Mega Ran is an artist who has been making music for a long time now, and at a very steady pace. He’s also an artist who loves to work with other artists, regardless of their renown. If he likes and respects you as an artist, he’s down to trade verses. In fact, just earlier this year he released an album with Bag of Tricks Cat, Emerald Knights 2. To close out the year, Mega Ran has finally decided to release a compilation of some of his favorite collaborations, The Visitor.

A few different things hit me as I was listening to The Visitor. One was that Mega Ran has not just made a lot of music over the years, but he’s rocked a lot of different styles as well. As you go through the album, you’ll get everything from 8-bit production to gospel to boom bap to trap and everything in between, and Ran will come at you with just as many flows. Another thing that hit me was just how many artists I’ve been turned on to through listening to Mega Ran’s music, whether it be Mr. Miranda, Storyville, SkyBlew, Kadesh Flow, or an all-time favorite in Sammus. Also, this compilation strikes the right balance of giving you some heavy hitters like “CHURCH” or “For the Gamers,” staples of his live sets, and mixing them with tracks you might have missed or forgot about, such as “Unspeakable,” with SkyBlew and YMCK, or “Best Girl,” with Mouse Powell. The real fun about a compilation like this is that you can listen to it over and over again, and a different track will stand out to you each time. There’s also so many artists featured on this collection, there’s bound to be somebody that will catch your ear that you might have overlooked before. Ultimately, this is an album full of great hip hop from Mega Ran and friends. You can’t go wrong with that.

One of my favorite things about hip hop is the collaborative nature of the genre, and how I’m always discovering new artists through guest spots on different artists’ albums. Mega Ran has been one of the best collaborators over the years, and now we finally have the compilation to enjoy a great cross section of that team work with The Visitor.