Lost in the Music: Language Arts: Vol 3 ~ Random

     Last time on Language Arts, Mr J's girlfriend has been kidnapped and being held ransom. He must lose the rap battle against ZeeDub, or his girlfriend dies. Who is behind this and why are they out to stop Mr J. Find out today on the final installer of Language Arts Vol 3.

     Today marks a special day for Raheem “Megaran aka Random” Jarbo. His rap opera Language Arts has sadly come to an end with its third installment out today. Random was one of the artists that got me hooked on Nerdcore and I am so glad that his album, which has been a long time in the making, be a huge success.

     Random is at his best here. His lyrics are incredibly solid and flow beautifully from one track to another. You can tell that Random worked hard on this and easily surpasses the other two albums. With Language Arts Volume 1, he was just finding his groove given the subject matter while with Language Arts Volume 2 he got comfortable in the songs. With this one, he gets out of his comfort zone and decides to experiment again. One of the tracks called Maya's Song, which, like Metamorphosis and Me and the Mouse 2.0, is a musical take on a famous book. Maya's Song is easily the best song on this album and I rate it in the same tier as Cries of the Planet.

     Maya's Song was inspired by the Maya Angelou book, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. Random turns a 310 page book into a three and a half minute song. It is incredibly condensed, but he touches on all the major themes of the song. For someone like me who gets emotional with music, I had a difficult time listening to this song because it is so sad. The ending is somewhat up beat and ends on a high note, but the journey there was incredibly dark and sad.

     At heart Random is a teacher and these albums have made it clear. In the albums, he has quite a few tracks about being a teacher and talking to his students. He enjoys teaching and helping the kids he teaches. He makes learning fun and makes me, the listener  want to go out and find the books he adapted. That is the mark of a great teacher. He encourages people to study.

     Language Arts Vol 3 is a great album from start to finish and ties up the story well. In my opinion, I would love to see some sort of movie or video series made out of this as it has the potential. It wouldn't be the first time a concept album has been adapted to stage or screen and I would love to see some sort of adaptation because I truly believe that the source material would lend itself well to the silver screen.

     In the end, Language Arts Vol 3 is a must buy for those who have purchased the other two albums. I would suggest not buying this unless you have heard the previous ones as you may get lost and may not understand what is going on. However, that being said, you really should pick up this album and the others if you haven't yet. You would be supporting an awesome indie artist. You can pick up all three Language Arts albums on Random's website.

     This is Daimo Mac and I am lost in the music.