#nerdcore hip-hop

[haveyouheardthisband]

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

BUSSIT • PACKAPUNCH • NO HANDS • LIKE A PUNK • WHERE U FROM • INTERMISSION 2 • THE BADDEST • OK • DOUGHBOY • WHAT U NEED • JOHN CENA • OMNITRIX

Spotify ♪ Bandcamp ♪ YouTube

[thefreaklovesmusic]

The Stupendium - The Fine Print

[thisaintascenereviews]

Nerdcore Hip-Hop Is A Product Of Its Time But Lives On Today

Childish Gambino’s 2011 debut album, Camp, is what I consider the first rap album that I ever got into when I was a lot younger. I talked about it recently, actually; that piece recontextualizes Camp and its place in the grand scheme of rap music and my own music taste. I won’t go into detail about it again, since I already talked a lot about it, but I will say that it was an accessible pop-rap album that had some catchy hooks and clever bars. I’d be lying, however, if I said that Camp was the first rap album I ever heard or that Childish Gambino was the first rapper I ever got into, and alternative rap / backpack rap wouldn’t be the first type of rap I got into back when I was a teenager. That would be nerdcore, specifically MC Lars, and his third album, 2011’s Lars Attacks.

Nerdcore, for those unaware, is a sub-genre of hip-hop that is very “nerdy,” usual in its lyricism. The genre began in the late 00s, starting with MC Frontalot, whose 2005 debut album is called Nerdcore Rising. Guys like MC Lars, Schaffer The Darklord, Beefy, MC Chris, Mega Ran, and a bunch of other artists, have kept the genre going for many years, but it’s certainly fallen out of favor over time. I’m getting way ahead of myself, but my introduction to the genre was through MC Lars. I don’t remember how I found his music, but it was probably online somewhere, or through Alternative Press or AbsolutePunk, because Lars was frequently touring with alternative and punk bands, as well as being on Warped Tour. He had the unique identity of being a rapper was influenced by punk and hardcore, as well as fellow rappers and rap groups.

In 2011, he dropped the aforementioned Lars Attacks; this was his third album, but I would just as easily recommend his debut album, 2006’s The Graduate. Going back to that album, it’s a better introduction because of how short it is, and how its lyrical themes were both weirdly prophetic and topical at the same time. MC Lars is a nerdcore rapper that doesn’t just rap about “nerdy” stuff, but he also raps about the Internet, pop culture, literature, and history. The Graduate has all of that, including songs about downloading and streaming music, the Internet generation (that would eventually become known as Gen Z), the fad of commercially viable emo / alt-rock at the time, Internet relationships and “catfishing,” a song about Moby Dick, and some sillier songs about random stuff that make for good jokes.

Lars Attacks is very similar, but has less of a theme, although it has songs about Lars digging back into rap’s past, summer love at a camp, the poem Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe, Judas betraying Jesus from Judas’ perspective, the story of The Giving Tree, and just a bunch of random songs with singular ideas that are self-contained jokes, not necessarily about anything at all. This album introduced me to the idea of rap music being more relatable, because part of why I could never get into it was that its main ideas just didn’t appeal to me. I didn’t realize that rap music was multifaceted, and different sub genres of it existed that focused on different ideas and subject matter, but nerdcore made me feel seen, at least as a “nerd” before it was cool to be considered a nerd.

Before the late 2000s and early 2010s, it wasn’t cool to be into superheroes, video games, books, and things that “normal people” weren’t into. In the 90s and early 2000s, alternative rap played with this idea, but it was never a mainstream thing. With the rise of the MCU, and other properties that became a lot more popular, it was the perfect time for something like nerdcore to really manifest, ultimately becoming a product of its time. Nerdcore certainly coincided with the rise of “nerd culture,” because if that never happened, nerdcore would probably be a very niche genre, and to some extent, it still is very niche.

Looking at the genre in its heyday, it’s easy to see (and hear) why it was so popular, because white dudes rapping about D&D, Magic The Gathering, video games, and comic books wasn’t super common. With the rise of nerd culture in the zeitgeist, nerdcore’s popularity waned, even though a lot of these artists are still around today. Nerdy references also crept their way into hip-hop, too, so it’s normal for a mainstream rapper to talk about anime, movies, video games, and whatever they’re into, and it made nerdcore somewhat obsolete.

The biggest elephant in the room when discussing the genre as well, and I just kind of hinted at it, is race. The genre was primarily populated by cis, white, and straight guys. The genre’s gotten a bit better over the years, but it also kind of still carries the same sexism that nerd culture always has, where women have to prove themselves to be a nerd, and they’re often seen as lesser fans or not “real fans” because they happen to enjoy it. Maybe it was unintentional, because of it being such a niche genre, but even so, there is that elephant in the room.

Like I said, the genre has remained relatively steady over the last 15 years, since its original popularity, but there are some artists that have picked up the torch in one way or another. MC Lars is still going strong, but rappers like Hoodie Allen, Joey Valance & Brae, and a few others are keeping the genre alive. A lot of artists are using nerdy references, like I said, such as Denzel Curry, Lupe Fiasco, and Childish Gambino, but the latter two were around during that initial nerd culture popularity. They overlapped with the “blog era” of rap and the rise of nerd culture, but it’s good to have nerd culture normalized now, versus still being made fun of for liking comic books or video games.

Honestly, nerdcore has no real reason to exist now, because you can consider a lot of artists that have pop culture references in their lyricism to be “nerdcore,” but they wouldn’t identify as such. It still lives on, and I look at its brief window of popularity with fondness, because that was a stepping stone for me to get into other kinds of rap, despite how I still enjoy MC Lars and a few other artists in that style. You’re not missing much if you don’t listen to it, but I will have to write something separate on MC Lars in particular, because I think Lars transcends the genre into something more. Nerdcore is a genre that I’ve been aware of for years, so it’s cool to finally talk about it in some capacity.

[mode7rap]

GOLD COUNTRY! The new Banjo Kazooie album by Mode 7! Available everywhere you listen to music! Check out bio.site/mode7

[mikalkhill]

I had to cancel my trip but I'm there in spirit as the new DEF CON soundtrack is out and features myself and Dual Core's int eighty (The TroubleShooters). The song is from our album Production and available on Bandcamp or wherever you stream or steal your music. Check it out and add us to your hacking playlists, plz.

[weirdjams]

Mega Ran - Barret

[gehirntoture]

That one time my friend took me to see Mega Ran and I got to meet him. He was super nice.

[felismors]

A cranky review of NO HANDS by Joey Valence and Brae

via rateyourmusic

The songs aren't bad at all by themselves (except the intermission, that one's straight up obnoxious), but I can only put up with quirked up white boys for so much time in a row, and 30 minutes is about 20 minutes past that point. Being corny and silly has been a big part of their bit since the start, and it's clear that they're authentic about it, but listening to this album in one sitting feels like eating a full sleeve of saltines. Production's clean as fuck, though. Damn.

SCORE: 3/5

listen on spotify

[strawbyarts]

nerdcore scene and flowchart are buddies i think

scene is definitely on her tiptoes

[haveyouheardthisband]

[haveyoulistenedtothisalbum-poll]

Tracklist:

Pump Up The Love • Here I Go • Say Somethin • Midnight In Tokyo-to • Old To The New • Reach Out • Jet Set Classic (Interlude) • 24 Hour Party People • Diggin It Baby • Getaway • Benten-cho Boogie • Rock The Beat!! • Poison Jam • You Like That? (Interlude) • Tag Walls, Punch Fascists • BIG BEAST • Ba-da-Ba

Spotify ♪ Bandcamp ♪ YouTube

[thefreaklovesmusic]

The Stupendium - Don't Let The Bellhops Bite

[mode7rap]

1st Place Again - Banjo-Pilot rap remix by Mode 7