Brooklyn-based emcee/producer Passport Rav's newest song, "AYUKEN." sees him channeling the spirit of Capcom's famous video game Street Fighter II. While the title of the song is a mispronunciation of Ryu's fireball, Passport Rav ensures the references are intact and he even throws in a little remark about Lord Raiden from Mortal Kombat. With lines like "But I'm iller than a white man doing drive-bys with a black mask," Rav reminds us that his bars are still sharp and witty. The production here has a somber and somewhat ominous vibe courtesy of Megala Don who crafted it and it also benefits from excellent vocal scratches from Marcus.
The visual was shot by Jazmin Benton and edited by Passport Rav himself; a fusion of several performance shots of the rapper in close-up and excessive use of dark lighting at certain points to accentuate the dark vibe of the song. A nice addition is the use of the classic 1994 Street Fighter II anime as background images. That really took me back to the good old days and would definitely take viewers back in time before the advent of social media and the dominance of beat-em-up games.
My only gripe is the lack of the original Hadouken sample which should have been more prominent on the hook but then that is just me being a true Street Fighter fanboy.
Get "AYUKEN" on Bandcamp.
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