It’s time for the second installment to one of the most ambitious projects of the year: Language Arts. A multiple volume, multi-platform project that includes albums, video games, and comic books, the first volume set the stage for Raheem Jarbo, a teacher struggling to keep attendance up while they fall prey to a violent video game, all while dreaming of starting a hip hop career. In the second volume, things pick up right where we left off.

There are a lot of different aspects to appreciate about Language Arts Vol. 2. You can get swept up in the whole universe that’s been created, with story lines and characters laid out and developed, and you can interact with the video game and comic book as well. This is all really interesting, especially because there’s not a lot of precedent for this kind of franchising all done by an independent artist. In Vol. 2, the story of Raheem the teacher continues, but we also get more focus on his home life. The production laid down by usual collaborators DN3, Bear McCreary, EOM, Fingaz, and Ray Riley is solid, and Ran’s comfort with their style really allows his story telling to shine. The beauty of the project is how you take things apart track by track, and they still hold up, but they also come together well to tell the bigger story. “Faculty Lounge,” featuring Homeboy Sandman, incorporates psychedelic guitar work, organ, and soul vocal samples into a disjointed funky boom bap, as the two former teachers do an excellent job of discussing the challenges of teaching in schools where getting the kids to even show up is a struggle. “Hip Hop Chick” is a great song, in that there aren’t that many hip hop songs that discuss on a serious level the difficulty of maintaining a substantial adult relationship, all while trying to build a career as an independent musician who makes a living touring. “Me & The Mouse” parallels “Buggin’ (The Metamorphasis)” as Ran’s adaption of classic literature into hip hop, this time taking on Daniel Keyes’s “Flowers For Algernon.” The song had the potential to be really special, but the inclusion of MC LARS stalls the track as the emcee stumbles through his rhymes, so it unfortunately never reaches it’s full potential. The album ends on it’s strongest note. The three song set of “Love is Not Love,” “Better Off,” and “Together” come together to make for a great tale of the ups and downs of a relationship. It also brings the story of Vol. 2 to a conclusion, as our hero makes a resolve to make things right at home, only to find his love has been kidnapped, setting the stage for Vol. 3.

Language Arts is unfolding at a very interesting pace, and is certainly one of the most unique projects of the year. What it’s really doing, though, is bringing out the best of Ran’s talents, as we get to see him as an emcee and storyteller that is charming, funny, caring, vulnerable, frustrated, and determined, all while telling a story that works both on the macro and micro levels. I can’t wait to see what Vol. 3 brings.