Midcentury like Buddy Holly, whom Nelson was so keen to imitate. But what’s most immediately striking about this cover is its beautiful colour palette, full of deep, saturated jewel tones, treated softly with an “airbrush” style effect. Despite being a somewhat mundane scene, the image also features fanciful, imaginative touches: the floor of this room is actually a miniature beach landscape, with the “floor” beneath the TV actually being the surface of the ocean, and the TV appears to be surrounded by a colourful, glowing group of birds. Given the beachy surroundings, we could perhaps interpret them as the titular seagulls. It’s tempting to think of this scene as a representation of how technology can sweep us away, out of our everyday existence and into something richer and more exciting.

But perhaps it’s not so simple--note also the open window in the top left, whose curtain appears to be agitated by some sort of motion in the air. Perhaps these birds are not the products of television fantasy, but rather have flown in from the window, and hence hail from the “real world?” Given how tracks like “Space Age Love Song” and “Modern Love Is Automatic” tackle the theme of the mundane meeting the fantastical, I think this complex and arresting image is a great fit for the album.

While their self-titled debut spawned multiple recognizable hits, A Flock of Seagulls never came anywhere close to recapturing its success. For the most part, they struggled to remain relevant as time wore on, largely abandoning the sonic footprint of their first album, and chasing after new trends in music technology such as digital synthesisers. They would eventually break up during the mid-1980s, and though they’ve reunited in order to perform live several times, the book is probably closed on A Flock of Seagulls. Personally, I can’t help but wonder what might have been if they had stuck to their musical roots a bit more. You get a bit of that on their third LP, 1984’s The Story of a Young Heart, which thankfully brings back that iconic echoing guitar, and does so without sounding too much like a simple retread of “I Ran.” Out of all their other work, it’s the album I would most recommend to admirers of this debut LP.

Music: “Remember David”

My favourite track on A Flock of Seagulls’ debut LP is “Messages”--not to be confused with the track of the same name by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark! Moreso than anything else on the album, “Messages” has this aggressive, insistent, driving quality, and feels less like yacht rock, and more like punk rock. Despite not being released as a single, I think it’s a very strong track that’s quite easy to get into. That’s everything for today--thanks for listening!

Music: “Messages”

#music #album review #album reviews #great albums #a flock of seagulls #flock of seagulls

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slurrmp · 3 years

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okay so - this just appeared in my head after a conversation in the doctor who dis.cord server. it isn’t exactly a continuation from THIS prompt, but it does involve my version of dhawan!doctor - so you all seemed to like that one. here’s hoping y’all like this mess of a fic. here’s to many more prompts this year !!

warnings: blood mention, injury, detailed wound

pairing: diaster!reader x dhawan!master

-x-

If someone had told you last year that you’d be stuck in a parallel world, with a version of the Doctor that looked like the Master, you probably would have laughed at them. Like full on kinda mental breakdown kind of laugh, though even the idea of time travel and aliens was still an entirely foreign concept to you at that time. But yet here you were - exactly 12 months later, with your hand clasped firmly in his grasp as your legs tried their hardest to keep up with him.

It was still kinda surreal that HE was standing in front of you, looking so much like YOUR Master and yet he wasn’t. He was kinder, softer, his dark eyes didn’t seem scary anymore when you looked into them and touch certainly wasn’t that big of a deal anymore. He reminded you so much like your Doctor that it was kind of freaky, almost like their entire personalities had switched. And that was the right assumption, considering you had met this universe’s Master not that long ago - looking like HER and your brain had a hard time trying to wrap around everything that had happened during that week.

With the ability to get back to your own universe very slim, you had decided to join the Doctor on his travels, much like you would with your Doctor back home. Might as well stick around just in case he miraculously finds a way to send you home. Though really, you should have come to terms with the fact that sooner or later you would run into an adventure that could possibly get you both killed. The pair of you had caused a little bit too much trouble on this particular planet and of course the guards that were chasing you out of the town weren’t so forgiving, a giggle left your lips as your hand shifted in his ever so slightly. The Doctor looked back at you - tightening his grip on you, a manic grin crossing his lips and your couldn’t help your heart as it skipped in your chest.

“Stop in the name of the emperor!” The loud shouts and calls from the guards caused you to look behind you and to be honest you knew that while everything had been going so smoothly the last couple of months, something was bound to happen that would bring all of that good feeling crashing down. Your eyes widened ever so slightly when you spotted the weapons in each of the guards hands - most of them aimed towards you. They looked like a cheap version of a Star Trek phaser.

“Doctor!” Your voice seemed to be drowned out by the villagers around you, who were all spilling out into the streets, wondering what was happening - the low murmur of their voices getting louder and you tried to keep your focus in front of you. The TARDIS came into view then and your whole body relaxed.

“Come on,” Your name left his lips as his free hand moved to reach into his vest pocket and pull out the TARDIS key. Then there was a tickle at the back of your head, telling you that something was going to happen, that’s when you saw it - the bright orange light left one of the weapons, sounding like a firecracker as it raced through the air towards you. The initial impact didn’t hurt and you thought that it must have missed - but it wasn’t too long until your whole body felt like it was on fire. You didn’t have time to realise you had been hit, or even react properly when you spotted the TARDIS doors slam open and the pair of you fell inside, doors slamming shut behind you. Jumping when the banging against the doors filled your ears.

The Doctor had let you go by then moving chaotically forward towards the console. You tried to keep your composure, trying to make it seem like you were okay and fine, but your legs gave way from underneath you and you hit the deck, your forearm being the only thing that stopped your head from whacking against the grated flooring. “I would have admitted defeat earlier, but I had forgotten how head strong the Orion’s are.” The Doctor wasn’t even paying attention - too busy trying to get you out of that place. “You tell them once that they’re wrong...” He rambled, head bent forward - fingers flying about the console, while you were trying your hardest not to burst into tears.

Looking down, you spotted that your clothes were covered in blood, a trail leading from the top of the steps to the doors could be seen as well. A whine escaped your lips, as a hand came up and pressed lightly against the wound in your side, but you couldn’t help the wince and a hiss escaped through your lips. “Doctor...” your voice was low and you could feel your head beginning to tilt to one side. Your vision was starting to blur and you knew that you had lost too much blood already, the feeling that your side was being ripped open.

“Then there’s the entire thing with the slaves. I tried to convince them more than once ...” He was still busy plotting in a course and dancing around the console. It wasn’t long until he flipped the lever and the TARDIS shuddered in response, moving into flight but telling him something else. “What’s wrong girl?” His voice was soft and hand reached out to touch the crystal in the centre of the console. Then his head snapped to the side and his brown eyes caught yours and a sad smile crossed your lips.

“I’m fine... It’s fine.” Then he was in your face, his smell hit your nose and it was such a contrast to the metallic of your blood that had invaded your senses. “Today’s been fun,” You continued, a wet laugh escaping your lips as a hiss once again escaped you as the Doctor placed a hand over your wound - fingers wrapping around yours and you could feel your blood spread even more. His other hand pulled out the sonic and he waved it over you - frantic. “Aside from the hole in my side, it’s been great.” Your cheeks felt wet and your heart hurt.

“No,” The Doctor mumbled pressing down on the gushing wound. “No,” Hair flopped in front of his face and suddenly his eyes reminded you so much of him and you didn’t like that. Not at all. A shaky breath escaped as you pulled your hand out from under his and rested both your hands on either side of his face. You winced when you noticed that your blood covered hands were causing the liquid to stain his dark skin.

“Hey ...” You murmured. “Hey don’t look like that,” Your head tilted once more and your vision blurred once again. “You look like him when you do that.” Nails dug into his skin, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“I’m sorry...” Your name was soft on his tongue, his eyes watering. “I should have been paying more attention.” Brows furrowed then when he looked down at his sonic, brown eyes flickering over the device for a couple of seconds, he was reading it. “Why didn’t you tell me...” His voice was a low growl and you shook your head, you would have thought that, with it being something like a Star Trek phaser it would have cauterized the wound, but you were in no such luck - in fact the beam of light only made it worse, seemingly burning through your flesh and muscle. “I could have gotten you out of the way...” There was silence, the smell of burning flesh filled your nose once more and a sob escaped your lips. It hurt like hell - it felt like acid, like you were being burnt by acid. Then the sonic made a noise and his face lit up. “Ah ha!”

Your hands couldn’t keep their hold on his face any longer and they fell down by your sides. Your head fell forward, forehead pressed against his cheek. “Just hold on a little while longer,” Pain burst through your entire body and you cried out in pain. “I know, I know - I’m sorry,” he mumbled into your hair, as he slid his arms underneath your body. Before he stood up, taking you with him. Another cry of pain left your lips, as your head fell against his shoulder this time. “I can fix this.”

“Are you sure?” A frown settled on your brow as your eyes started to close. You knew that he could work wonders but even the Doctor had to be stumped by something and a flesh eating, muscle eating weapon seemed like it could be it.

“Yes - now you stay with me, love. I am not losing you today, not again.” Maybe you did stay with him but it had been too traumatic and you forgot the events, or you did fall unconscious - either way you were glad you weren’t awake when the Doctor placed pieces of skin back over your wound, healing you from the inside out.

You probably would have thrown up at that.

#the doctor x reader #doctor who #13th doctor x reader #dw #dhawan!doctor x reader #the master x reader #dhawan!master x reader #* & SPYRO WRITES.#me posting again?#more likely than you think.#please my first post in six months and it didn't do well so ....#validation please and thank.

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eat-the-richard · 3 years

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Sonic’s 30th: What it could be and what it won’t be

Well folks, it's about that time again. Our beloved Sonic thee Hedgehog is turning the big three-oh this year.

I say that time “again” because, y’know, it seems like we just went through this. The last mainline Sonic releases, Sonic Mania and Sonic Forces, were both revealed as part of Sonic’s 25th anniversary. In a sense, that’s all us fans really have to look forward to anymore. Waiting for about five-or-so rotations around the sun to pass until SEGA can slap that big number next to Sonic’s mug to usher out as much celebratory marketing material as they can, all for the chance to get a smidgen of new video games to get our hands on.

This anniversary feels... different, though. Last anniversary SEGA had an absolute winner on their hands in Sonic Mania. There was no way the team behind that one could possibly mess up. And even if Sonic Forces turned out like... that, it at least made sense from SEGA’s perspective to greenlight a game like it during that time. But the five years since those games were announced have done little to assuage my worries about what exactly is planned for this year’s big game.

You see, Sonic has kind of vanished. He’s lost. M.I.A.. Which feels strange. Even during the supposed “dark age” of Sonic, he never really went anywhere. New games were still being produced like clockwork for a whole host of gaming systems. From mainline titles to spinoffs, dedicated Sonic fans had a lot to sink their teeth into back then. Since the release of Forces, all we really have to show for ourselves is a (personally) insignificant expansion to Sonic Mania and a new racing title which, frankly, didn’t set the world on fire when it was released. I suppose there’s a whole host of mobile titles that I didn’t mention but it’s difficult to get excited over yet another Sonic auto-runner. Perhaps most bafflingly, there haven’t even been many ports of older Sonic titles to modern hardware. If the mid-2000s were the dark ages of Sonic, perhaps right now we’re living in the “silent age,” where basically nothing is even happening and the franchise is at an eternal standstill.

The sole exception to this self-titled silent era was the Sonic movie, which I don’t think anyone anticipated being as big of a success as it was. Including the studio behind it. And especially including SEGA. It was utterly baffling to me that, upon the film’s release, there was nothing in the way of a tie-in game. Nothing directly associated with the movie. Nothing separate to release alongside the movie. Nothing. Some have speculated that SEGA was supremely unconfident in the film and it's hard to argue otherwise. It seems that, in a sense, the movie was a success in spite of the company the IP is linked with.

That’s why this anniversary feels more peculiar than the last one. At least Sonic was doing something in the early 2010s. Perhaps nothing groundbreaking, but he was at least around. If it hadn’t been for the movie, how in the world would the series be attracting new fans? This anniversary needs to be big. It needs to be the explosive re-emergence of Sonic to not only please the jaded oldies but the next generation of kids. And… I just don’t anticipate anything of the sort.

To me, Sonic Team has about four directions they could take the 30th anniversary game. Here they are, listed in descending order of likelihood.

4. A new “boost” game. Sonic Team ain’t opening that can of worms again.

3. A new “classic Sonic” game. While Christian Whitehead’s new studio has been deafeningly silent since forming, I believe that we’d have a bit more information about a Sonic Mania sequel by now if that was indeed in development.

2. Something entirely different.

1. Sonic Adventure 3 (or comparable analog).

Now, your reaction to that list may differ depending on your preferences and the year you were born. To me, something evoking nostalgia to the two Sonic Adventures is the safest and most likely choice for SEGA and Sonic Team. Just as classic nostalgia permeated through the 2010s, Adventure nostalgia will trailblaze full force through the 2020s. There are a lot of people whose only exposure to Sonic at all is playing Sonic Adventure 2 Battle on their GameCube. And the only way those people could potentially get funneled back into the series is through a proper Sonic Adventure 3, or at least something like it.

This, of course, says nothing about the overall quality of what this new Adventure title would be. And really, this is my main concern with the 30th anniversary. Can I even trust Sonic Team anymore to put out a good game?

Regardless of style, I’m unconfident to say the least. The staff that worked on the Adventure titles are not at SEGA anymore. The staff that spearheaded the “boost trilogy” of Unleashed, Colors, and Generations are not at SEGA anymore. And modern-day Sonic Team’s idea of something entirely different is, well, unappealing. Sonic Lost World proved that trying to change the core of the series for its own sake leads to a bland and uninspiring experience. And Forces? Oh… Forces.

Really, Forces is the main reason why I’m so disillusioned. Maybe it was that I was excited for the grand return of the boost. Maybe it was that I loved Generations so much that a proper sequel to it couldn’t possibly be bad. Instead of being a sequel to Generations, though, it tries to be everything at once. A game to appeal to the classic fans, the Adventure fans, the boost fans, those whole love complicated narratives, those who love the many characters this series has, and, obviously, the Original Character Artists™. Jack of all trades, master of nothing. A directionless, soulless game that in some instances is seemingly artificially-generated.

If this spectacular 30th anniversary Sonic game is something entirely different, it had to break an astounding amount of new ground. It had to rethink and reshape the series so drastically that, honestly, I don’t think it's very likely. I don’t think Sonic Team has even the slightest clue about what makes their flagship IP so appealing to so many people. If the nostalgia-fueled 2010s are any indication, SEGA only understands what makes Sonic so popular on a superficial level.

They know we liked the 2D games, so now EVERY game has 2D in it! Oh, they didn’t like that Sonic has green eyes. Well, let’s bring back the CLASSIC version of Sonic. Let’s actually make him his own character who will also appear in every game!

New zone ideas? LMAO how about we reuse the same set of classic levels over and over! Green Hill? YES! Chemical Plant? Of course! Let’s make an entire game that has both Sonics running around in a bunch of old zones. Wait, didn’t we just do that idea last year for Sonic 4 Episode 1? And aren’t we going to do that idea NEXT year for Sonic 4 Episode 2? WAIT DID SOMEONE SAY CHECKERBOARD PATTERNS IN WINDY HILL ZONE!???!!!!

Oh wait, Christian Whitehead just pitched to us a brand new 2D Sonic game with classic physics and new levels? We’ll let him do it, but ONLY if it is ANOTHER nostalgia game that reuses old zones!

Let’s inundate our fans with the same images of their childhood to activate their dopamine receptors!

I can hardly wait for what this team’s idea of Sonic Adventure nostalgia looks like. Hope you really like City Escape.

Really, while such appeals to nostalgia are welcome the first few times, after a while it starts to get grating. Sonic Team leaning so hard into it during the 2010s reeks to me of desperation. As if the constant callbacks are the only thing the team knows how to do to link new games with the rest of the series.

In actuality, fans don’t like Sonic because of the classic design or 2D-platforming or Green Hill Zone. They may like those things, but it isn’t why they continue to support the series. Fans love Sonic so fervently because, when he hits on all cylinders, he really hits. His games play in a supremely rewarding way where skill mastery is key. The better you are at Sonic, the better you feel while playing it. The personalities and designs of all of the different characters, from Sonic to Tails to Vector the freakin’ Crocodile, are not only distinct from each other but bleed through into gameplay in the way that they control and in how they are animated. Sonic’s best stories are ones that people can really relate to, dealing with a whole host of themes such as environmentalism, resisting fascism, surpassing expectations, and even the concept of free will among nonhuman entities. Not especially deep, but certainly thought provoking, especially for kids. All tied together with top notch visual and audio design that will stand the test of time. I’d posit that, while people like Sonic for a whole host of reasons, their starting point lies somewhere in the above explanation.

Hopefully, Sonic Team has realized by now that nostalgia will only get them so far. While a Sonic Adventure 3 would turn heads, it wouldn’t push the series forward. While a proper sequel to Sonic Mania would be a critical darling, it would continue to keep Sonic’s feet firmly planted in 1991. Sonic needs to evolve. He needs to change. And it seems like a change is happening. Roger Craig Smith, the voice of Sonic for the last 10 years, is no longer working with the series. The new TV series, Sonic Prime, is set to take place in a “strange new multiverse.” Even the Sonic movie refuses to lean on nostalgia too hard.

So maybe the future will be set in unfamiliar waters. But if this is the case, I don’t want SEGA to half ass it. I want them to boldly step into that abyss with a vision of Sonic that appeals to the heart of the fandom. Because, even if it's been down recently, that heart is still beating, and after the abuse it's already taken, it’s going to take a hell of a lot to get it to stop. And if SEGA can get this heart pumping to its full extreme as it had in years past, we may have something legendary to look forward to.

They could also just release a bunch of old Sonic games on Switch. I’d like that too.

#sonic #sonic 30th #essay #sonic team

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tev-the-random · 4 years

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A casual Sonic Forces rewrite + some headcanons, because why not

Part 1 – Infinite and Episode Shadow

Just a warning: none of the images used here belong to me! They all belong to SEGA – the game screenshots, the official art and the comic pages.

Next Part ->

I have yet to see the Sonic Movie, because the universe seems devoted on not letting me do so, for some reason. Being as desperate for Sonic content but as determined to not receive spoilers from the movie as I am, I decided to go for the next coolest thing: writing really long and random posts about a game that came out three years ago and no one cares about anymore.

This shall be fun!

(Update: as of posting this, I have finally watched the movie! But I don’t want to throw this away, so I’ll post it anyway. We can have a nice talk about the movie later.)

*“Fist Bump instrumental” intro plays*

*“This is Our World: a New Hero” plays in the background*

I’m the type of person to always try and see the best in every game, and Sonic Forces is no different. Despite its obvious flaws, I love this beautiful game! Mostly the concept of it is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this last decade, but the execution… lacks on a few things. I mostly just fill in the gaps with my imagination and enjoy it nevertheless, but, upon going through the tag and seeing that some of my concerns were shared by other people, I decided to try my hand at rewriting Sonic Forces juuust a tiny bit. Just for fun!

For this first part (and I have no idea how many parts we should have), I’d like to share some of my ideas about…

*Infinite’s Theme plays in the background as I try hard not to sing along*

Oh, my poor jackal boy, what do we do with you? Despite being so heavily promoted and having an undeniably awesome theme song, Infinite’s backstory and general development throughout the game came out as lacking, having the self-proclaimed edgelord become a laughingstock amongst most fans. Nevertheless, I still love Infinite, and it saddens me how much wasted potential he had; it’s like they were trying to write a really interesting character, but gave up halfway through.

So yeah, let’s talk about it. And let us begin with his origin story.

I believe you are all familiar with this scene:

I… I want to defend my boy here, I really do. But honestly, the way this was portrayed, it just sounded like he was throwing a childish tantrum. It seems as if his entire motive for becoming a villain was “Shadow beat him and called him weak”; dude, you’re not the only one: Shadow does this to basically everybody who’s ever crossed his way! We’re not given a reason as to why Infinite gets so bloody offended, nor are we given a reason why we should care.

So, how can we fix this? I think we should firstly focus less on “I’M NOT WEEEEAAAAK!!! URRAAAAGHH!!!” and more on:

It doesn’t need to be – and I don’t even think it can be – as sad of a situation as the Rivaille Squad in Shingeki No Kyojin or anything, but I believe that showing us that Infinite lost something important would already do wonders to his backstory.

The simplest way – that is, the way that doesn’t majorly change how things go, but does give the jackal a clearer motive – to do this would involve the ever so humble inclusion of two new cutscenes and one new in-game battle, plus a few tweaks to some already existing scenes.

Episode Shadow begins not with the usual reading introduction, but rather, with Shadow’s voice. “I was a couple of months before the Doctor took over the world. The first time I encountered him… I didn’t know what he would become.” Then we open with what used to be a couple of months prior (aka where they presented Infinite’s memory, aka where they screwed up), so we’ll go through things in a chronological order instead of having a flashback inside of a prequel, because that’s confusing AF.

Now, instead of starting the Mystic Jungle level immediately, we should get a small cutscene: Shadow gliding through the jungle, cool camera angles/lighting and all – maybe something similar to the opening scene of Episode Shadow in Sonic 06? –, on his way to invade Eggman’s base as a voice coming from the hedgehog’s communicator reminds him about his mission (yep, that’s some subtle exposition to the audience so we don’t think Shadow is there just because). My idea for said mission would be the simple task of retrieving a Chaos Emerald (yeah, remember those?) from Eggman. Nothing too serious; just another day, another emerald stolen like usual; we’ve seen this before, there’s no need for a long dialogue.

As the black-and-red blur crosses the screen, the camera pans to a group of people hiding above in the trees: Squad Jackal. Infinite is not among them. One of the jackals asks “where’ the boss?” to which another one replies that he’s on the other side of the base/talking to the Doctor/whatever and they have no time to waste; their mission is to take down the intruder and protect the base. We get something in the lines of “the boss is counting on us. Expect no mercy, show no weakness. Let’s go!” and the camera fades out as the squad drops from the trees and runs after Shadow.

I believe that having the phrase “show no weakness” – or any possible reference to “I’m not weak”, really – appear earlier as seemingly common and then have it become something the character gives a lot of importance to due to consequences and parallels sounds a bit more interesting than having Infinite’s inferiority complex come out of nowhere.

The Mystic Jungle level plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background doesn’t say that “the Defence Squad has already been completely annihilated”, but rather that “the Defence Squad is on the case. They’re the best mercenaries there are, Shadow won’t stand a chance!” because Doctor Eggman is naive like that.

Once we reach the end of the level there’s another change: a boss battle against Squad Jackal. You see, we don’t want to hear the squad was taken down like some sort of lazy exposition, because it feels incomplete; we want to participate, we want to be the protagonist and see with our own eyes just what is Infinite’s squad. This gives faces and voices to something that will become an important plot point instead of just telling us “yeah, this happened or whatever”. This could also play as some sort of sympathy point for Infinite, because we, while in control of Shadow, took down his squad; it makes the villain’s animosity towards Shadow and his general anger at least a bit more understandable.

The idea is that this battle should play as some sort of field fight – that is, differently than most boss battles in Sonic Forces, this is not a racing track where you attack your enemy while running, but rather a large secluded area, much like the one we get in the fight between the Custom Hero and the DeathEgg Robot –, where squad members would attack individually in different patterns before going for a group attack. The individual jackals would have both projectile (perhaps something like a wispon, knives or some Eggman invention to keep it family friendly enough?) and close-ranged attacks, while the group attack would consist of this mass of wild jackals changing at you, trying to run you over. The opportunity windows could be either the moment when the opponents switch or band together for the group attack.

(I don’t know, maybe some of you can think of better ways to fight the Jackal Squad? This is just a random idea! I’d like to hear different ones!)

Once the fight is over, we get another cutscene: Shadow stands among the fallen jackals – don’t worry, they’re… sleeping… yeah, there’s no visible blood, they’re not dead… except they’re totally dead – and looks around for a second or two. His expression is indecipherable, and he soon leaves without saying a word – one might say he feels bad for them, or maybe he doesn’t give a damn; we leave that open to interpretation. Not a moment passes and we get to see the leader of the squad arriving at the scene. The camera moves in a circle around him as he looks at his fallen comrades in shock. How did this happen? They were the strongest, how could his whole squad be dead? This is a rather touching moment, where Infinite sticks his sword (because in his origins comic he used to have a super cool red sword and I want to pretend we have a reason for it not existing in the game) to the ground; there’s a feeling of anger and vengeance going on as we get a closer look at the last standing jackal. He clenches his fists and faces the direction of Shadow. “Expect no mercy, show no weakness,” he says in an infuriated, strangled voice. He starts to run and the camera fades out.

(Look at his sword and his squad, man. I do wish we could have seen them in the game…)

When the camera fades in again, we get that exact same cutscene from the game. Blah blah, “destroyed my squad”, blah blah, “ultimate mercenary”, a legendary ass whooping and Infinite falls to the ground, weak, pathetic and defeated.

Now, I’d like to add just a few lines to their dialogue, because this:

Doesn’t really sound like Shadow to me. I mean, man: you beat this random guy to the ground, called him worthless and pathetic out of nowhere and then you just leave? I know Shadow is rather apathetic and he’s supposed to be savage and all, but this just felt kind of out of place…

So instead of going full rude mode, what Shadow actually says is:

‘You’re part of the Defence Squad, aren’t you? Why would a bunch of mercenaries work for the Doctor? What is he hiding?’

‘The doctor paid well enough to not have his secrets spilled,’ Infinite retorts while trying to get up. He’s too hurt to do much, but he’s still willing to fight. He looks at Shadow with fiery eyes as he continues, ‘My squad… you took them down like they were nothing… why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?’

‘Mercenary work is for the weak,’ the hedgehog states matter-of-factly. ‘I’ve sworn to protect, not to follow the dirty line of work you did.’

This blows Infinite’s mind and he simply stares at Shadow, dumbfounded. He murmurs, ‘weak? How dare you, I’m not… We’re not weak! We’re the squad o-’

‘Where’s the Chaos Emerald?’ The jackal’s statement is completely ignored. However, Infinite is having none of this, so tries to attack Shadow once again in a fit of rage, only for the hedgehog to give him a signature roundhouse kick free of charge.

(Image merely illustrative)

‘What a waste of my time,’ Edgelord Number 1 says, aware that he’s not getting any useful information from this. He steps closer and Edgelord Number 2 flinches, ‘here’s some advice: don’t show your face around me ever again, or else I will finish you.’

And with that, Shadow teleports away, leaving Infinite to his existential crisis. He wasn’t able to avenge his friends; he wasn’t able to protect the base; heck, he wasn’t even able to hold his title of ultimate mercenary! How useless of a leader was he? Were mercenaries truly weak? Everything they’ve done… was it all worthless? Show no weakness… what did it even mean? They were all defeated, and Infinite can’t shake the feeling that he’s to blame for it. Wasn’t he supposed to be the best?

‘What is this? I’m…’ He looks at his hands, which are trembling ‘I’m shaking? I flinched? I... We failed… How pathetic… All because…’

Infinite stops as if he’s just gotten a moment of clarity. He then gets up and starts walking inside Eggman’s base. ‘I’m not weak,’ he says in a decided, chilling whisper; it’s almost scary. The view is set at the entrance, right in front of the jackal so that he starts blocking the light from the outside as he slowly walks towards the camera - while saying in that scary voice, “No mercy, no weakness”.

(I can totally see Liam O’Brien delivering this line perfectly…)

Then the last expository narrating happens about the same, except that Shadow narrates it – giving continuity to the fact that he was the one who started narrating this episode for a reason I will talk about later –, so we change a few words to match his speech more; it’s all in the third person and very husky and brooding, but with a subtle note of dread (oh, if only Jason Griffith would voice it… No disrespect to Kirk Thornton, but he just doesn’t hit Shadow’s perfect voice like Jason did; for me, at least. His Orbot voice is fantastic, though).

Now, instead of having Infinite looking forward for a few seconds before he gets the Phantom Ruby out of nowhere and places it in his chest very anti-climatically, we’ll do something different: as soon as he puts on the mask, he starts walking away, and we change settings to a dimly lit room, where we see Infinite from behind, fitting the frame perfectly. Following the beat of the background music, the camera changes to a close shot of his masked face as he’s holding the Phantom Ruby, which is glowing, reflecting on his mask and giving us a beautifully red-lit scene; it’s possible to hear very low, indiscernible whispers coming from the jewel. We then hear a small, evil chuckle from the masked jackal – he already sounds rather different from the guy who stuck his sword to the ground in honour of his friends earlier. The screen goes black, the whole “I was… Reborn!” thing dramatically happens in Infinite’s echoing voice and the not-flashback is over.

(I know this last part was quite specific and oddly detailed, but I had the scenes very clear in my head I wanted to try conveying how intimidating it looked to me o3o)

Ok, now that that’s done, prepare yourselves for an intermission. And by that, I mean prepare yourselves for a long analytical commentary on what I just wrote.

*”This is Our World: Phase 2″ plays in the background*

(Who is Shadow working for again? I don’t even know, man…)

Shadow isn’t just the guy who called Infinite pathetic. He’s the guy who killed Infinite’s squad (his friends) without any apparent remorse – and to be hypocrite as to say he’d sworn to protect when he just did something like this (yeah, Infinite doesn’t know any context of Shadow’s life, so of course he doesn’t understand what he meant); the guy who ruined everything he had going with his new job as leader of the Defence Squad; the guy who put him several levels under what he thought he was; the guy who questioned his entire way of living and the guy who put him under a lingering threat; “don’t show your face around me ever again” feels more intimidating now. Not only that, but, despite how Infinite might hate Shadow, he recognizes him as strong, admirable even – “why wouldn’t someone as strong as you be a mercenary?” Remember that Infinite himself is a mercenary; to actually acknowledge someone would be good at something you’re good at, specially someone you don’t like, has to be a sign of admiration, albeit a frustrating one. All of this puts a lot more of weight on how Infinite thinks of Shadow and why being stronger than the hedgehog is so important to him.

I made it so that “expect no mercy, show no weakness” is something like the Jackal Squad’s motto, their philosophy. I like to think it means that they should never count on someone’s mercy, for their enemies won’t spare them; they should always go into battle aware that they might actually be fighting for their lives. At the same time, they should always stand their ground and never let anyone think they can take advantage of a squad member. This is what the jackals live for. But seeing as Infinite’s world has just been shattered and he failed hard on everything, he revises his mentality. “No mercy, no weakness” is what he’s going for now, as he wants to be above everyone, he wants to effectively be the strongest and for people to know that; he will be the one who doesn’t spare others, and he won’t be weak at all. Never again would a failure cost him that much, for never again would he fail.

To have Infinite place the Phantom Ruby on his own chest in Episode Shadow contradicts the opening scene of the main campaign. Remember the episode is a prequel to Sonic Forces’ main game, so it shouldn’t be completely detached from it; things must make sense when put together. As the main game begins by showing us Infinite inside of a tube in Eggman’s lab, we can assume one of two things: he’s either a robot/biological experiment created entirely by the scientist, or he’s a guy who’s been experimented on, thus Eggman was the one who placed the Phantom Ruby on him. With this in mind, it wouldn’t make sense to show us Infinite doing something if you’re going to tell us that he couldn’t have possibly done it on his own. But to have him hold the ruby as someone who deeply desires its powers and who listens to its ominous whispering? Not only does it line better with the aforementioned scene, but it also makes Infinite seem more prone to the ruby’s power (instead of just… you know, “random angry dude”).

As this intermission has gone on long enough, I’ll only make a brief commentary on the Phantom Ruby: I like the idea of the ruby being somewhat alive and exerting influence over Infinite. Now, I won’t say it’s the kind of influence where it justifies his horrible behaviour or the awful things he did. It’s less “mind-control” and more “that best friend who always encourages you and never calls you out on your bullshit”. Its grooming Infinite’s ego and just nudging him to keep making bad decisions, to keep shutting himself in this new reality where he’s all powerful and above everyone else. So it’s the jackal’s pride, spite and grief, along with Eggman’s overall encouragement and the Phantom Ruby’s influence all put together that, in a general sense, make Infinite what he is. (I can go into more detail about this idea once I make a Part 2.)

Mission Accomplished: “angry bitchy boy turned edgy, OP and unimpressed” changed his status to “tragic boy turned edgy, bitter and extremely power-hungry”.

Intermission’s over, let’s get back to the story!

With Infinite’s backstory slightly redone (or rather, shown under a different light), I could stop right here. But I don’t want to, oh no! I say we take this a few steps further and just finish Episode Shadow! Yeah, I told you this was going to be a long post.

*”Battle with Infinite: Second Bout” plays in the background*

Ok, now we cut to a few months later, where Episode Shadow would originally begin. Rouge comments that Omega was on recon mission in that “unknown base of operations that seems to be totally outside the chain of command for Eggman’s army” (whatever that is supposed to mean) when he spotted an unidentified masked person with strange energy readings and an unknown battle ID. Omega reported a “large scale troop” and… that’s it, he just stopped talking. Rouge then talks about that “new weapon” Eggman was supposedly developing and sends Shadow to the base to investigate along with Omega. She makes a remark about how they should get the entire Team Dark together for this (“It should be fun”), but Shadow dismisses the idea, saying that he’s enough on his own. “Omega said the same thing. You two go together like chilli and hot dogs.”

We can keep this at the whole “dialogue on screen” thing. I don’t really mind and it sure spares the budget.

The City stage plays as usual, except the dialogue in the background changes a bit, because Team Dark bickering (or just talking in general, I love this team so much) is my jam.

‘E-123 Omega here. Extermination proceeding without incident. No problems to report.’

‘Omega!’ Rouge exclaims, ‘Why have you stopped responding earlier? We- wait, extermination? This is supposed to be a recon mission, what are you doing?!’

‘I was spotted. Priorities conflicted; therefore I decided to eliminate the enemy altogether. New Mission Objective: Defeat Eggman.’

‘But you can’t go making a scene like that!’

‘See, this is what happens when you send the giant killer robot for this kind of op,’ Shadow sasses. And I’ll imagine Jason’s voice for this too, thank you.

‘I have several reports of recon missions where you retaliated, Shadow.’

‘I might have to join you boys soon enough. I turn my back for five seconds and this happens…’ Rouge comments in a tired voice.

Omega is ready to start robotically recounting the reports of failed recon missions where Shadow retaliated, but he is suddenly cut by static and the vague sound of the Phantom Ruby. Rouge tries to contact him again and we get small bits of his original lines here – “All sensors offline”, “Casualty report”, “Unidentified system intrusion. Emergency withdrawal!” and “I am E-123 Omega, the most powerf-sjfpstswq”, that stuff – before his communication is completely cut. Shadow asks something like “what’s going on?”, but his communication with Rouge is cut as well. We play whatever’s left of the level in silence (except for the sweet background music).

(Oh yeah, this happened or whatever…)

Now, I know the next scene is a screen dialogue again, and I know I just said I don’t mind it, but watching this:

… Is so bloody uncomfortable. This feels dumb. This is so dumb. I feel like they robbed us an epic scene in exchange of some awkward reading with absolutely no context. What the hell is “!” supposed to mean?! What did Infinite do?! If I wanted to imagine the action scenes all on my own, I’d spend my time daydreaming! What, did they not know what to do here so they just threw in some random lines to fill the gap between this and the next level?!

… Sorry, I got a little carried away. This simple scene frustrates me a lot by not existing. So yeah, we’re throwing in a cutscene.

(I just noticed how salty this post is getting. This was not my intention at all, I still love this game, oh dear…)

Shadow reaches the edge of the city and encounters a dark silhouette hovering just above the flames that cover the ground; there’s debris scattered everywhere. The figure has its back turned, and the world seems to glitch ever so slightly around them.

‘The world’s most powerful robot is no more a challenge than crabmeat. Even the Doctor’s most daring designs can’t compete with my power… It is without peer,’ the figure chuckles to themselves.

Shadow starts approaching silently, analysing the situation. Despite this being Omega’s location, he can’t see the robot.

‘Wonder how easy it would be to end this entire planet. Don’t you…’

Suddenly, the voice speaks close to the hedgehog’s ear:

‘…Shadow?’

He turns around to see that the unknown person has appeared behind him, which throws him off. The hedgehog takes several steps back and puts himself in a fighting stance.

It’s hard to see past the jackal’s mask, but he seems amused as he looks down on Shadow. Twistedly so.

‘How wonderful to see that our not-so-tall, dark and brooding guest has arrived. I’ve been waiting for you, Shadow~’

‘Tell me what you did to Omega. Now,’ the agent demands.

‘Oh, come now, Shadow. Our long-awaited reunion and still you spout such nonsense.’ Infinite floats down to stand a few meters away from his enemy.

‘I don’t know you,’ Shadow states. The masked jackal tilts his head, but doesn’t say anything, so he asks again, ‘what have you done to Omega?’

‘Only what is ought to be done when someone stands in your way. Weaklings like E-123 Omega are of no consequence, don’t you agree?’

‘The only thing of no consequence is that big mouth of yours.’

Shadow launches himself at Infinite, who easily avoids his attack. The jackal starts laughing manically.

‘Ah, I suppose you would think so,’ he states. ‘After all, it’s not so funny to be the one losing the battle, is it? I am Infinite. You say you do not know me, and yet I remember you so very well… I’ve lost all I was, I’ve become what I am because of you. Savour that thought as I return the favour.’

Guess what happens? That’s right, we get another boss battle! I think it’s only fair that Infinite gets to have his rematch with Shadow. Besides, it establishes a comparison with the “old” Infinite and how much stronger he’s now – from Shadow’s perspective, that is.

I have no idea how this battle would play out. Maybe something similar to his second battle in the main story (no, don’t worry: we’ll talk about the exceeding amount of Infinite battles in the next part), with the 2D layout. Let’s say Infinite is surrounded with his Red Cubes of Doom while he’s not attacking, so you can’t touch him. Maybe he makes the fire glitch and get closer to you at some point. Maybe he makes clones and you have to defeat each of them to get to the real guy, I don’t know! Tag your ideas, I’d love to see them! ^^

Anyway, once the battle’s over and Shadow “wins” (because Infinite is not defeated, he’s just done with this fight), the jackal might say something in the lines of “I suppose I’ve let this duel go on for long enough. I have other matters to attend to, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

We get back to the cutscene and Infinite is glitching a bit, quickly recomposing himself, laughing. Shadow is panting.

‘What’s the matter, Shadow? Can’t take down a measly jackal anymore?’ The masked one says sarcastically. ‘It seems like I’ve overestimated your strength. You’re no fit to be a mercenary at all.’

There’s a beat and Shadow realises what this is about. He looks at Infinite, frowning. ‘It’s you… Defence Squad Jackal…’

Infinite stares at the hedgehog. He doesn’t seem to be as amused anymore. His golden eye’s glowing under his mask, and so is the Phantom Ruby on his chest. A tense background music plays as Infinite answers dryly:

‘Yes.’

‘I’ve spared you, but now you’re going too far. It’s time to finish this! Chaos Spear!’

The spears of light simply go through Infinite as if they didn’t exist. Shadow goes for a spin dash/homing attack/kick to the face or whatever you can think of, but the masked villain glitches out of the way with ease and lands an almost perfect copy of Shadow’s roundhouse kick.

The hedgehog glides across the floor, almost falling over. Infinite scoffs.

‘This new “me” has limitless power. I have no mercy; no weakness! I am the true ultimate force that will tear this world apart, and what may have worked to bring me down before…’ the jackal starts floating again; thousands of red cubes start dancing around him and, as he raises a hand, they all group in the sky not far above them. ‘… No longer does.’

(Why yes, this is a reference to Mephiles the Dark and that time he destroyed the Sceptre of Darkness!)

Infinite throws his “Take THIS!” and Shadow does the “!” – which is him frantically trying to get out of the way as the thousands cubes of doom come crashing down on him.

The screen goes black.

Scene ends.

The Virtual Reality level should play as usual from there. I don’t even want to change the background dialogue, because I really like it: it’s confusing, it’s weird, it’s unsettling and it slaps Shadow in the face in a way that we rarely see. I love it! (Although, I do think the gameplay should have a tiny little bit more of 3D parts. We love Green Hill, but we also love the freedom to move on more than two directions when playing as the Ultimate Life Form. But it’s cool)

After that, we could get another cutscene (we’re full of cutscenes, huh? Well, this is a hypothetical rewriting with a hypothetical budget. Also, Episode Shadow is more of an exposition episode anyway). In this cutscene, we would start with some shots of different known locations: Green Hill, Chemical Plant, Crisis City, Mystic Jungle, Kingdom Valley, Babylon Garden, you name it! And all of these places are somewhat “corrupted”; they’re glitching out, full of those red cubes, and there’s just this ominous atmosphere in them, as if they’re abandoned, desolated despite looking roughly the same as ever. We then see a black-and-red blur cross the screen, and a short narration takes place:

“I’ve been here for longer than I can remember. This… alternate reality, this fake world. There seems to be no escape. Rouge and Omega talk to me occasionally…”

We see Shadow leaning against a wall. His communicator plays only white noise, then Rouge’s voice comes in; it’s strangely echoed as it calls out to him. Shadow throws the device far away and sighs.

“… They’re fake too. No matter where I go, no matter how much I run…”

Shadow is skating through Pumpkin Hill or something, when the world suddenly starts to glitch out massively; we hear the Phantom Ruby’s noise and suddenly, we’re on the ARK.

“It’s like this place was made to torture me. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.”

‘I’ve moved on from this a long time ago,’ Shadow says to the void of the Universe as we hear gunshots in the distance. He’s not being completely truthful. ‘Putting me through this scenario dozens of times changes nothing. Don’t you have anything more creative at this point?’

There’s silence, except for the shouts in the Space Colony. A voice calls out to Shadow, and he promptly ignores it, albeit with a pained look in his eyes. He’s visibly tired, almost hopeless, if one could ever describe Shadow the Hedgehog that way.

He sighs.

‘Alright, how do I get out of this one?”

We then get a start of a short level in the ARK. Don’t worry, it’s not one of those hellish mazes that usually haunt every ARK level there ever was; this is more straight forward, with doors closing all around you so that you know where you shouldn’t go, and some G.U.N. robots trying to kill you, simple thing.

The catch happens when you’re halfway through the level: as you’re crossing a long corridor, the game begins to “crash” – in the sense of you losing control of the character, the visuals beginning to glitch and the soundtrack going weird, all in a way that makes the soul leave the body of the player for a terrifying four seconds of “HOLY SHIT, I BROKE THE GAME”. But nope, you didn’t break the game: the Phantom Ruby is trolling you. We soon find that out as the signature noise plays and the glitching effect on screen disperses to show a new scenario: Mystic Jungle. The real Mystic Jungle. Congratulations: you get to play in a totally different zone for the rest of the level.

‘My head…’ Shadow murmurs to himself. ‘That was too quick; this can’t be right, it- ugh, why is it so bright here? Where are all the red things? This place seems too normal… is it… am I back in the real world?!’

We then finish the level, get our nice score and head to the last scene of the episode.

Shadow is going through the jungle, taking in everything that isn’t an illusion. He passes by a red sword stuck to the ground and leans against a tree, still a little out of it, still struggling to believe that anything is real anymore. The hedgehog then takes his communicator – surprisingly intact; hadn’t he thrown that away? – and tries to make contact. There is static for a moment, when suddenly…

‘Shadow? Oh my- Shadow, is that you?!’

He’s startled for a moment, but so relieved to hear Rouge’s normal voice again.

‘It’s me, Rouge. What’s the situation? Where’s Omega?’

‘Omega? We lost contact with him months ago; the Resistance says he must have been shut down after the Doctor took over!’

Shadow raises both his non-existing eyebrows in surprise, barely holding a gasp. He then frowns.

‘Shut down? Resistance? What do you mean “the Doctor took over”? What the heck happened?’

‘What happened? What happened?! I should be the one asking you that! You’ve been offline for six months! Everyone keeps saying you’re working with Eggman and Infinite, and I couldn’t contact you or Omega, I thought… I thought we’d lost you for good…’

‘Nonsense,’ Shadow states. We start hearing voices in the distance, and the hedgehog starts looking around while still talking ‘I’ll tell you the details later, it’s long story. What’s the current situation?’

‘Shadow…’

The (Tired) Ultimate Life Form spots something from behind the trees. Still in hiding, he looks closer only to see the Custom Hero holding the prototype Phantom Ruby they just found and talking to Tails and… Classic Sonic, much to Shadow’s confusion.

‘… We’re at war.’

Shadow takes a moment to process what’s just been said. He doesn’t even pay attention to what Rouge says next (neither do we, as the background music starts getting louder than the bat’s voice). He still watches the avatar, Tails and Classic Sonic as they leave; he focuses on the Phantom Ruby.

‘Meet me in the City. I’ve got a lot to tell you,’ Shadow says.

And with that, he leaves, the scene fades out and Episode Shadow is over!

*”The Light of Hope: Menu Version” plays in the background*

Now, a few more analytical notes before we close this ridiculously gigantic thing:

The immediate reason why we have Shadow being stuck in the Virtual Reality for six months is to indicate to us why he doesn’t show up earlier in the main game. It’s not like he was being useless this whole time and just decided to show up whenever it was most Ex-Machina of him; much like Sonic, he was trapped by the enemy. A mental trap that put Shadow on survivor mode for months without any way of communicating with anybody; with twisted versions of his friends trying to get to him and remind him that, hey, they’re still out there, probably in high danger; with these illusions mocking him, reminding him of painful memories, isolating him in familiar places… I say: if you want to emotionally hit a character, hit them hard. And this experience is bound to leave Shadow with some emotional scar, alright.

(Ever heard of conveniently coming out of nowhere?)

Shadow is bound to lose his sense of reality and sometimes it should be hard for him to acknowledge that this is the real world. I hope I can showcase some of his reactions in the later parts of this o3o

The Virtual Reality isn’t all glitchy by mistake. No, no: Infinite is perfectly capable of making a “perfect copy” of the real world, but he doesn’t want to. He wants Shadow to know this is a fake world and to know that he’s completely trapped in it while his real friends and allies are out there doing who-knows-what in a world run by the enemy. He wants to throw Shadow off-balance as much as he can, because he’s spiteful and doesn’t just leave the hedgehog to the side without a second glance.

In the game, Infinite says that they didn’t really have time to tune his power yet, so we can tell putting Shadow in the Virtual Reality was more of a practice of sorts. But man, I think this is too much of a cool concept, so I’ll say Infinite did put his power to the test before all of this; because Eggman, sir: you don’t simply throw your super-secret, amazing, unparalleled weapon in the battlefield without testing it first. This is something that can be inferred, it doesn’t need to be directly told, it just- I’m telling you this right now, ok?

I know Shadow is supposedly “over” this conflict with what happened in the ARK and it probably feels over-used to add it in again, but… it’s a thing the games haven’t tackled in such a long time, I feel like this would be a nice call-back. Besides, Infinite would want to know what would bring distress to Shadow; what happened in the ARK isn’t exactly a secret, especially if he’s working with Eggman. And Shadow can be as “over it” as he wants: it’s still a scar that will never truly leave him. Even if he watches it happen dozens of times, it’s still at least a little bit of an emotional rollercoaster.

ALTHOUGH! I also think this ARK level could be easily replaced with some other random level if you want to argue that Forces happens in Mobius or something, where Gerald and Maria and G.U.N. maybe never existed and whatnot.

What brought Shadow back, you ask? Well, it probably has to do with a certain someone spontaneously activating a Phantom Ruby. Maybe the avatar was thinking of Shadow and how it’d be nice to have him on their side again? Maybe they were thinking of undoing Infinite’s evil deeds? Maybe the raw power of the Phantom Ruby prototype being suddenly activated by the Custom Hero just crashed something another Phantom Ruby user did, like magnetic waves interfering with each other? Who knows?

I also find it important to show the Custom Hero here not only to show that there’s a connection between Shadow’s sudden freedom and their actions, but also to establish the tiniest amount of early familiarity between Shadow and the original character. Then maybe (maybe) I’ll give them a bit more of interaction in the main game, because it’d be nice to have a cool interaction with Shadow; and as endearing as his smile after the avatar does their thing with the sun of destruction is, it feels like it comes out of nowhere, if you think about it…

(I mean... Does he even know who we are?)

Infinite’s sword stuck to the ground goes completely over Shadow’s head, as he has no idea what that is or who it belonged to or what it means. It’s really just there for the viewer to reminisce the beginning of the episode and have a slight existential crisis.

When playing the main campaign, we get some pretty convenient information from Shadow once he finally shows up. Episode Shadow should give us a sense of how he knows those things. Want it or not, he did spend a long time studying the Phantom Ruby’s power far more closely than anybody else – well, maybe Sonic spent almost as much time as Shadow in a similar state, but that’s something to cover in another part.

The fact that Shadow is the one narrating this entire episode is supposed to allude to him telling Rouge exactly what happened during those six months he was gone. But if you want to read it as him talking to himself in the Virtual Reality as he slowly descends into madness, then be my guest!

I don’t know if it’s noticeable, but I’ve tried to tune Infinite’s cheesiness down a bit. I don’t think I can rid him of it entirely – after all, he is somewhat of a pompous, edgy, over-the-top character in general; he’s a full-on drama queen 24/7 and the only character cheesier than him is Sonic. Now, what we do with Infinite is to at least give a base to what he says. Also, I wanted him to sound a bit more like he lets the power get to his head. Oh well, I surely hope we’ll be tackling more of Infinite in the future!

Episode Shadow is extremely short, even for a DLC. I mean, it’s about only 20 minutes long – even less, if you’re good at it! With the addition of the cutscenes, the small changes, the boss fights against Squad Jackal and Infinite, and the added levels, the episode shouldn’t get overwhelmingly longer, but longer enough for it to feel more satisfying!

And with that, we’re done! I hope you enjoyed this massive thing. Despite me really liking Sonic Forces, I do think a few things could be improved. It’s not like it will happen, but rewriting is a lot of fun!

And why, no: I don’t take myself seriously.

#Sonic Forces #Episode Shadow #Sonic the Hedgehog #Infinite #Shadow #Rewrite #Headcanon #Character Analysis #Word count: why do I even bother?#phew that was a lot #I'm so tired

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onestowatch · 4 years

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Matthew Chaim on Bon Iver, Road Trips, and ‘The Mathematics of Nature’ [Q&A]

Photos: Dan Robinson

When asked, people would readily agree that logistics and emotions don’t entirely align. Left versus right brain, we’ve all been told which side of the spectrum we sway toward. Yet, after the personality tests are settled and we inevitably grow through our experiences, feeler or thinker aside, it becomes clear that the palette of the human experience is certainly not black or white but iridescent in nature.

Songwriter, artist, and travel enthusiast, Matthew Chaim will tell you that his life journey follows this colorful metaphor. Losing his father at only 12 years old, Chaim was exposed to some of the darker hues of life at an extremely tender age. It was this exposure to immense pain that spurred the outpouring of his heart into music.

From his first EP, 2018′s HOMEMADE, to his debut album The Mathematics of Nature, Chaim’s evolution as an artist and a person is wildly apparent. From the deeply personal and profound subjects present to the intricate sonorities utilized, with The Mathematics of Nature, Chaim has reached a new height in his artist career, one that exemplifies incredible courage and relentless creativity.

Together, Chaim and friend, producer, and co-writer Jason Wu, a.k.a. Rabitt, explore the multi-hued palette of the human experience. A concept album through and through, though seemingly intangible, as one allows themselves to get lost in the project, the range of sonics explored becomes an extension of feeling. By marrying the science of sound with the art of emotive expression, we can better understand what The Mathematics of Nature truly entails.

Each track tells a different part of Chaim's story, complete with all the highs and lows and back and forth that comes along with being so distinctly human. As the album progresses, the story moves through various gains and losses: the death of his father, the loss of a love, and finally the discovery of the world around him and what is truly most important in life. The Mathematics of Nature becomes a sort of sonic photo album, highlighting beautiful moments of strife and clarity along the way.

We had a chance to catch up with the myth, the legend, Matthew Chaim on everything from the grieving his father, his solo trip across the United States, and the inspirational process of constructing The Mathematics of Nature.

OTW: Let’s start at the very beginning, how did you catch the music bug?

Chaim: I started playing the drums when I was about 15, and quickly adopted the vision that I would spend my life touring the world as a drummer. That vision hasn’t changed all that much. My position on stage has simply shifted a touch more downstage.

OTW: Any groundbreaking musical or philosophical influences on you?

Chaim: My influences are ever-changing. A big one for me throughout the creation of this project was and is Bon Iver. When I drove across the country to move from Montreal to LA, I was driving West for eight days and that meant witnessing eight sunsets in a row. Every evening as the sun began to set, I’d switch off whatever album or podcast or audiobook I was listening to and put on Bon Iver’s 22, A Million. Not only is that record an incredible sunset soundtrack, it also showcases such free, stream-of-consciousness creativity in both the writing and production. And that is the place I also strive to write from. Or rather, not so much strive towards but let go into.

OTW: Your lead single “Sunflowers” is about the loss of your father as a child. How did experiencing this grief at suh a young age shape the person you are today?

Chaim: I was already a pretty sensitive kid before my father passed away. He died when I was only 12 years old, and I think it left me in a very confused and shocked state. Perhaps more so at such a tender age, but I believe we all find ways of storing such immense pain in faraway crevices of ourselves—both physically in our bodies and mentally/emotionally in our psyches. Writing songs has proven to be a great way for me to excavate this hidden pain within me, and reverse some of the numbing work I had to do at such a young age.

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OTW: You’re originally from Montreal, can you tell us about the music scene there? How does it compare to Los Angeles?

Chaim: I don’t know that I ever found myself deeply embedded in the nucleus of the Montreal music scene, so I’m probably not the best ambassador to talk to it. But I will say there is an incredible culture in Montreal that has allowed some pretty incredible music to come out of the city. I definitely found my little community of creative collaborators there, and I’m super grateful for getting started in Montreal with those friends. There is a rhythm to Montreal that is completely different to Los Angeles. And the more time I spend here in LA, the more thankful I am for having some sort of tether to the slower, more grounded pace that Montreal built in me.

OTW: When moving to LA you took an epic solo road trip across the country, were there any profound moments experienced on that journey?

Chaim: That whole journey had a pretty profound effect on me. I was surprised to learn just how much I enjoyed driving long distances completely alone, and after the first few days, I settled into this wonderful rhythm that felt really empowering. There was something about getting to LA by myself and on my own terms that gave me this beautiful sense of independence and freedom. And the closer I got to my destination, the more the Earth rewarded my efforts with its beauty.

As I got into Colorado and then through Utah, the natural landscapes opened up into these incredible expressions of just how creative and grand the world can be. I also met some incredible people along the drive. I chose not to plan my overnight stays beforehand and often ended up couch-surfing with complete strangers. Some of whom I’m still in touch with. It has been nice to settle into LA for a while now, and have my own space and whatnot. But I definitely feel another road trip coming in my near future.

OTW: Any recommendations for when we plan our road trip across the U.S.?

Chaim: Check your oil and tires. Plan as little as possible. Go slow.

OTW: Tell us about meeting your primary collaborator and friend, Jason Wu a.k.a. Rabitt?

Chaim: Jason and I met in the Summer of 2018 when I was here in LA for a few weeks on a writing trip. I had actually reached the end of my trip the week prior and was planning to head back to Montreal when my good friend Aidan D’Aoust at the Songwriters’ Organization of Canada (SOCAN) had contacted me with a cancellation at their LA house. He asked me if I wanted to extend my trip a week and stay at the house, and it was in that extended week that I was lucky enough to meet Jason. We were thrown into a session together, and out came “Sunflowers” on that very first day.

That was a really powerful and cathartic song to write, and I was excited to see what else Jason and I could create together. I left back to Montreal, and a few weeks later decided to drive myself across the country to LA. Jason and I started writing together on a regular basis in the fall of 2018, and both our creative collaboration and friendship steadily grew. It’s been an incredibly gratifying experience to build an entire project from scratch together. His talent, creativity and willingness to take risks make writing songs with him exciting every single time.

OTW: Since your debut EP, your sound has changed a bit. Tell us about what inspired this sonic shift?

Chaim: I think it has a lot to do with what’s in my ears that effect where I’m going sonically. At the time of writing my debut EP Homemade, I was obsessed with Drake and the whole Toronto, OVO thing: PARTYNEXTDOOR, Majid Jordan, etc. Then last year, I started to fall back in love with my favorite band as a kid, Coldplay. And that sent me on a whole adventure of digging into artists that I was familiar with but never went deep on, such as Bon Iver. And when I started to really listen to 22, A Million, it was over. I was in love.

OTW: Tell us about the process of putting together The Mathematics of Nature?

Chaim: A lot of The Mathematics of Nature was written in the fall of 2018, just after making the trip across the country and committing to discovering what my life could be like if I came to LA and didn’t leave. Before making that trip, however, I also ended a long-term relationship with someone I loved in Montreal. So I got to LA full of the raw sensations of a breakup plus the inspiration I soaked up on that drive and out came all these songs. Once Jason and I decided to put together a project that was entirely written by us, it allowed us the freedom to do some experimental and exciting things with the songs. I think we felt that the cohesion would be there no matter what since our creative signatures would naturally touch every track. So with that in mind, we just threw ideas at these songs and saw what stuck. I’m super excited about the final creation, and yet also know that this is only the beginning.

OTW: Any collective motifs or themes? Easter eggs?

Chaim: Lots of themes are threaded through these songs for me, and the order of songs also plays some importance. A lot of it lives at this intersection of heart and mind, of left brain and right brain, of math and nature. But I also love the idea of people discovering their own meaning and relationship with the songs. In terms of easter eggs, one thing that comes to mind is in the intro song “Tender.” There are these vocal samples in it that are my vocals all chopped up and pitched and tuned in different ways to create something melodic yet of little to no lyrical meaning. However, within the gibberish, you can sort of make up your own ideas of what I’m saying. I’ve started to hear certain lyrics in there. You might find your own.

OTW: We hate to play favorites but we can’t help but mention how much we love“Departed.” What was the inspiration behind that one in particular?

Chaim: “Departed" is about the on-and-off relationship I was in back home. It speaks to the intensity, the volatility, and the pain of constantly running away and running back to someone you love. Interestingly enough, “Departed” was probably the most laborious song to write and finish on the project. I remember it took us a good few sessions to start to feel like we had something. I had written it off early on in my head as something I wasn’t crazy into. And then, sure enough, it grew into this super emotional and special song for me. It’s also one of my favorites to perform live.

OTW: What does your writing process with Rabitt look like?

Chaim: Jason quietly starts an idea on the guitar or piano or some pad sound, usually a very simple one. And I sit in the back of the room and quietly sing some melodies and jot down some lines. Sometimes he’ll print out a loop of that one sound and I’ll go outside the studio and write to it on the balcony or somewhere alone. After I feel like I’ve got something I’m into, I’ll head back in and only then will we start to put what I’m writing and what he’s writing together. There’s this “alone, together” quality to our collaboration that I really enjoy.

OTW: We have to mention, the sounds found on the project are truly mesmerizing. How did you and Rabitt go about shaping the sonics of the EP?

Chaim: We just try and do the weirdest things we can think of. On “Thoughts," which is the second song we wrote together, we started by loading up some sort of vocoder connected to the mic and I recorded some ideas. Jason then pitched those vocals down and sped them up. We scanned through them until we landed on this crazy frog-sounding rhythmical thing, which ended up becoming the main percussive element to the song. Jason is also incredible with melody. Coming up with melodies is probably my favorite part of songwriting, so typically my artist child gets all frustrated when someone else in the room is pitching their own melodies. But Jason is amazing at creating these addictive melodies that end up in a lot of our songs’ post-choruses. For more sonic details than that, you’ll probably have to ask Jason directly. But yeah, I think a lot of it is simply our intention to find sounds we’ve never encountered before.

OTW: You’ve been busy performing live around North America. Tell us about the curation of your live show? A little bird told us there is a meditation portion of the performance…

Chaim: That bird is giving everything away. It’s been super exciting to build out a live production for this music, and we’re just getting started. My goal with the live show is to bring people into a quieter state. Not outwardly quiet, as surely I want the music to be loud AF. But an internal quietude, a concentration. Because it’s so easy for us to forget to enjoy what we are experiencing in the moment and spend our time negotiating with the endless train of thoughts and judgments in our minds.

Live shows are an excellent place for us to start and tackle this habit, because by attending a show we are essentially saying, “For the next however many minutes, I am going to focus my attention on this centralized point of entertainment.” People are giving me the gift of their attention. So that’s why I’m playing with this meditation section of the show. We’re still in the research and development phase, but I have some pretty crazy visions of what this production will evolve into in 2020.

OTW: Anything special in the works for 2020?

Chaim: So ya the live show is front and center for me in 2020. We’re going to be taking this music out into the streets for sure. I’ve also got some songs to share with you in 2020 that are... important to me. That being said, I'm also starting to pendulum swing back into writing more, and I think I’ve got some fresh music in me that is ready to take form.

OTW: Who are your Ones to Watch?

Chaim: I’m really into EDEN right now, love his new releases. There’s also this insanely talented Canadian artist named Leif Vollebeck who I’m obsessed with. He just dropped a new record two weeks ago.

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#Matthew Chaim #The Mathematics of Nature #EDEN #Bon Iver #album reviews #singer songwriter #indie #electronic

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signaturesoundsradio-blog · 4 years

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2019’s Top Rap Albums, according to Capital K

10: Skyzoo & Pete Rock – Retropolitan

Very few dudes out there are rapping like Skyzoo is. He’s been dropping impeccable verses for years, running with legendary crews like Duck Down and Jamla records across his fifteen year career. Zoo has proven himself time and again as a dedicated wordsmith with his carefully crafted songs and projects, but for the first time in a long time we get a clear, concise album from him that is not bogged down by an extensive concept. Instead, Retropolitan is simply an homage to the streets of the Big Apple, told from two men who have watched the city and its culture lose some of their once seemingly indelible essence. Pete Rock brings the type of New York production that has been in season for almost three decades, and with Skyzoo it still feels fresh. Though the NY rap scene remains firmly in the ‘90s, what with old groups making repetitive returns and most new rappers unable to carve out any semblance of originality, the occasional retro album truly nails it, even in 2019. This is one of them.

9: Little Brother – May the Lord Watch

The return that very few people saw coming, May the Lord Watch is a short project (only 10 of the album’s 15 tracks contain beats and rhymes), but it easily silences any questions as to whether Rapper Big Pooh and Phonte might have lost a step since putting out two certified classics in the early 2000s. Picking up right where Phonte’s 2018 No News Is Good News left off, May the Lord Watch finds the two rappers comfortably claiming their place as kings in the ‘Grown Man Rap’ movement. They effortlessly trade bars as they craft narrative of nights in (“Sittin’ Alone”), the married life (“Goodmorning Sunshine”), and thankfulness for the blessings of God (“Work Through Me”). Without an ounce of bitterness, the men sketch their pleasures and pains across Little Brother’s tried-and-true canvas of radio skits and interludes (UBN – U Black N****s – network remains as funny as ever, situating everything the group does squarely in its context of blackness). Notably, the album features no production from original Little Brother member Ninth Wonder, but the rappers feel right at home over the lush, sample-heavy beats which maintain the aesthetic sensibilities of the group’s early classics.

8: Wiki – Oofie

Oofie finds New York rapper Wiki in a much more subdued place than his 2017 solo debut album No Mountains in Manhattan. It’s a definite change of pace from a man who went through plenty of transitions in the past two years, including the breakup of his super-group Secret Circle and a move to his own label Wikiset (under which Oofie was released). On this offering Wiki maintains his dedication to personal, biographic bars, though Oofie is much more focused on Wiki the man than on Wiki’s hometown New York City. The production is more modern but not trendy, making a concerted effort to leave space for Wiki’s bars to shine through. He rhymes with more confidence than ever, a little slower and more sure of himself than the more fun-loving Wiki of 2017. Slower paced but not monotonous, Oofie will not disappoint those looking for well-crafted lines that are at once playful and somewhat melancholy.

7: L’Orange & Jeremiah Jae – Complicate Your Life with Violence

L’Orange made a name for himself as one of Mello Music Group’s earliest virtuosos, crafting beautifully cinematic, dusty records to fit his guest emcees. The pairings solidified his place as one of the underground’s premiere sample-based producers and made for some dark, brilliant albums. This project is no different, with Jeremiah Jae along for the ride as a crook-turned-soldier in a dystopian world of violence and darkness. While the scenes are not particularly gruesome or gory, their psychological tension draws the listener along like a thriller movie, and Jae’s vivid rhymes and unaffected tone make the chilling subject matter all the more enticing. The two artists are at the top of their games here, building an album interspersed with vintage film samples and some spectacular features to create an engrossing, consistent mood in a way that very few other albums did this year. Complicate Your Life with Violence places itself in 2019’s catalog as a bleak assessment of the violent, at times seemingly unforgivable, world in which we live. It’s an album that is both a product of today and a warning of tomorrow.

6: Add-2 – Jim Crow The Musical

Probably the most unknown artist on this list, Chicago rapper Add-2 released his powerful Jim Crow the Musical in the twilight of 2019 and immediately slid himself right into the discussion for the year’s top rap albums. An album that is equal parts pride and sorrow, full of both fear and resolve, Jim Crow is an earnest look at the way in which America’s unabashed history of racism has manifested itself in the way it treats its black citizens in the present day. The versatile range of sounds and moods mesh together into a cohesive narrative of life lived in a skin that Add-2 sees as “both a gift and a curse” (“Hashtag”), linked through skits about blackness that give the album it’s ‘Musical’ feel. As a rapper, Add-2 falls somewhere in between Kendrick Lamar and Open Mike Eagle, as comfortable in a driving, breathless flow (“Git Your Hand Out of My Pocket”) as he is in a more reserved and conversational one (“The Secret Life of Blacks”), and that’s just in the album’s first two proper songs. The man can flat out rap, and on top of that, Add-2 does his own beats. Though he (like almost any underground artist) will likely tell you that he’s been grinding away, releasing quality content all along, this album feels like a coming-out party of sorts for the rapper, and it’s worth a listen from any fan of music in general.

5: Danny Brown – uknowhatimsayin¿

When word got out that the legendary Q-Tip would be executive producing Danny Brown’s newest album, expectations were naturally high. Following Danny’s critically acclaimed raw and ambitious Atrocity Exhibition in 2016, fans were eager to see how Tip would be able to elevate Brown’s game to new places. However, instead of trying to top Atrocity with another conceptual masterpiece, the two sent in a collection of straight up good to great songs from a newly refined Danny (complete with a new front tooth), who replaced the wildness of his previous work with a veteran’s swagger and confidence. Focused more on masterful bars than shock value, uknowhatimsayin¿ sees Danny primarily sticking to his ‘Old album Side A’ voice, while covering topics ranging from sex on a laundry machine (“Laundry”) to navigating life as a black man in the racist American system (“Shine”). The album is a flex from a man who has already made his masterpiece and now feels content to provide us with high quality, if not necessarily ambitious, reminders that he’s still a top lyricist and song-writer.

4: Brother Ali – Secrets & Escapes

If you felt that maybe Brother Ali had hit a period of creative coasting over the last decade, you’re in good company: so did he. And to remedy this, Ali made an album with the legendary Evidence that made it an explicit goal to throw out any songs that sounded like an Ali (or Evidence) joint. The result is a collection of songs that find Brother Ali at his hungriest, solemnest, and, in a way, most refreshed. Produced entirely by Evidence (and featuring verses from Evidence, Talib Kweli, and Pharoahe Monch), Secrets & Escapes treads familiar topics for Ali: spirituality, his own inner demons and struggles, and societal ills, but in this album he’s less preacher than teacher, an elder with a lot on his mind. Ali’s is a calming presence for today’s frenetic, confused society and he easily shows us that he’s still got the bars he once did. For his part, Evidence has crafted a sonically diverse, jazzy palette with some beautiful samples and dusty drums. If you forgot that he produced Kanye’s “Last Call,” consider this a reminder of Evidence’s status as a premiere double threat. Highlights include “Father Figures,” “Secrets & Escapes,” and “They Shot Ricky.”

3: billy woods & Kenny Segal – Hiding Places

For those that missed it, billy woods truly killed the year 2019. A new solo album, an updated re-release of a capstone essential, a grab bag megamix of new, unreleased, and well-known songs, and this absolutely relentless collaboration with LA producer Kenny Segal comprised woods’ voluminous 2019 output. Hiding Places finds woods rhyming over a more, for lack of a better word, listenable range of beats than many of his recent endeavors, and it works perfectly. Segal’s off-kilter but somehow entirely smooth production gives woods a canvas for some of his most personal and cathartic moments. There are very few rappers who make connections in the way billy woods does, and a vignette about how no one in the hood gets their mail forwarded when they move quickly turns from being a quirky anecdote to a grim depiction of reality as we realize it’s because many people are being chased by a never-ending stream of debt collectors and predatory lenders. The project’s dark humor puts a band-aid over some of its tragic, bleak content, making it an album that grows with each listen. If you’ve heard woods’s name thrown around a lot but never knew where to start, try this album on for size.

2: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Bandana

Following up a surprise classic is always a challenge. Fans and critics are easy to please the first time but once you’ve set a high bar for yourself there’s no turning back. Knowing this, and never ones to be rushed, Freddie “Gangster” Gibbs and super-producer Madlib made the world wait a whole five years before following up their essential 2014 release Piñata with this year’s Bandana. It was worth the wait. Where Piñata found Madlib inhabiting Gibbs’s realm in a Blaxploitation-inspired story of thuggin’ and dealing, their second album evens the playing field a bit, and Freddie is forced to rap over beats that at times sound like they came straight out of the Beat Konducta series. He proves himself more than capable, rapping on an entirely new level while he easily switches flows to match Madlib’s eclectic energy. Freddie’s content has changed, too, as the years since Piñata saw him spend time in an Austrian jail, lose his uncle and good friend, and split up with his fiance. Much of Bandana was written in that jail, and he’s more reflective, pacing between regret and pride of his dirty deeds and dark past. It’s a classic in its own right, with more depth than most of Freddie’s past work and a seamless marriage between one of the best producers ever to touch an iPad (Madlib’s tool of choice for Bandana) and a rapper eager to put his own name in the Hall of Fame conversation.

1: Maxo – LIL BIG MAN

Maxo raps with a depression born of hopelessness and uncertainty. He’s a man with more questions than answers, and a slow, straightforward flow that brings us into his world with toughness and ease. His are the problems of an entire generation of young men: How can you justify working for $10 an hour when you could make thousands by robbing one house? How can you bring your friends along when you make it, and will they still be your friends by the time you get there? And, most importantly, will you make it to see your next birthday? Maxo raps effortlessly over smooth, low fidelity beats that stand out from most of the lo-fi subgenre through their lushness and clean mixing. Though generally somber, the album does have its upbeat moments (“Kinfolk” and “Headphones”) to break up the darkness, and a beautiful feature from Lojji on “No Love” that adds some ethereal beauty. Maxo is open about his weaknesses and insecurities, yet positive reinforcement comes in the form of a phone call from his grandma reminding him that, as bad is gets, there’s always a place for him at her home. While other albums this year may have exhibited more ambition or technical reach, Maxo’s LIL BIG MAN stands out as one of 2019’s most listenable and emotional, a project with stunning production that bumps in the whip yet powerful lyrics that will hold your attention on the weakest of earbuds.

Honorable Mentions

Atmosphere – Whenever

Probably the best the group has sounded since 2010’s To All My Friends.

Blockhead – Free Sweatpants

Equal parts instrumental album and who’s who of Blockhead’s extensive circle of rap friends.

Damani Nkosi & iLL Camille – Harriett

A jazzy collaboration focused on black freedom and hope by two incredibly gifted emcees.

Medhane – Own Pace

A lo-fi album in the vein of Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs but with more clarity and optimism.

People Under the Stairs – Sincerely, The P

The last album from the legendary west coast group, Sincerely, The P is nostalgic and celebratory.

Quelle Chris – Guns

An album that examines the way in which fear, race, and firearms are used to brutalize communities.

Rapsody – Eve

An epic tour de force, Eve is an homage to black women that have influenced the artist and the world.

Albums I didn’t get around to that sound like they might have made this list

Boogie – Everything’s For Sale

Grip – Snubnose

And that’s it. All in all, 2019 was not a bad year for rap. Stick around next year for more reviews and lists from the squad here at Signature Sounds. May 2020 bring you happiness and success. Love & Respect.

- Capital K

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mobianstrip · 5 years

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sonic forces me to analyze the game

this is by no means a full, in depth review of sonic forces. however, since im working on a Forces au i think its only fitting to talk about my personal gripes with the game. just to be clear, i dont hate sonic forces by any means! there are some really neat concepts about it that i enjoy, which ill include my thoughts on as well! though with that said, theres a lot about it that could have been dealt with better. this post is gonna be a bit long and messy, sorry!

now i cant speak for what the gameplay controls itself are like since i havent actually played it with my own hands, so my primary focus will be the story and general format of the game. everything under the cut!

ill start by saying that in hindsight, i think the general premise of the game is actually really neat (had the war framing of the plot not been so overly glorified and bland. more on that below). eggman taking over most of the world is very reminiscent to the initial circumstance of mobius in the early archie sonic publication. it seems especially reflective of the comic in the fact that sonic forces takes place on a planet setting more akin to that of Mobius than that of Sonic’s World/Earth, the difference being the lack of human beings aside from Eggman. while this does somewhat bother me for the fact that it paints an inconsistency with the setting, im also all for the planet being strictly Mobians + Eggman again tbh. the concept of sonic being on earth populated by humans, complete with a mock version of the united states, never really settled well with me. it always felt like just a means to make sonic more relatable, which is true, but not done because it made anything more interesting. a problem that then arises is that the origins of shadow and silver/blaze would be radically different or at least would need some retcon alterations to make sense...but thats a topic for another day

overall, looking past the inconsistency with the setting and its implications, i enjoy how the premise of the game feels like going back to the basics. but even the premise still has its problems...which is never a good sign, and this point practically sealed forces’s fate of inconsistency: the theme of war and how it frames the story is so, so poorly written

starting with whats presented at the beginning of the game, sonic is captured by eggman as a prisoner. if the writing had just left it at that, fine. however, the exposition goes on to say that sonic has been there for six months being tortured...and that tails has completely lost it. again id be fine with this - the theme of war is a darker one so these two events would make sense in this circumstance. however, that tension is just totally lost in a matter of a few episodes. you rescue sonic who is just as cheery and jokey as ever, somehow able to fight a boss despite being supposedly locked away and tortured for six months

of course i understand that its not like they could give sonic ptsd and make him look tortured and weak and so on - but why even mention the torture thing at all? the same problem is apparent with the first cutscene with tails. tails is hardly given enough time to seem like he has "lost it". i will say though that tails WAS given a bit more of an emotional response to work with than sonic overall. particularly when tails is about to be attacked by chaos, and he ducks his head in fear and calls for sonic to help him even though sonic isnt there - i actually enjoyed this small segment bc it does reflect some of what was said about how he reacted to sonics capture (aside from also being across the planet...for seemingly no reason except bc he "lost it" and to get him away from the main group so that classic sonic can appear)

frankly speaking from these two points alone, the games tone just feels kind of confused. its obvious the writers wanted some parts of the darker theme of war...and its also obvious that going all out wasnt gonna be an option bc of the nature of sonic as a character and franchise being about more lighthearted, easier to relate to stories about sonics heroism. which im fine with that being the case; sonic is a hero and more importantly a mascot that profits off of kids being able to relate and look up to. my issue is simply that the premise of this game makes consistent writing kind of doomed from the start if the writers are trying to appeal to both the kids AND older fans. they cant go to the lengths necessary to adequately build the narrative. cant go too dark, cant go too lighthearted, and not finding a balance between to two gives you a confused and bland story

on that note, i personally find the theme of war to be...uncomfortably glorified and unchecked (adding to the tone confusion and blandness). sonic forces is named so because...yknow. armed forces. armies. the whole point of the game is that theres a war going on and youre on the good guy side. i mean its not as if youre fighting against other living creatures, just infinite and eggmans robots, but still. i think what put me off the most is the first comic with the soldier cat. after they save the day, the last lines are "I'll do better. I'll be better. I'll become a real soldier and a real hero." now slap that as the tagline to a united states army corps commercial and suddenly its really...sour tasting

war is just one of those subjects that i think needs to be handled with a bit more care. i mean think about it: the primary gimmick of forces is that you get to make your own character, to be the sonic version of yourself in this world. the plot of the game is that theres a war, and your character joins the resistance to defeat eggman. this game is pretty blatantly glorifying the idea that joining in on a war can make you a REAL soldier, a REAL hero. to some kids, that might sound pretty cool. but theres no nuance to it whatsoever, nothing thought provoking on the subject. no one steps back to be like ‘its good to do good things but wars are tough and not fun, and being a hero isnt everything’. none-a that

now do i think a sonic game could get it into a childs head that they should join the army for real? no, not necessarily. i think its possible, but i think that would also be due to a larger issue of military glorification present in modern culture in general (especially in america). mostly i just find the implications at play with glorifying the theme of war in conjunction to the avatar gimmick to be in poor taste and also entirely avoidable because...

i dont think the war and army framing even had to be a thing. not only is it just so sloppily done in general, with that fact that the supposed soldier forces on the Resistance side are literally never seen on screen except for some dialogue boxes in one episode and the rest of the time only being mentioned through other characters, but i seriously think never saying the words “war” or “army” and not including literal soldiers would have worked just as well and even been the better route. they could have just been like yeah heres eggman taking over the world, heres the resistance fighters that have come together to stop him, they are opposing forces and you play as your avatar to stop eggman - and just leave it at that. it wouldve made the glorification of war less obvious and the handling of the topics at hand appear less confused, appealing to a more lighthearted tone rather than weighing it down with frankly out of place hints to a darker subject of war

finally i wanna talk about the story as it relates to how its told through the game. the plot itself is fairly standard - eggman starts war, captures sonic, takes over planet. you rescue sonic, and together you fight eggman and infinite and ultimately defeat them. thats all good and well even if its cheesy sometimes. the REAL problem is how its executed. a lot of the exposition is given not through cutscenes, but through spoken dialogue with text box subtitles over the episode select screen. and it just feels so...stiff. it doesnt feel like world building, it just feels like being forcefed information with no substance behind it

i get that fully rendered cutscenes throughout can be expensive and time consuming, but shoot id take in-game rendered cut scenes at least. (like in sa, sa2, shadow 2005...) anything that could have provided the world building with a bit more ground to stand on would have been great. sure, there are levels to traverse which look cool...but they dont provide any sense of scale, they dont tell us what the area is like, and more importantly, you never see the other characters who are supposedly on the battlefield "alongside" you in a couple episodes. the storyline from the exposition along sounds like it could be an epic journey - but the way its told with the given game mechanics (i.e.: stage-based gameplay with no open worlds to explore) leaves a lot to be desired

i feel like the stuff explained in the comics should have just been cutscenes or exposition or something to pad out the game a bit. the comics are so short anyways so why just put it in the game? maybe not the first comic about the rando soldier saving the day or w/e...but the comic with silver and knuckles fighting chaos? the comic about infinites origins? all of that could have easily been included. at LEAST the comic with shadow was part of the DLC...but even thats just so gimmicky. they provide important background to the main plot of this game so i really dont understand why it was sidelined to comics and not just included from the beginning

the tension that the exposition already fails to build up is brought down even worse when coupled with the confusing timing of the stage complete screens, where you get your completion rank and see what new character creation items you unlocked. listen, i know immediate gratification for completing the level is important and all...but i swear, having these screens between the end of a boss fight and the cutscene showing what happens to them after being defeated seriously impairs the flow of the game. maybe having it there allows for the cutscene to load up in the background to improve efficiency, but personally id prefer seeing a loading screen as the break between a boss fight and the following cutscene after it and THEN the stage complete screen to finish the sequence off. the boss fight end cutscenes arent that long anyways for the most part, so its just nonsensical to have the stage complete screen interrupt the action when theres only a two minute scene left to it

i cant stand how streamlined forces is to the point of the main plot. what happened to games that actually take the time to explain stuff, show us extra bits to the story and how they connect? and even when forces' does explain SOME stuff, its through audio/text only dialogue. nothing visually interesting, just...dialogue. and then its off to the next level. forces' feels very bare bones honestly. the story is supposed to feel big and epic but it just wasnt given enough to bring that feeling into fruition. this is probably the only thing that saves forces’ from the war glorification issue because the game simply fails so miserably at telling a compelling story due to poor writing and poor formatting that the war stuff gets lost in the mix - and thats just sad

all of this brings me to my conclusion. fuck i wish sonic forces was a better written and executed game, because i do think it could have been so cool. i really like infinite as a villain, in both his design and personality. yeah hes kind of a whiny, edgy bitch - but he had potential. and its really gonna suck if this game killed off all that potential in one fell swoop

(then again, thats why we have fan content and aus :3)

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mrwilliamcharley · 5 years

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Run The Trap’s Top 25 Hip-Hop Songs Of 2018

It’s no easy task to rank the top songs of a genre for a full year, and it’s especially difficult when that genre is as all-encompassing as hip-hop. And it was an amazing year as hip-hop dominated the charts and massive albums like Scorpion, Astroworld, and Kamikaze exploded. Without further ado, our top 25 hip-hop songs of 2018.

Run the Trap’s Top 25 Hip-Hop Songs Of 2018 | SoundCloud Playlist

25. Mac Miller – Self Care

This is a good example of a song that absolutely had to make the cut. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone, and Mac Miller was an example of an underrated puzzle piece in the American hip-hop culture. His song “Self Care” rocketed through the charts following his passing from a drug overdose, as many connected with the message in a year that brought mental health to the forefront of American conversations, especially within the music community.

24. The Carters – APESHIT

Beyoncé and Jay-Z have always been a super team, but when they teamed up to release one of the year’s biggest hits in “APESHIT”, everyone lost it. The beat is simple, but the rappers’ lines and flow are flawless. The track references their come up through the game to their current life of luxury, a theme found throughout much of The Carter’s rap discography. Also, “APESHIT” was one of Barack Obama’s favorite songs in 2018, so there’s that.

23. A$AP Rocky – Praise The Lord

Popular within meme culture as well as the radio, A$AP Rocky‘s “Praise The Lord” was one of this year’s top hits. This song also was part of a growing movement within the UK Rap Scene, as it featured the prominent UK rapper Skepta. As part of his album Testing, A$AP Rocky discusses his religious and spiritual beliefs, landing him at number twenty-three on the list.

22. Eminem – Killshot

Aim. Fire. “Killshot.” That’s exactly what Eminem did to poor Machine Gun Kelly, in a diss track firing back at Kelly’s “Rap Devil” diss track. As most diss tracks are, this track is entirely focused on the lyrical elements, including Eminem’s typical amazing word play and heavy burns.

21. SR3MM – Powerglide

Contrary to the Eminem track, this song is mainly driven by Mally Mall, Jean Hovart and Mike Will Made It’s incredible production – no disrespect to SR3MM. A catchy and pop-styled hip-hop song, “Powerglide” was probably on your Spotify’s repeat earlier this summer.

21. Lil Baby – Drip Too Hard

The lead single from Lil Baby and Gunna’s debut collaborative album, Drip Harder, “Drip Too Hard” is part of Lil Baby’s explosion into the rap scene. Both the song and album title are homages to Lil Baby and Gunna’s respective “Hard” and “Drip” series of mixtapes and albums. Keep an eye on Lil Baby as he continues his progression in the rap scene, with his lead single landing him at twenty-one on the list.

19. Lil Peep & XXXTENTACION – Falling Down

An alternative version of the song “Sunlight On Your Skin” which features iLoveMakonnen, “Falling Down” instead features XXXTENTACION and was made after Lil Peep’s death. There was some alleged controversy, as Lil Peep’s team claims that Peep had no intention of releasing that version of the song due to XXXTENTACION’s history. iLoveMakonnen, who was featured on the original version of the song, said on his Instagram that he was “honored to have co-written this song that X was inspired to be a part of, shortly before he died”.

18. Post Malone – Better Now

Post Malone might be hip-hop’s favorite nice guy. Known for his hilarious internet antics, Posty has risen to the top as a fan favorite. In “Better Now”, Post Malone reminisces about a past relationship, claiming both he and his ex miss each other though both are trying to mask their feelings. Both feel that they let each other down in some way but it was never their intention. Post suggests if they met up with each other again there is a possibility they could hook up again. In a top sad boy rap song of 2018, “Better Now” lands at number eighteen

17. Travis Scott – STARGAZING

As you have heard across rap this year and will see as this list continues, 2018 found many popular songs to have choppy arrangement, with some combining seemingly different songs into one unique track. “STARGAZING” continues the trend, opening up with an atmospheric feel as Travis Scott describes the experience of an unpredictable psychedelic trip. Switching between his regular cadence and an auto-tuned falsetto, Scott alludes to his drug use and relationship with Kylie Jenner and their daughter Stormi. The song then switches into a much tighter, more aggressive mix, where Scott goes absolutely in. The song title could be a reference to Houston’s iconic ties to astrological exploration, with NASA’s Mission Control Center being located in Travis’s hometown. It wouldn’t be surprising, as Scott makes references to Houston multiple times throughout the album.

16. Drake – Nonstop

Quickly stepping out of the nameless/faceless/objective writer persona, I have to say “Nonstop” is my personal favorite rap song in 2018. TayKieth, who has produced tons of songs on this list, absolutely murdered this song…like MURDERED it. The song opens up with that incredulously large sub-loop, paired with a perfectly mixed kick and beautifully crisp, high-end drums. The production on this song is A1, and there simply isn’t enough to be said about it.

Drake’s vocals enter stage left, introduced by the definitive statement that he “just flipped a switch,” setting the tone for the incoming tirade about his nonstop success in the rap scene. Many of Drake’s lyrics also allude to the conflict he faced with Pusha-T and Kanye West over the summer, and Drake confirmed on HBO’s “The Shop” that he channeled much of his frustration from that into tracks like “Nonstop”.

15. Kanye West – All Mine

The top song on his 2018 album Ye, Kanye talks about the topic of infidelity. Happily married to Kim Kardashian, West goes on to talk about controlling his desires while in a committed relationship. With his line “letting the genie out the bottle,” West alludes to an action that cannot be reversed, such as cheating. Kanye goes as far to call out many celebrities for their infidelity, including Tristian Thompson, who was exposed for cheating on his then-pregnant partner Khloe Kardashian, Kanye’s sister-in-law.

14. Lil Wayne – Uproar (feat. Swizz Beatz)

In an album that was supposed to be released in 2014, but was delayed for multiple years due to conflict with Cash Money Records label-boss Birdman, Lil Wayne warns his enemies to stop playing with him before he causes an “Uproar”. Ecstatic to see the New Orleans native back in action, fans across the globe clambered to get a listen to Wayne’s newest release, and they were not disappointed.

13. Travis Scott – Butterfly Effect

Produced by Murda Beatz, “Butterfly Effect” builds on the quintessential Travis Scott spacey ad libs and builds an environment to match, with a beautiful repeating melody and soft percussion. The ‘butterfly effect’ is the concept that small causes can have large effects. Travis Scott is also using a double-entendre with “butterfly” wherein as he refers to the doors on his Lamborghini car. First released as a single off his ASTROWORLD album, “Butterfly Effect” is one of the top songs off Scott’s album, landing number thirteen on the list overall.

12. Jay Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Future & James Blake – King’s Dead

We’ve already discussed how great the music video for “King’s Dead” was, and almost a year later it seems that this song is deserving of a top honor. Our original article for the music video, which was released the same day the Black Panther was released in theaters, could not have predicted the quality of the epic soundtrack.

11. Migos – Walk It Talk It

So many more songs from Culture II could be included on this list, but as mentioned in the article’s preface, we can only pick 25. “Walk It Talk It” was clearly the most popular song off of Culture II, with over 300,000 streams on Spotify alone. In “Walk It Talk It,” Migos and Drake take jabs at fake people around them who can’t walk the life that they talk about. As some of the top artists in the game right now, Migos and Drake are clearly walking it like they talk it, landing them at number eleven on the list.

10. Kanye West & Lil Pump – I Love It

Weird music video, great song. Kanye West teamed up with Lil Pump to create one of this year’s top songs in “I Love It.” Sure, Kanye may be struggling with some issues in the public eye, but his production skills haven’t lost their touch.

The video debuted at the inaugural Pornhub Awards in Los Angeles, California. Kanye linked with PornHub following an interview in which Jimmy Kimmel asked Kanye if having daughters had changed Kanye’s attitude toward women, to which he replied, “Nah, I still look at Pornhub.”

9. BlocBoy JB – Look Alive (feat. Drake)

An homage to his hometown of Memphis, BlocBoy JB‘s “Look Alive” was a standout of the year. Featuring Drake, the track was released via OVO Sound and is easily his most successful track to date surpassing over 505 million streams on Spotify. This track lands up-and-comer Blocboy JB at number nine.

8. Drake – Nice For What

Drake’s “Nice For What” takes the cake as the female empowerment song of 2018. With relatable lyrics supported by a New Orleans styled bounce beat, Drake and Murda Beatz aim to create something women can “cut up to.” With female driven lyrics littered throughout the song, the message is further supported by NOLA’s Big Freedia, a figure of empowerment within the rap scene.

From a sonic perspective, “Nice For What” is known for its choppy arrangement. At one point, BlaqNmilD abruptly cuts the beat, leaving just the kick and female vocals before the listener is suddenly warned to “watch the breakdown,” transitioning the song back into its high energy, percussive bounce beat. Drake and his team absolutely destroyed this song, leaving “Nice For What” at number nine on the list.

7. Juice WRLD – Lucid Dreams

Juice WRLD‘s “Lucid Dreams” explores the pain of a breakup through the metaphor of a Lucid Dream, a state of awareness during one’s dream that allows the dreamer to control the reality they are perceiving. As Juice goes through the stages of his breakup, he aims to control his mental reality by simply forgetting his ex, pushing aside the universal stress and heartache that comes after any breakup. Nick Mira’s beat puts the listener in the mind of Juice’s dreams, as soft, atmospheric bells dance around while Juice delivers his promise to control his reality and emotions.

6. Cardi B– I Like It

Complete with horns, Latin Grooves, and an infectious trap beat, Cardi B flaunts her Latin heritage in “I Like It.” Released as a part of her album Invasion Of Privacy at the top of the year, Cardi B won over thousands of new fans, and established herself as one of the top artists in today’s age. The song samples Pete Rodriguez’s 1967 boogaloo song “I Like It Like That”, and guest features Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian reggaetón star J Balvin.

5. Drake – In My Feelings

The “In My Feelings” challenge was one of the most viral video challenges of 2018, as thousands of American’s found themselves dancing to the beat, their moves synchronized to the famous catchy chorus. As the song shifts from Drake’s emotional rant, the City Girls come in and crush a hook layered over a sample of Magnolia Shorty’s “Smoking Gun,” a New Orleans styled bounce track originally produced by BlaqNmilD. This is the second bounce track on the top 25, both of which were produced as part of Drake’s Scorpion.

4. Childish Gambino – This Is America

This Is America. Don’t catch you slipping up. Childish Gambino‘s internet sensation was easily the most woke song of 2018, with its famous music video decrypting the hype song as much more than just a summer banger. Gambino’s commentary spoke to the day to day internet nonsense that is distracting the American people from addressing today’s important social issues. On top of the important message “This Is America” brought to the forefront of conversation, the beat, play-on-words, and cinematography of the music video were grade A works of art, landing “This Is America” at number 4 on 2018’s list.

3. XXTENTACION – SAD!

With over 780 Million streams on Spotify, XXXTENTACION‘s “SAD!” is clearly a top 5 song of 2018. A somber song about love, “SAD!” has resonated with millions of rap fans this year.

2. Travis Scott – Sicko Mode

Nothing is more hype than sitting in a club, and all of the sudden you hear those infamous, horn-like chords that open up the song. Travis Scott‘s “Sicko Mode” was an instant hit upon its release. With a dynamic and tight mix that features lines from Scott and Drake, listeners found themselves on an ASTROWORLD roller coaster, with twists and turns as the song progressed across its three sections. As one of the ultimate turn up songs of 2018, “Sicko Mode” lands at number two on the list.

1. Drake – God’s Plan

“God’s Plan” is by far the most popular hip-hop song of 2018. With 1.1 BILLION streams on Spotify alone and another 900 million on his epic music video, Drake cemented himself as the top hip-hop artist of 2018. There isn’t much more that needs to be said about the number one song on this list, as it has been on repeat the entire year across clubs, radio stations, and Spotify playlists.

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'Run The Trap’s Top 25 Hip-Hop Songs Of 2018

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