"Unknown from M.E." is a frequently ripped track from the games Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2. it's also a meme on SiIvaGunner.
Contents
Summary
"Unknown from M.E."[1] is the theme song of Knuckles the Echidna[2] in the 1998 Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure. It is a rap song played during the end credits of Knuckles' campaign, and its instrumental is also played in some cut-scenes involving the character. A new version sporting a new beat and different lyrics also appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 alongside several new rap songs for the character such as "Kick the Rock!" and "A Ghost's Pumpkin Soup", while the instrumental of the original was later reused in Sonic and the Black Knight as Sir Gawain's theme (Knuckles' counterpart in this game's alternate reality). Although it has never been officially confirmed, the "M.E." in the title stands for "Master Emerald", an ancient and powerful artifact that Knuckles must protect.
The rap was performed by Dred Foxx in SA1 and Hunnid-P in SA2, with Marlon Saunders providing the second voice in both versions of the song (the second version reuses voice samples from the first). Contrary to popular belief and despite the song being "performed" by Knuckles, none of them are Knuckles' voice actor in those games (the credits go respectively to Michael McGaharn and Scott Dreier).
Rips
The first documented appearance of "Unknown from M.E." was February 22, 2016[3] on the defunct GiIvaSunner channel[4] in the form of "Unknown From M.E. - Sonic Adventure", a purposely bad redub of the rap that would eventually get reuploaded on SiIvaGunner on April 30, 2016. Its first appearance on the current SiIvaGunner channel however was with the rip "Unknown From M.E. (Instrumental) - Sonic Adventure 2", a mashup of the song's instrumental with "Greenhorn Forest" from Wario World published on April 22, 2016. The track would however only achieve meme status a month later on May 25 with the release of "Unknown from M.E. (OST Version) - Sonic Adventure", a word salad remix by Triple-Q which became very popular even outside the SiIvaGunner fandom, the rip currently being the 9th most viewed video on the channel with more than 600k views.
Due to its popularity, multiple other versions began to appear, some of them sporting the version "Xth Anniversary". There are currently 12 "Unknown from M.E." rips on the channel (8 SA1 and 4 SA2). The song is also rarely used as a minor meme, usually referencing the "OST Version", although its first known use predates it (Mushroom Hill Zone (Act 1) - Sonic The Hedgehog 3 by BotanicSage released on the old channel and in GilvaSunner's Highest Quality Video Game Rips: Volume 1 on March 30 is one of the earlier known example). On June 9, 2017 (Nozomi's birthday), the track got immortalized in the traditional Snow halation mashup with "Unknown from M.E. (20th Anniversary ver.) - Sonic Adventure" (another track originally sporting this version was then reconnected as "Unknown from M.E. (Beta Mix) - Sonic Adventure").
The track is actually thematically very close to DK Rap, both being arguably cheesy raps from the late 90's and earning their fame on the channel thanks to a word salad like "DK Rap (Unused Version) - Donkey Kong 64", although "Unknown from M.E." never spawn something as memetic as the Coconut Gun; the closest things would be "Oh no!", a poorly delivered line from Knuckles in Sonic Adventure (which notoriously had no directing) as well as "& Knuckles"[5], which were already popular in-jokes in the Sonic community and are sometimes associated to this song.
Lyrics
Click "Show lyrics" to see the lyrics.
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Here I come - rougher than the rest of them |
References
- ↑ "Unknown from M.E." on Sonic News Network
- ↑ "Knuckles the Echidna" on Sonic News Network
- ↑ @GiIvaSunner on Twitter - February 22, 2016
- ↑ "Unknown From M.E. - Sonic Adventure" on Wayback Machine
- ↑ "& Knuckles" on Know Your Meme
