This is such a mundane thought but one I feel very strongly about. Hideki Naganuma simply does not have the sauce and I don't think he has since he did the soundtrack for **Sonic Rush**. I go back and listen to that or the **Jet Set Radio** OSTs and wonder where all that talent went. It feels like every track he's made since doesn't hit the same way. I'm not a big music producer, nor can I really review music very well (I actually have very low standards for music - as long as it can carry a beat and entertain me then I'm usually happy). But I know deep down in my heart that Naganuma is putting out nothing that interests me compared to his old stuff. Maybe I'm being a boomer, it's true. But *Jack da Funk*, *Pumpin' Jumpin'*, and *Feel the Power in Your Soul* - all of his singles from 2022 to 2019 - sound exactly the same to me. Compare that to literally anything from **Jet Set Radio**. *Grace and Glory*, *Sweet Soul Brother* and *Humming the Bassline* all sound sonically distinct from one another and are tracks I always want to go back to. And of course, **Jet Set Radio Future** benefits from having a bunch of remixes from other artists that put a fresh spin on things. No joke, the D.S.Remix of *Humming the Bassline* once shuffled into my headphones while I was grocery shopping at my King Soopers and I straight up dropped everything to groove to it. Anyways. This is a personal battle with someone who doesn't even know me. But I really loved Naganuma's music back in the day, it felt revolutionary when it came to how games could sound as videogames were coming up in the early 2000s. But maybe I'm just wrong! That could be true. I dunno. This is my [[Blogroll]] so whatever.