Anything

Although Sammus thought she had been adequately prepared to defend herself in M’other Brain’s dangerous lair, she becomes disoriented and scared upon reaching the first boss — a tall, beautiful glittery apparition in the distance that softly introduces itself as The Fame. Tempted by the promises, beauty, power, and rewards offered by The Fame, Sammus must wrestle with her morals and values to ultimately determine, whether she will do anything to guarantee beating the game.

America

Taking out her map, Sammus enters a dark forest. Looking up, she notices a clearing in the distance and lets out a soft sigh of relief. As she approaches the clearing, she realizes that she is actually walking towards a large graveyard that spreads for miles across. Inhaling sharply, she begins to walk briskly in between the gravestones, staring straight ahead. As she walks, she hears the sad whispers and moans of the deceased, telling her to beware of the monster that roams the forest — the monster they call Hate. She pauses for a moment as she hears the sound of branches crashing and a deep rumbling of hooves hitting the leaf and twig covered ground. In horror she turns around, sensing a dark force moving toward her. Quickly pulling her hair into a pony tail, she begins racing forward. The hairy and gigantic monster crashes out of the forest and into the clearing, snarling and howling as it begins to chase Sammus down.

Games & Cartoons

Upon entering the next room in the compound, she is met with a large glowing screen in the distance and a Nintendo controller lying in front of it. As she takes a step forward, she is suddenly knocked to the ground by an enormous pile of reality checks, school books and obligations that fall from the sky. Brushing them off and jumping to her feet, she immediately begins running toward the glowing screen as priorities, responsibilities, high heels and lipstick tubes, begin falling from the ceiling and crashing around her. Her eyebrows furrow as she realizes that the screen, a portal to the next stage, is growing dimmer, and if she does not reach the controller in time, she risks being locked in this room forever.

Black Young Pretty

As Sammus races forward she stops at a two-prong fork in the road. Along one path in the distance she sees bright lights and hears the warmth of a deep bass and a hypnotic 103-bpm beat. From the other path, she hears the soft voice of a child crying for help. For a moment she stands, torn about where to go, and unsure if she’ll be able to go back after she picks a path. With a deep sigh she moves toward the sound of the crying child. As she races forward, she decides that no matter what, after she saves the child she will somehow find a path to the lights and music. If she thinks that she can do it all, she tells herself, it will be so.

Rap [Mario Kart]

While walking through tunnel after tunnel, Sammus begins to think about her past and all the sacrifices she has made to become an intellectual bounty hunter. She considers lost loves and jobs, as well as the many times she almost left the job completely, but realizes that there is nothing else she’d rather be doing.

Pillow Talk

In this level, Sammus encounters an enemy about whom she’s been warned her whole life — Lust. As she observes some of the other inhabitants of this world, she muses over the power of Lust to simultaneously enhance and destroy the lives of all those whom it consumes. With each step she makes toward the exit, she feels the warm embrace of naughty spirits around her body, whispering in her ears, caressing her neck with their fingers and tickling her back with their breath. Can she make it out before she succumbs to the praises and compliments of the lusty apparitions?

A Woman

Walking into the next room, Sammus is hit with a blast of humidity. As she walks, the sound of her feet splashing through the puddles echoes off the walls of the cavernous tunnel. She stops as she encounters a wooden sign in the ground that says “Welcome to Media Lake.” After examining the sign she follows the path to the edge of a large glittering underground lake. Kneeling down, she lowers her cupped hands into the lake, and throws the water over her sweaty face. As she looks down at the water she examines her reflection staring back at her. Slowly the image in the water starts morphing; her lips begin inflating, her skin begins to lighten and her nose begins to thin. As Sammus raises her hands to her own face in horror, she watches her reflection slowly morphing in front of her. Suddenly she feels a push on her back, falling face first into the lake. As the shock of the cold water hits her, a set of tentacles begin to surround her, and she hears the whirring of a saw, and the sharpening of a scalpel. She wriggles wildly with all her strength as the tentacles tighten and pull her down. With a burst of energy she pushes herself to the surface, as the tentacles continue to wrap around her appendages. Touching her fingers to the lake’s edge, she hears footsteps in the distance. As she tries to pull herself ashore, she immediately recognizes the version of her that had been reflected in the water standing to her right, close to the water’s edge. With a laugh, the other version of her runs over and steps on Sammus’ fingers.

Mayhem Remix feat. Chance Fischer

With one hand on her gun holster, Sammus looks around rapidly scanning the rocky walls and ceiling for unexpected enemies. As she walks through the cavernous cave, a bevy of bat-like creatures suddenly begin flying rapidly toward her. Grabbing her gun she begins blasting the monsters as large lion like beasts run toward her from the other side of the cave. As Sammus blasts the last set of beasts to the ground, she grins, recognizing how ready she has been for enemies to try and stop her. Full of confidence and heart racing with adrenaline, Sammus begins to mentally prepare herself for what is to come as she steps over the bodies of the deceased monsters.

Holy Ghost Remix feat. Roderick Vonn

Sammus awakens to a deep omnipresent voice asking her to follow him. Blinking slowly, she looks around at the dirt and boards at her feet and then up at the ceiling where light trickles through a large and jagged hole. In an instant she realizes that she had tumbled down a mineshaft that was covered by makeshift boards and fallen unconscious on impact. Groaning and rubbing her back, she sits up and listens again for the voice. This time another voice beckons her from a different direction, softer and promising her help if she follows him. A third voice calls her from another direction as she kneels and holds her hands over her ears. How will she discern which voice to trust? Should she trust any of them? And what will be on the other side if she does decide to follow one of the voices? As she blocks out the voices on the outside with her hands, she begins to focus on the one inside her chest. Holding her hands over her ears, she awaits further instruction.

Niqqaz Ain’t Shit

In this stage, Sammus must battle her inclination to side with those, who often contend that niqqaz, no matter what they do, ain’t shit. To navigate through this controversial dialogue, Sammus conducts some serious soul searching and realizes that people will only treat her with the respect that she demands from them, including and maybe especially…niggaz.

No Hands

After temporarily emerging from  M’other Brain’s compound, Sammus finds herself standing between two skyscrapers, with a single rope stretching between the two. Without thinking she begins precariously walking along the tightrope, balancing between the desires of her beloved parents, and their parents’ parents and those of herself and her fellow bounty hunters. Looking down, and recognizing how high up she really is, her eyes begin to shift out of focus and her breathing begins to increase steadily. Finally, to quiet the doubts and fears racing through her mind, she puts her hands on her sides, closes her eyes and lets herself fall from the rope, towards the ground.

Kanye West feat. Chance Fischer

As Sammus approaches the boss of the game she becomes doubtful of her skills. Has she proven herself? In her insecurity she begs M’other Brain to imbue her with the spirit of Kanye West. Within a moment, a terrible force takes over her and as she recovers, she begins to rap as though Yeezy himself were forming her words. As the verse comes to a close, and Kanye’s grip over her soul becomes stronger she begins to fear that she will be lost in the bewildering soul of Mr. West forever. With Sammus temporarily paralyzed and fighting off the spirit of ‘Ye, Chance Fischer jumps on the microphone and through his lyrical wordplay, is able to coax the greedy demon out of Sammus. Upon becoming herself, she recognizes that she should have just believed in herself. Even though she loves what Kanye West has done for her musically, she will never again wish to be somebody else. With that realization, she finishes the song and declares her new approach towards life.

M’OTHER BRAIN

M’other Brain is a 13-track audio game that depicts the epic story of Sammus, the upstate-NY scholar, former teacher, intellectual bounty hunter, producer, rapper and visual artist in search of M’other Brain. This experience takes you through the twisted, cavernous tunnels of M’other Brain’s hideaway, where Sammus must battle everything from monsters to her own insecurities. Grab your power glove, some good headphones and close your eyes. You are now entering M’other Brain.