We've been closely following Phoenix by way of Philly emcee Mega Ran's career since the earliest aughts of The Witzard, coinciding with the 2010 release of Bits & Rhymes ( Ran & K-Murdock)'s Kickstarter-funded collaborative album, FOREVER famicom. Mega Ran &/or K-Murdock were amongst our first-ever published interviews here at The Witzard, as well. Needless to say, we've thoroughly enjoyed Ran's wide array of genre-eschewing output released nearly non-stop over the past 10 years since. His latest full-length effort, THE DEWEY DECIBEL SYSTEM with rapper buddy MC Lars, is a mic-aided journey through literature, novels, comic books, poems, short stories, etc. and is currently being used as a learning tool in class rooms Nation-wide. Now, Mega Ran has returned (once again) for one final solo project of 2019: AGES, Vol. 1. Technically, a "surprise Winter 2019 release," AGES—that's "SEGA" spelled backwards!—was issued in honor of yet another successful Kicktarter campaign that will help bring back Ran's critically-acclaimed Black Materia/Final Fantasy series in 2020.


AGES, Vol. 1 features production work from The Alumni, OSYM, Prama, EOM, Arzon, Rifti Beats, and Fresh Kils. Mega Ran has included a few additional Bonus Cuts for both the digital and physical releases: "Catch 22" produced by G1, "It's Time" produced by Volta Masters, and a "Broken Church Bells" (Remix) produced by Kult Krimes for the CD-only release and "THE SUNSET FLIP" with Austin Creed AKA Xavier Woods as produced by DJ DN3 as a Bandcamp-only bonus. In addition to wrestler-turned-gamer-turned... rapper, Xavier Woods, AGES, Vol. 1 additionally boasts features throughout from SkyBlew, Mickey Factz, Toure Masters, Penny, RoQy TyRaiD, Vee Tha Rula, Kult Krimes, and Small Leaks Sink Ships. There's, also, some beautiful Chiptune programming leading in and out of each track, which are, actually, Famicom music notes re-programmed by RANA. Mega Ran's AGES, Vol. 1 EP is now available in both digital and physical formats through RandomBeats Music.