Games Playing Roles

Listen to this as you read...

I love music.

But before I fell, I was actually addicted to something else: Video Games. It started as far back as I can remember, and got really crazy in middle school in the N64 days. I was really attached, probably a little mentally dependent on that type of stimulation it provided. I can still remember turning down opportunities to go out with some friends (including a girl I had a crush on) to finish Final Fantasy VII...

I think the timer had me at like 140 hours when I beat the game...

whoa...

So it got real deep throughout High School...that's all I really wanted to do. And little did I know that since hearing games like Chrono Trigger, I was already beginning my transition out of the addiction.

My fixation on games must have peaked when GTA: San Andreas came out...because I had been following all previews and news on it 6 months before it even came out, and when I picked up my reserved copy and brought that joint home...it was everything I'd expected...

and I put in alot of time in it....




...and kept spending more time playing it....

...and remember this was the first year after I graduated from High School, and I can still remember that winter being extremely dark for me...actually...not to get too personal...but at one point might've believed in atheism...I wasn't lying when i said:

"I gotta be the laziest/ ...you can be a hustla, but i'm so laid back that i might be an atheist/ maybe it's the basement that i reside in, life down here's like Gilligan's Island/" -"Whick Whack"

This was around the time when I really developed my new identity, because I was sick of myself. I felt like I wasted so much...regretted so much... invested all these years in video games, and I felt like i didn't really have much to show for it. Unintentionally, I was getting into this cheesy beat making program called Fruity Loops, and it was way more fun than any video game...and it just felt good overall.

So this new identity had to be me, but not the same me...if that makes any sense. It had to represent who i wanted to be, and the best parts of who i really am simultaneously. I was tired of regretting things, I needed to be more productive....so I became Jeph. Originally it was this:

Jeff
Embracing
Productive
Habits

It worked in every way imaginable. This was my artist name. Anytime I do something creative, It's by Jeph. It's sortof like my alter-ego, who I am, and who I want to be.

See me/hear me

Different/same

This identity suited my non-categorical ass...I'm not always what I seem to be...don't get me started on that tho...

So believe me when I say, it was a conscious decision as an 18-year-old, to put down the game controller to pick up the midi controller. But as I transitioned into making beats and then music, I remembered all the Video Game soundtracks that were inspiring to me, and I didn't even know it would remain bookmarked in my audiological memory. Some of the most memorable:

• Bomberman (N64)
• Final Fantasy VII & VIII (PSX)
• Chrono Trigger (SNES)

I never owned a Sega, we had Nintendo, but GotdioN did some remixes and reminded me that Sonic the Hedgehog had a pretty damn good soundtrack as well. Later on, I noticed Charles Hamilton sampling the game, which is awesome too.

but Chrono Trigger's OST is amazing. I never even played the whole game myself, I'd just watch my brother Mike play it, and it was like a movie to me. The soundtrack was very moving, and you gotta remember...dude programmed all this stuff in MIDI!!! That is possibly the most insane part. It sounds so great, and they used those cheesy low-quality midi sounds.

I feel like it's only right that I pay homage to video game music...seeing as though it was very memorable in my childhood. So here's my version of "Secret of the Forest" from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack, adapted from the midi, with my selection of instruments, new drums, and a couple other changes. I just wanted to do a lil justice to it past the cheesy midi...

cuz damn...Secret of the Forest?

...this composition by Yasunori Mitsuda is damn near "The Soundtrack to Everything"

iono, it seems to fit in any type of situation in a movie

Yasunori Mitsuda - "Secret of the Forest" (Jeph Remix)

and since i've been gone for awhile, here's another video game sampled beat...

Jeph - Paq Man (instrumental)

(originally made 1-1/2 years ago for MD rapper "Paq Man"...but he didn't have the money to pay for it...so...if he reads this blog, he's basically gonna get it for free. lol)

SFS MIXTAPE UPDATE
-working on doing something with a Gentle Giant track
-more Hall and Oates lol
-"Balance"...gotta get the other people to record...my verse is done
-"Baesikz" might go on here, i hope to have more than just the chorus, maybe Pit?
-tons of ideas i just need to make happpapapapaeeennn

SFS ALBUM
-i've worked more on it...but...i need to find my niche...so it's moving faster than a snail
-"Trix" is gonna be a slick track...can't WAIT to write/record
-I'm taking such a long time, i gotta make this timeless, otherwise just put it out now

OTHER
-"SupaDupa" instrumental was on a local radio show as part of their segment for critiquing submitted beats...unfortunately i was asleep...but I'm gonna try to find a recording.

RANDOM SHEEIT
sometimes i get obsessed with other artist's music temporarily, but i realized...i get obsessed with my stuff too...

if this is the cycle? i'ma keep it goin like a cypher.