Team Teamwork, the mind behind the fantastic hip-hop/video game mashup albums The Ocarina of Rhyme and Vinyl Fantasy 7, has delivered an incredibly polished and tight look at the 16 bit era with his latest release, Super Nintendo Sega Genesis. As the title would suggest, TT forgoes the singular-game focus of his earlier releases, opting instead to meander through the whole of an era in search of beats to jive with his impecable hip-hop sensibilities.
The results of abandoning any particular game becomes immediately apparent when actually making your way through the album. Unlike either Ocarina of Rhyme or Vinyl Fantasy 7, Super Nintendo Sega Genesis feels like a real album; that is to say it has a calculated pace that allows it to flow effortlessly from track to track. SNSG defines itself first and foremost as a hip hop album that uses video game beats as opposed to a video game remix soundtrack with hip hop acapellas laid over the beats (The key difference being the change from soundtrack to album).
SNSG smartly skips the obvious themes of the generation in favor of choices that often go forgotten within the remix community. Sure there is Mario music, but it’s from Yoshi’s Island and Super Mario RPG as opposed to the oft remembered Super Mario World. Craig Mack’s Flava in Ya Ear is brought to another level when mixed with Donkey Kong Country 2′s Stickerbush Symphony (A game I usually don’t associate with great SNES soundtracks), to form easily the most creative and mind bendingly delightful track of the entire album. Not every track is superb, most notably the Touch the Sky/Mortal Kombat mix feels a tad forced and incomplete, but on the whole you’ll probably revisit more tracks on SNSG then any other Team Teamwork album.
For those that remain skeptical to this point, I hereby present the full track list as evidence of SNSG’s awesomeness. If you can’t find something to get excited about on one of the album’s 12 tracks, there is probably something seriously wrong with you.
- Ludacris – Roll Out (Street Fighter 2)
- Biggie, Craig Mack, Rampage, LL Cool J & P. Daddy Combs – Flava In Ya Ear (DKC2)
- Childish Gambino – Let Me Dope You (Streets of Rage)
- Big Boi & Cutty – Shutterbugg (Super Metroid)
- Lupe Fiasco – I Gotcha (Sonic 3)
- Dr. Octagon – Blue Flowers (Yoshi’s Island)
- Ghostface Killah – The Champ (Ristar)
- Gang Starr – The Squeeze (Super Mario RPG)
- Kanye West – Touch The Sky (Mortal Kombat)
- Bonecrusher, Killer Mike & T.I. – Never Scared (A Link To The Past)
- E-40 & Busta Rhymes – One Night Stand (X-Men 2: Clone Wars)
- Talib Kweli & Mos Def – Bright As The Stars (Earthbound)
To check out the album for yourself, head on over to tmtmwrk.com for links to where you can download Super Nintendo Sega Genesis for your listening pleasure (With your choice of a free or a pay what you want/can option).
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