Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn

Fuck-a-Playstation.

Yet another look into video game-sampling. I think I'm gonna retire this series with this post (yeah right). The general song quality is dropping and the concept is getting played out quicker than Killer Instinct.

I hesitate to include any so-called "nerdcore" because that would include like another 7,000 more songs sampling video games. Plus, I'm not sure how legitimate "nerdcore" is as a sub-genre or really as actual music. I guess Def Jukies, Anticonvicts, and Canibus can get about as scientifical, verbose, and obtuse as much of what I've heard of nerdcore. But well, the whole thing just kinda sounds like a joke, like every song sounds like a Weird Al Jankovic rap parody where much of the humor comes from the fact that some overly nerdy person who shouldn't be rapping--and who pretty much knows he shouldn't be rapping--is rapping about nerdy stuff in a corny way. Except that nerdcore wants to extend this joke over an entire sub-genre? Fuck outta here.

Credit due to Quibian and the commenters at The Examiner, most of whom probably came from Digital Gangsters.


Sonic 2 Boss Battle Theme

Jokaman, Magno, Spark Dog, K. Reata "Playing Sonic" (aka "Sonic Sega Flow")
Sega gets first dibbs. I've been looking for this one since my first post in this series. This appears on the Southern-rap-oriented Awready Vol. 5 mixtape. I'm glad they didn't try to do too much to the sample or else it might've ended up as corny as Green Lantern's FF7 flip. They just laid some bouncy drums over it and had some fun. This takes me back to fighting Metal Sonic at the end of Sonic 2. I hope these Houston rappers survived Ike.


"Korobeiniki", the Russian folk song that forms the basis of the Tetris theme

Extended F@mm "Line Drop"
QN5's Extended Famm does about the same thing, laying some upbeat drums over some simple cuts and loops of the Tetris sample, except they gradually speed up the track to mimic how Tetris speeds up its pace. The emcees drop some kinda-hilarious, kinda-clever, kinda-corny punchline raps that work because of their energy and chemistry.


Kid Icarus: Stage 2 - Overworld

Tonedeff "Move In, Ride Out" (aka "Round 'Em Up")
Quibian dropped an alternate mix of this that may or may not have come from the Game Over 2 compilation as "Round 'em Up", though Amazon shows otherwise. This version here landed on Tonedeff's Hyphen EP. With this and the "Line Drop" track as evidence of his hardcore gamerdom, I say him and Oh No collab on a game-oriented album.


Super Mario Bros. Level 1-1

Benefit "Warp to Level 6-9"
I'm not sure if Benefit considers himself nerdcore. I made that assumption on my first listening because of his weak-ass voice. But this is pretty hilarious in its own right, on the same level as maybe something Kool Keith or J-Zone might think of.


Max Payne - Chapter ?

Jedi Mind Tricks ft. Ill Bill, Sabac Red "The Wolf"
I've had this since the first post but, not having played the first Max Payne, I didn't think it was anything other than a vocal sample. I was wrong. Dope sample and some typically ultra-violent, gothic raps from Jedi Mind Tricks, if that's your thing.


Random "Rock and Roll" (Rockman MM Soundtrack)
Quibian was feeling the "Shadowman" track but I thought this was the runaway highlight. Random, inspired by ytCracker's nerdcore NES-sampling work, dropped Mega Ran, in which he samples exclusively from Megaman games. You might think this would legitimate nerdcore to me if a rapper I like respects it. But the difference is that nerdcore rappers are still geeking on the novelty that they're rapping about nerdy stuff. They don't get beyond the novelty to actually craft something entertaining out of their foundation of nerdy knowledge. On the other hand, Random doesn't obsess over his nerdiness. Rather he uses this knowledge, just like any other knowledge, within the context of some sick battle-braggadocio rhymes.

But someone shoot me now because I cannot for the life of me find this sample. Each song is labelled with the stage and the version of Megaman that the sample comes from (eg. "Shadowman MM2" for the "Shadowman" track) but "Rock And Roll" is listed as coming from "Rockman MM Soundtrack". Does this mean the soundtrack to Megaman 1, the soundtrack to the short-lived American cartoon series, or maybe even the soundtrack to a Japanese cartoon series (as "Rockman" is what they call Megaman in Japan)? Wtf?

Saafir "Smart Bomb"
Saafir kinda struggles lyrically but that beat is sick, using random sound effects to dope effect. Sounds like a weaker version of "Put Your Quarter Up" though.


Jay-Z ft. DMX "Money Cash Hoes"
I can't confirm this but someone mentioned that this Swizz track samples Space Invaders. While I can definitely see that as a viable possibility, I've yet to find the exact version of Space Invaders with the exact sound effect used. Is this BS? Help?

Previously: Part 1|Part 2