Raheem Jarbo (born September 3, 1977), also known by his stage names Mega Ran and Random, is an American underground

nerdcore Nerdcore is a genre of hip hop music characterized by subject matter considered of interest to nerds and geeks. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot has the earliest known recorded use of the term (to describe this genre) in the 2000 ...

rapper,

chiptune Chiptune, also called 8-bit music (although not all chiptune is 8-bit music), is a style of electronic music made using the programmable sound generator (PSG) sound chips or synthesizers in vintage arcade machines, computers and video gam ...

DJ, author and record producer. In February 2015, he changed his stage name to Mega Ran, removing Random from any releases.

Early life

Jarbo was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, to an American-born mother and African-born father. He has stated in interviews that he wrote his first song in 1993 and began producing in 2000. After college, Jarbo landed a job as an engineer in a Philadelphia studio, and recorded his first demo which caught the ear of Philadelphia emcee Ohene Savant, who had created a label as a home for creative hip-hop music. Jarbo resided in Philadelphia until a 2006 move to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

Education

Jarbo graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and holds a bachelor's degree from

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. He has worked full-time as a

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

teacher in Philadelphia, then as a middle school teacher in

. Jarbo maintained both a music and teaching career until 2011, when he retired from teaching to focus on music full-time. Jarbo's albums are currently being utilized in coursework at Penn State University and University of Michigan. Jarbo was the keynote speaker at the 2022 North American Conference on Video Game Music at

Louisiana Tech University Louisiana Tech University (Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech) is a public university, public research university in Ruston, Louisiana, United States. It is part of the University of Louisiana System and Carnegie Classification of Institu ...

Music

Jarbo released his debut album ''The Call'' in 2006, but is noted for releasing an album called ''Mega Ran'', a tribute to the ''

Mega Man ''Mega Man'' (known as in Japan) is a video game franchise developed and published by Capcom, featuring the Mega Man (character), protagonist of the same name. The Mega Man (1987 video game), original game was released for the Nintendo Enter ...

'' video game series in 2007. This album landed Jarbo a licensing agreement with video game distributor

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

and an opportunity to perform at the

booth at

San Diego Comic-Con San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

. This album gained Jarbo a fan base within the nerdcore genre, as well as press coverage by ''

Nintendo Power ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninte ...

'',

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

, Okayplayer, ''

Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...

'', ''Exclaim'', and ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'' among others. In 2009, Jarbo released a second Mega Man-based album, ''Mega Ran 9'', based on the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...

and

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...

video game ''

Mega Man 9 ''Mega Man 9'' is a 2008 action-platform game developed by Capcom and Inti Creates. It is the ninth numbered game in the original ''Mega Man'' series, and the first home console game in the series since '' Mega Man & Bass'' (1998). ''Mega Ma ...

''. The album was released with the blessing of Capcom. In 2010, Jarbo collaborated with producer K-Murdock of progressive hip-hop group Panacea and released ''Forever Famicom'', an album containing samples from video games from various publishers on the NES and

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Europe and Oceania a ...

consoles. In 2011, Jarbo created and released Black Materia, an album completely based on the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

and PC game

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation. The seventh main installment in the ''Final Fantasy'' series, it was released in Japan by Square and internationally by Sony Computer Entertainment, becoming the first ...

. In 2012, Jarbo released a remixed version of Black Materia entitled ''Black Materia: The Remixes.'' In March, he launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign to release the three-part album, comic book and video game for ''Mega Ran in Language Arts''. The goal was achieved, and ''Volume One'' was released in May, ''Volume Two'' in August, and ''Volume Three'' in November. In 2013, Jarbo announced he would release one EP per month, titled ''Time and Space''. January, February and March's EP releases were exclusively launched on video game website

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...

. It was also at this time that Jarbo began referring to his style of music as "Chip-Hop". In 2013, Jarbo collaborated with New Jersey rapper Mister Wilson and released Blur Bomber, an adaptation of the

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

story arc for the

and

Sonic Sonic or Sonics may refer to: Companies *Sonic Drive-In, an American drive-in, fast-food restaurant chain * Sonic (ISP), an Internet provider CLEC, serving more than 100 California communities * Sonic Foundry, a computer software company whic ...

cross-over in Worlds Collide. In 2013, Jarbo released "Castelvania: Nocturnal Cantata", a Hip-Hop opera, retelling the story of the classic game "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night". The album cast Jarbo as Alucard, Sammus as Maria Renard and The Ranger as Richter Belmont. In 2015, Jarbo released his latest album "Soul Veggies" which was his most commercially successful album to date. Mega Ran also toured with Bag of Tricks Cat for the Emerald Knights Tour which included a trip to various UK cities. In Fall of 2015, Jarbo released ''RNDM'', which debuted on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 200 chart. In Summer of 2018, Jarbo released "Emerald Knights 2", which debuted on the ''

'' Top 200 chart. In 2023 Jarbo released his first children's album, "Buddy's Magic Toy Box." The album debuted at #2 on the Kids Music Billboard 200 charts.

Video games

In 2009, Jarbo teamed with Capcom to feature on a hip-hop alternate soundtrack to the hit title '' Marvel vs. Capcom 2''. Jarbo appears on a song entitled "The Remainder Is One". The album is downloadable on

and at

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

' website. In 2010 and 2011, Jarbo's music was covered in video game publications '' Game Developer'' and ''

''. Jarbo's album based on the game ''

'' was featured, and was included in the June 2011 issue of ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' and '' PlayStation: The Official Magazine''. In 2012, Jarbo and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based developers Lunar Giant Studios released the first installment of the Mega Ran video game, loosely based on the album ''Mega Ran in Language Arts''. In April 2013, Jarbo lent guest vocals to a track on the soundtrack of the award-winning video game '' Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine'' called "Welcome to Monaco. In September 2013, Jarbo and K-Murdock performed at the first ever '' Halo 4'' Global Championships in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. The event was broadcast on

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...

and online. In June 2015, Jarbo announced via

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

that he had been chosen to perform the ending credits theme for the game '' Mighty No. 9''. His track will appear on his forthcoming album "RNDM" as well. In 2016, Jarbo published ''Tales of the Elements'' on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

through his label RandomBeats Music. The game was developed by Last Benevolence. Jarbo is one of the main characters and is also playable. The game was released with an album of the same name that followed the storyline. ''Tales of the Elements – 2nd Chapter'' was released in 2018 and once again featured Jarbo as one of the main characters. In June 2019, Jarbo appeared on the official soundtrack of

Mortal Kombat 11 ''Mortal Kombat 11'' is a 2019 fighting game developed by NetherRealm Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It is the eleventh main installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' series and a sequel to '' Mortal Kombat X'' (20 ...

with a song called 'Rise' produced by Wilbert Roget. In June 2022, Jarbo lent guest vocals to '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge'' for the end-credits song, "It's a Pizza Party!", produced by Tee Lopes.

Film and television

Jarbo's song "Grow Up" from the ''Mega Ran'' album plays during the end credits of Second Skin, an independent film which debuted at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Film Festival in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, in 2008. In 2010, Jarbo's song "Splash Woman" played on episodes of '' TNA IMPACT!'' and on the ABC special "The Ten Most Fascinating People in America" hosted by

Barbara Walters Barbara Jill Walters (September 25, 1929December 30, 2022) was an American broadcast journalist and television personality. Known for her interviewing ability and popularity with viewers, she appeared as a host of numerous television programs, ...

. It has also been featured in the "Aimee" episode of IFC's '' Portlandia'' and

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's '' Tosh.0''. Jarbo hosted a weekly hip-hop reality show on his

channel called "Life After Lesson Plans". In the final episode he details leaving teaching for music full-time to tour with mc chris. In February 2012, Jarbo recorded and released a song called "Mega Ran's Jeremy Lin Rap", dedicated to the rise to fame of

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

player Jeremy Lin. The song received 500,000 hits on

, and appeared on the

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

show ''

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is an American television sports news broadcasting show broadcast by ESPN. Originally anchored by Chris Berman, George Grande, Greg Gumbel, Lee Leonard, Bob Ley, Sal Marchiano and Lou Palmer, it premiered on Septem ...

''. In August 2014, Glasswork Media released a documentary titled Mega-Lo-Mania chronicling a recent tour by Jarbo. Filmmaker Michael Cardoza traveled alongside Jarbo and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

band The Lo-Classics through three cities to film the documentary. In July 2017, Jarbo appeared on

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

television as part of a segment on WWE SmackDown Live. He was an extra in a rap battle skit hosted by rapper Wale. In 2019. he appeared on the ROH/

NJPW (NJPW) is a Japanese professional-wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV Asahi and Amuse Inc. owning minority shar ...

pro-wrestling event: G1 Supercard, trying to perform his song "Going To the Garden", the official theme song of the event; and having a confrontation against Bully Ray after that. The song was produced by up and coming New Jersey music producer: iLL-Omega. In 2021 Jarbo wrote a song called "Bow Down" for

wrestler Xavier Woods to commemorate his King Of The Ring win. The song debuted on WWE SmackDown Live on November 5, 2021.

Performances

Jarbo has toured the U.S. as headliner and as support for MC Chris,

MC Lars Andrew Robert Nielsen (born October 6, 1982), known professionally as MC Lars, is an American rapper, producer, educator, and founder of Horris Records. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Oxford, he is credited as a pioneer ...

, Louis Logic, Homeboy Sandman, Open Mike Eagle, and others. He has performed at the

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Music Festival in 2008–2017, the Nerdapalooza festival in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, and San Diego Comic-Con 2011–2015. He embarked upon his first European tour in July 2011, and in December 2011, provided support on the More B.A.R.K. Less Bitin' Tour of Japan with DJ Asu Rock, K-Murdock, and jazz-hop artists Substantial and Marcus D. Jarbo returned to Japan after a successful

campaign. Jarbo performed at the

Penny Arcade Expo PAX (originally known as Penny Arcade Expo) is a series of gaming culture festivals involving tabletop, arcade, and video gaming. PAX is held annually in Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and Melbourne. Previously, it was also held in San Anton ...

(PAX) in 2013. He also performed at the east coast's music and gaming festival, MAGfest, in 2014, 2016, and 2022. In 2023, Jarbo curated his first music festival, The Dream Master Mixtape, at the Red Moon Ale House in Yuma, AZ.

Personal life

Jarbo lives in

with his wife whom he proposed to at MAGfest in 2017. In 2021 he released a memoir entitled ''Dream Master''.

Discography

Solo albums

Collaborative projects

EPs

Mixtapes and limited releases

Guest appearances

* 2024 - "Kratos vs Maui" by Freshy Kanal (self-released) * 2024 - "Don't Leave Me" by COOLETHAN on "You Can Never Go Back"