Artists
MC Frontalot and Band
MC Frontalot is the stage name of Damian Hess, a musician and author currently based in the Boston area. He studied English and electronic music at Wesleyan University, graduating in 1996.
From 1993 to 2003, Damian rapped, sang, and acted onstage with the San Francisco Bay Area’s premiere rock opera company, Emerald Rain Productions. He moved to the east coast in 2004 when his pop/rock musical Young Zombies in Love (co-authored with Frontalot keyboardist Gaby Alter) was featured at the New York International Fringe Festival (top songwriting award ‘04).
In late 1999, Damian pioneered the subgenre of rap music called Nerdcore Hip-hop, a once harmless movement that has metastasized into an internet phenomenon. Nerdcore’s live-audience draw grows yearly, with acts such as Frontalot, MC Chris, MC Lars, and Optimus Rhyme filling increasingly larger venues on national tours. Damian’s independently produced MC Frontalot tracks have earned a devoted audience and his first retail album Nerdcore Rising (released Aug 2005) is in its third printing and has been featured on the front page of the iTunes site. He is the official rapper of Penny Arcade (nets most popular comic with 3.5 million daily readers) and headlines at their annual convention to an audience of several thousand.
MC Frontalot has been featured in XXL Magazine, The Guardian (UK), and Wired News Online, on NPRs Day to Day, CBCs Definitely Not the Opera, WNYCs Brian Lehrer Show, and Pacifica Radios Technology Bytes. He has appeared in Wired Magazine (Sept 06), on Whatever (Channel 4, UK) and Barrio 19 (MTV Europe), and in the book Other People’s Property: A Shadow History of Hip-Hop in White America by Jason Tanz (Bloomsbury Press, Feb 07). His first contribution to Sesame Street is a song about a toilet paper factory, featured on the DVD Elmos Potty Time (Aug 06).
He towers over small hedges and ferns at a mighty 6′1″.
Weird Al Yankovic
Do not make eye contact…repeat, do not make eye contact when the genius king of pop parody humbly mingles with us mere humans. Weird Al is NOT a nerdcore artist (he has a separate Kingdom of Yankovicite on Planet Tatooine) but is revered by nerdcorites everywhere. This accordion junkie and satirist prodigy with ringlets ’straight outta Lynwood’ is best known for his farcical songs that deconstruct pop culture – often lampooning the too-earnest tracks of his contemporaries.
This caricaturing National Forensic League Scholar has sold more than 12 million albums, blasting every other comedy act in history out of orbit! He’s recorded more than 150 parody and original songs and has performed more than 1,000 live shows. He has also polka-ed his way to three Grammy Awards and four Gold records. Oh, and he went Platinum, Big Willie style. Six times, b*tches. Eat it, indeed.
Alfred, Yankovic’s birth name (which means sage, wise and elvin – yes, elvin, as in elf friend or elf counsel – bow, Lord of the Rings aficionados, bow), has also written and starred in his own film and television show, and directed music videos for other artists and himself. Remember the 80’s? Well, the universe desperately NEEDED a fat, white Michael Jackson… Weird Al didn’t shy away from the challenge, or the fat suit. In fact, over the decades he’s given us the belly laughs we’ve yearned for. And, sometimes, he’s even riding on a Segue while doing it.
He’ll “ace any trivia quiz you bring on” and is also “fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon.” But he knows in his heart that the world thinks he’s “white & nerdy. Really, really…white and nerdy.”
Prince Paul
Socrates once said, “When you have worked with so many hip hop artists and have become a producer, DJ and rapper in your own right, you become so cool, you pee ice.”* Prince Paul pees ice. This New York-based legend of hip hop, is beloved by nerdcorites on planets near and far, but let’s be honest, he doesn’t have a geeky bone in his body. Seriously, when MC Paul Barman flashed Prince Paul the Vulcan hand greeting before a recording session for It’s Very Stimulating, the Prince said, “That is the dumbest gang sign ever. Now I need to go mix a phat beat and create another revolutionary hip hop movement just to clear this uber-geeky moment out of my system.” Totally true. Maybe. Or maybe it was his avatar who said that in Second Life. Unclear.
Giving up a lucrative career as a postman (as in USPS), Paul first materialized on the scene as a member of Stetsasonic before producing De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising . Soon after, he produced the monumental hip hop opera A Prince Among Thieves, a veritable hip hop summit bigger than Camp David and one of the most acclaimed concept albums of its time…FYI. Oh, and here are a few others cats the Prince has worked with: Big Daddy Kane, Xzibit, Everlast, Queen Latifah, Jay Z, MC Lyte, RZA (of Wu-Tang Clan), Slick Rick, Candyman, George Clinton, Yellowman, Beastie Boys, Sean Lennon and Queen Elizabeth II (the last one is under dispute).
Striking a deal with Tommy Boy, Paul also produced piss-your-pants comedian Chris Rock’s three Grammy award-winning albums Roll with the New, Bigger and Blacker, and Never Scared. Besides those gigabyte creds, XM satellite radio currently runs Paul’s The Ill Out Show on the The Rhyme 65 channel. He is, in fact, in the film Nerdcore Rising and no,we’re not worthy.
*Please keep in mind throughout your perusal of this website that whenever we mention “Socrates” we literally have no idea what we’re talking about. wikipedia | myspace
Jello Biafra
A man like Jello (née Eric Reed Boucher) should hardly need an introduction on a site designed for hardcore music (and computer) enthusiasts. To do so is like explaining the basics of World of Warcraft – ridiculous, right? And yet, here goes…
Most of you may know Jello as lead vocalist and lyricist of one of the greatest hardcore punk bands of all time, The Dead Kennedys. This band is responsible for moody and subtle songs like, “California Über Alles,” “Beat the Brat,” and “Too Drunk to Fuck” (a go-to wedding song for countless young couples).
These days, when he’s not extolling the virtues of net neutrality at hacker conventions, or running for various political offices (including President of the United States), California-native Biafra has channeled his post-Dead Kennedys performing talents in the art of spoken word. Though Jello might share some similarities with his nerdcore homies (love of H.R. Geiger, intense adoration of unusual vinyl recordings), he nevertheless rocks it on a different wavelength altogether by infusing his words and lyrics with a mix of raw energy, political consciousness, and playful irony. Think Zach De La Rocha with a sense of humor. And when you see Nerdcore Rising you’ll find out just how his punk sensibilities form his carefully crafted commentary on nerdcore, hip hop and all forms of “genre-fication.”
wikipedia | myspace
J-Live
Our man J-Live (née Jean-Jacques Cadet) definitely isn’t nerdcore, but no one can deny that he’s hardcore…ly cool! As emcee, DJ, producer, and CEO of Triple-Threat Productions, his single-minded mission to keep his music real and true is more fervent and ambitious that the Borg.
Coming straight out of NYC, J-Live has created sick rhymes and sicker beats for over ten years, performing not only all over the U.S., but Canada, Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and Australia. He has thrown down his talents with producers such as DJ Premiere, Pete Rock, DJ Spinna, Prince Paul, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Spooky, Numark, Da Beatminerz, Dan the Automater, and recording artists such as Mos Def, El Da Sensei, Wordsworth, Talib Kweli, and Chali Tuna. That’s a resumé that even would make King Ad-Rock’s eye-wear fog with intimidation.
And as a former English teacher from Brooklyn, he’ll shush up any nay-sayers and haters by dropping some deft “A, B, A, B,” rhyme schemes on a doubtin’ fool. Dangling participles need not apply.
Oh and, look for his new album, “Then What Happened” in spring 2008.
website | wikipedia
Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade
Tycho & Gabe (or as their parents call them Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik) are founders the uber-popular web comic, Penny Arcade. To say they are the product of “humble beginnings” is cliché but true. They were local rejects – rejects who drew countless comic strips that papers and online zines didn’t want. One day, they decided to throw those rejected comic strips onto a website, and thus, in 1998, Penny Arcade was born. At first the website was sustained through donations but eventually large masses of humans from around the world grew to lurve Jerry & Mike’s two dimensional alter-egos and with a little financial savvy from business manager Robert Khoo, they now make real American dollars.*
The beauty of Tycho & Gabe is that they sit around commenting on video games – that’s all they do. The simplicity is the real genius. There is so much worldwide adoration for the web comic that they get roughly 2 million hits a day. They have parlayed this into an annual convention in Seattle that hosts up to 60,000 gaming enthusiasts. And who should play music at such a convention? None other than Penny Arcade’s official “Rapper Laureate” MC Frontalot. One would even say that Penny Arcade played a huge cartoon-like hand in Frontalot’s emerging nerdcore success. And we thank them for it.
*Point of accuracy: Originally the characters were not designed to be Holkins’ and Krahulik’s alter-egos. But, after the series began, they figured, eh why not have them represent us? And, of course, the cartoon Tycho & Gabe look nothing like the real-life Tycho & Gabe. The real-life Tycho & Gabe are cuter.
website | wikipedia
Badd Spellah
With titillating tracks more infectious than a Sub7 Trojan horse, this most “awesomest beat smith” and avid dictionary/thesaurus user is best known as MC Frontalot’s righteous remixer. Hailing from the land of Alexander Graham Bell, Wolverine and Pamela Anderson, this thumping Canadian, with a name actually intended for an unrealized boy band spoof in college, has been dubbed the Timbaland of Nerdcore hip-hop here and in galaxies far, far away.
Creating crisp beats since the mid-90s, a friend booted him up to MC Frontalot’s songs around 1999, which uploaded Spellah into overdrive. He sent the ‘Godfather of Nerdcore’ an email and soon the two were concocting cutting collaborations online. With the blessings of NAFTA, this Canadanian/US hip hop team has definitely emerged at the forefront of nerdcore.
Spellah would call himself a “beat smith” in a Vulcan nerve pinch, but “producer” would come in a close second, especially of late as he has been cultivating recording projects with/for other artists and vocalists. Trekking through new compositions by the glow of his monitor, Spellah has found inspiration from all genres of music, remixing songs to the point where the obvious derivative of his immediate influences wouldn’t be apparent. Basically, this guy can get a thumping nerdcore beat out of Burt Bacharach.
Baddd Spellahh stands at the intersection of Jay-Z and Steve JObs – an H to the Izzo Super OS hybrid and a true hip hop maestro.
myspace
MC Chris
Is it any surprise that one of the best artists on the nerdcore scene regularly works for the Cartoon Network? Nothing like a little Aqua Teen Hunger Force all up in your badass mother f_ckin’ beats.
MC Chris somehow pulls off a mash-up of: 1) hardcore hip-hop image, 2) high-pitched vocals, and 3) geek credentials. Think Nas on helium, with a few extra Boba Fett references. He’s prolific too. He’s put out four solo albums – Life’s A Bitch and I’m Her Pimp, Knowing Is Half The Hassle, Eating’s Not Cheating, Dungeon Masters of Ceremonies. His new album MC Chris Is Dead drops later this year. Not one to share his success with major corporations, he recently announced that his albums would now only be available at his concerts and told his fans to “Pirate that shit.”
Just like in mainstream rap every artist has a different relationship with their fans – Fifty Cent sleeps with all the female ones, Eminem moons the males ones, Snoop Dogg buys drugs from all of them, etc. In true Nerdcore fashion, MC Chris takes his fans to the movies. Following his shows, Chris has treated his fans to such masterpieces as Transformers, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, TMNT, and of course, Aqua Teen Hunger Force. I would imagine he also buys drugs from a few of them …seeing as they’re already watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Oh yeah, MC Chris has also played on the Warp Tour, been featured in Spin Magazine’s Band of The Year Contest, and at various times declared that the Nerdcore scene can suck a fat ____. But as he explains in our little film, Nerdcore Rising, he means that in the best possible way.
wikipedia | myspace
MC Lars
If you were to ask MC Lars, he’d tell you that he doesn’t make Nerdcore music; he’s makes Post-Punk Laptop Rap. You might have to get a screen guard for that – it sounds messy.
MC Lars is prolific and successful. Evidence: He has put out five albums over the past eight years and he has toured with such bands as The Matches, Simple Plan, Bolwing for Soup, Gym Class Heroes, Say Anything, Streetlight Manifesto, Suburban Legends, Patent Pending, Fightstar, MC Frontalot, and Wheatus. Limp Bizkit, however, is still waiting for the phone call.
Lars fills his rhymes with a rich and geektastic blend of references to old-school rappers (think Eazy-E), Nerdcore culture, alternative bands (think Supergrass), and English lit (think Shakespeare). Prime example: “Who’s that rappin’ at my chamber door? Mr. Raven all up in my grill like nevermore!” That’s undoubtedly the best callback to Poe since Juvenile’s well known line “I’m rich bitch! And you mo’ po’ than Edgar Allen Poe!”
Unlike that other famous musical Lars, this one has vehemently avoided the path of the sell-out. He has his own record label (Horris Records) and is not willing to produce “more accessible” crap that might be more likely to get heavy rotation on MTV and the like. Instead, this Lars has decided to hang on to his nerdy soul and drop some great albums to boot.
website | wikipedia | myspace
Brian Posehn
Yep, he’s “that one guy from that one show.” This “gigantic, orange and gay” neighbor is a fixture on Comedy Central’s Sarah Silverman Show (gay on the show of course…in real life he prefers Princess Leia to Hans Solo). But he’s is so much more than that. Posehn is a comedian and actor known for playing every nerdy role in every TV show, in every movie and in every cartoon, ever. Ever. This 6’6″ metal freak from California has appeared on Friends, Seinfeld, Just Shoot Me, Bernie Mac and Everybody Loves Raymond just to name a few. Oh, don’t feel left out, video game fanatics, because he also voiced Grunts in Halo 2.
And, did we mention that he’s a classically trained pianist? Pianos notwithstanding, his metal dork nature took over when he appeared in Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects and an Anthrax music video. But Nerdlingers and heavy metal lovers worldwide banded together after Posehn dropped Metal by Numbers on his first album Live In: Nerd Rage, a song mocking bands that term themselves “metal” but are clearly not. In other words, die, Nickelback, die.
When he’s not writing comic books about a Santa who delivers presents and kills mutants in a post-apocalyptic world, he dons a diaper and plays an “Ink Fairy” for Staples ads. And seriously, if you’re a true fan, do NOT send him skis as a gift. He will most likely break them in half, hunt your snowy ass down and slay you with his Wii Hero Pack Sword. ‘Cause “skiing is hard, asshole.”
website | wikipedia | myspace
Schaffer the Darklord
Schaffer loves cats. Unapologetically. Unironically. Unforgivingly. And what’s not to love? They’re fluffy little creatures providing warm meows when things get rough, and full-throated purrs when things are swimming along just fine – in other words, they are the purrrrfect inspiration for writing raps (sorry, the pun had to happen, it just had to). But STD wasn’t always the nerdy cat loving-rapper we know him to be – oh no. Before he was a Pollyanna rapper of feline utopia, Schaffer the Darklord was a hardcore noise metal junkie. In fact, he describes himself as a “Frankenstein-esque monster assembled from equal parts Prince, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Hicks, and Darth Vader stitched together inside the shell of a jaded heavy metal ex-patriot.” If you appreciate any of those references, then this nerdcore rapper is for you!
Despite flair for the dorqué, he is betrothed to a fair lady. The kind of fair lady that has a PhD – something he raps about with a bridegroom’s adorable pride in songs like “Black Metal Queen” and “Nerd Lussst.”
He may not be available for matrimony but you could definitely stalk him – he lives in Brooklyn, New York – terrorize his every waking moment, and then haunt his dreams. He’s pretty used to this kind of terror as his one and only bandmate is a music making machine thingy he affectionately calls “The Devil.” And, if you wanna be extra crazy, you could stalk him while riding a specialized STD skateboard, which he sells on his website, of course.
website | wikipedia | myspace
MC Paul Barman
Much like George Washington felt after penning his sig to the Declaration of Independence, this forefather of Nerdcore has seen the grand emergence of a new nerdalicious nation. This Garden Stater has collaborated with more producers, DJs and performers than hot futuristic sex robots will interface with great-great grand nerds.
After hip-hop producer Prince Paul heard Barman’s “Enter Pan-Man” from his 1998 album “Postgraduate Work,” he offered Barman the chance to amalgamate their talents into a single network resulting in “It’s Very Stimulating,” which Rolling Stone gave four Wolf 359 stars AND named it one of their Best Albums of the Year.
With a passion for word play, “I’m iller than the Iliad and flow more than Shoah, while you’re so corny you’ve gotta SOH CAH TOA,” it’s not surprising to find that Barman is a Brown University grad. He is, in fact, the only person who managed to bust a fully improvised rap in the middle of his Nerdcore Rising interview. Was it an act of sheer genius? Absolutely.
While he would rather make sweet love to BloodRayne before she sank her teeth into his white neck, Barman has settled for formulating opuses such as “How Hard is That,” produced by PM Dawn (who first populated the scene around the time Ford Tauruses and Mario Bros. ruled the world). He has cameoed on a number of projects with artists such as Deltron 3030 and has toured with Del the Funkee Homosapien, Blackalicious, and Dalek. Watch out Seal, Barman would also “keep a tidy room for Heidi Klum.”
website | wikipedia | myspace
Beefy
Don’t be fooled – “Beefy” is just his AKA. If you’re gonna be a nerdcore artist, what better birth name than “Keith.” That gives you nerd cred right there. (Even Keith Richards is a nerd at heart.) Beefy lives up to his name and is a formidable presence onstage.
He has produced two EPs – The Whitesician EP and Nerd. His first full-length album Tube Technology dropped in 2006 on the Nerd South Records label, and he’s currently working on his second album during commercial breaks of Mythbusters. If you’re looking for references to Orcs in your rap, then Beefy is the place to find it. This man knows his gaming as well as he knows his cupcakes and is often mentioned on G4TV blogs.
However, Beefy is also a bit of a paradox. He’s a nerdcore rapper, gaming blogger, and yet somehow still good with the ladies. As he says in You Can Call Me Beef, “Ladies, Beefy’s in short supply.” How does one pick up a chick while whispering sweet Halo 3 codes in her ear? Leave it to the Beefman to pull off the impossible.
But he’s such a good guy, he doesn’t keep the Beef all to himself. He collaborates regularly with Doctor Popular, MC Router, Shael Riley, tanner4105, and DJ Snyder. In fact, Beef, Shael Riley, and MC Router make up the super group Tri-Force3. It’s like when all the various robots come together to form Voltron, except more dramatic.
Beefy describes his music’s sound as “like a unicorn dying,” and we’d have to agree.
website | listen |wikipedia | myspace
YT Cracker and Spamtec Crew
Never has an artist had better nerd cred than Bryce Case, Jr., aka YT Cracker, who could program Basic before he could talk. Good luck making friends in preschool while you’re navigating MSDOS. YT Cracker’s first taste of fame came at age 17 when he got caught hacking into and defacing one of NASA’s websites.
What’s one to do after being called a hacker prodigy on every major media outlet?
Drop out of high school.
But the nerdcore sweet life doesn’t come that easy. Cracker added more geeky goodness to his res by becoming a tech support representative for Gateway, Inc. and later a systems analyst for Ford. So when YT Cracker yells “Represent!” from the stage, he’s literally talking about tech support representatives.
In 2004 this mega-dork and semi-criminal finally threw himself into nerdcore hip-hop full time. With fellow artist Phlow, he put out the album STC is the greatest as the duo “Spamtec.” Their next effort Still the Greatest dropped in 2005.
Finally in 2006 YT Cracker’s public demanded a full-length taste of his solo work. So he gave it to them with the hit album Nerd Life. And that’s the perfect name for his music because no one rocks the nerdcore life as true as YT Cracker. – Just ask NASA.
website |wikipedia | myspace
MC Router
She’s the self-proclaimed “First Lady of Nerdcore”, and many agree. Router puts the “hardcore” back into “nerdcore”. She has the words “g33k 1if3″ inked on her fingers. Her tats alone show her devotion to the art form – because it’s not easy to score a job as a CPA when you’ve got the words “LVL UP” across your chest. Basically, she’s in it for 1if3.
In 2004 she started the group 1337 g33k b34t with fellow nerdcore artist T-byte. The two year project ended in 2006 because they ran out of Star Trek DVD commentary to watch together.
MC Router is now rockin’ it solo. Did you catch that guys? She’s surfin’ single. Okay, okay, she does have a little threesome action on the side. She, Beefy, and Shael Riley collaborate as Tri-forc3.
This Princess of Geek had the first hit nerdcore song of 2007 with “Trekkie Pride”. She also can’t be accused of not putting attitude in her music, as you’ll learn from a quick listen of her classic, “Game Cunt”.
wikipedia | myspace
Optimus Rhyme
Do not call them a boy band. If there was a glove-slapping duel of wits between Optimus Rhyme and a group like the Backstreet Boys, you can be sure that this quartet of Autobots would defeat the obnoxious rapperless Decepticons a hundred times over.
The fearsome foursome, straight out of Seattle, transform themselves into Wheelie,the ‘Conveyor Belt Poet’ who wheelds a speedy Super Mario tongue comparable to Bone Thugz & Harmony; Stumblebee, the ‘Bass Theorist;’ Powerthighs, the ‘Axe Manipulation Specialist’ (a.k.a. guitarist); and Grimrock, the kicking and crashing Dinobot of drums.
With a love of all things Transformers, this Funk-Rock hip hop armada has an impressive discography since their humble beginnings as warriors fighting the manufacturing Wackacons of commercial music in 2000. Optimus dropped their EP, AutoBeat, in 2002 and quickly followed with Positronic Pathways, Narcofunk Compilation, Optimus Rhyme (their first full studio album), Brobot Demos, School the Indie Rockers, and Rhyme Torrents Volume II (a Nerdcore compilation project). They are often aided by the lyrical machine, Rapper Broken English, have performed with MC Frontalot and were featured in a tron of articles including Newsweek, Billboard and Wired.
Infusing a critical attitude on today’s music biz with observations of everyday life set to engaging and progressive beats makes everyone feel like they can relate to Optimus: “I hate it when I gotta get up when it’s dark. I’m too tired and I just wanna sleep in, start thinkin’ I might have a cough. Think my boss would believe it?”
website |wikipedia | myspace
MC Plus +
If you want to stay out of Nerdcore Hip Hop, steer your clear of being one of MC Plus’s professors. A harmless computer science lesson could turn into the beginning of your demise as Plus will diss your syllabus into a potentially damning hip hop anthem.
This Iranian-American automatic code parallelization programmer (say that 15 times fast!) began his Nerdcore career as Sir Code-A-Lot but pulled an Optimus Prime and transformed himself into MC Plus+ after beginning to recording professionally. He rose in the ranks of Nerdcore Hip Hop after geeksta peer Monzy, the only other Persian computer science rapper, started an East Coast-West Coast rivalry, dissing his skills, which is basically the equivalent of telling MC Plus+ that he slept with his longtime software code in Plus’s own computer lab. Faux pas!
MC Plus+ fired back calling Monzy a “punk” (ss-nap) and the two are currently battling a rapping war of braggadocio wisecracking wordplay. Armand, Plus’s birth name meaning ‘of the army,’ certainly asserts he is one tough CS Gangsta rapper, “Because “I’ll come out against anyone who wants to take on MCPlus+. I ain’t scared of nobody.” He recently dropped his second album Chip Hop (microchip hip hop) after releasing his debut album Algorhythms.
Though Plus doesn’t rap about Benzes and bitches, he truly does wish that some hottie computer science groupies would emerge. He’s not asking for much. Just know what “metaheuristic” means. And have great legs.
Make sure to buy a monster power surge protector after downloading Plus’s complex and exploding rhymes because,
“I won’t stop once the beat drops, So note this, I put sucka MC’s on notice, Cause you sucka MC’s is bogus.”
website |wikipedia | myspace
Monzy
Perhaps other nerdcore MCs have an argument for being nerdier than Monzy (perhaps). However, none can say they have nerdier lyrics in their songs. To the average human being Monzy’s rhymes sound like they’re written in Html. He dropped this sweet rhyme in his debut single “So much drama in the PhD”, which garnered him much publicity on the nerdcore scene.
I gotta sign my rhymes with PGP;
But I keep on generatin’ like a CFG
‘Cause there’s so much drama in the PhD.
Monzy has also performed at Geekapalooza and been featured in a shload of magazine articles including Wired. Whereas mainstream gangsta rappers might get their “education” from dealin’ drugs on the mean streets of Compton or hustlin?- in the STL, Monzy is getting his nerdcore ed from the mean libraries at Stanford working toward a PhD in computer science (of course).
This nerdcore star took a bold move early in his career by starting an East Coast – West Coast rivalry with possibly the only other Persian nerdcore gangsta computer science rapper alive – MC Plus+. So far the battle has produced some great beats and remained peaceful. Neither MC has received a cap in their laptop’s ass.
And oh yeah, Monzy also gives good blog. That fact might not be important in any other music genre cred sheet, but in nerdcore, sometimes you’re only as big as your blog.
website
Crew Trew AKA Terp 2 It
Chris Trew is one of very few who not only busts geeky verse but also manages to bust some bonified, balls-out live comedy. This comic-cum-rapper is based in Austin and when The Freshest Dude came out – his first album as Terp 2 It – Chris Trew emerged on the scene as a no-nonsence nerdcore-ite of the Texan variety.
As early as the awkward high school years, Chris flirted with techy rebellion by posting, what had been newly labeled, a “website” with the names of all the people who hated him. Though most dial-up connections at the time could barely handle his masterful html, that little debacle managed to get Chris expelled from high school. That didn’t stop him from going to LSU, learning a bunch of stuff, starting a comedy group, and using his multi-funny, multi-geeky, multi-talented skillz for nerdcore good. Not evil. Good… so much Terp 2 It good.
website
Doctor Popular
Have you become an indoctrinated automaton by the evil music exec robots who have programmed the radio to only play mainstream lifeless pop music? Then you need to be immediately rushed to Doctor Popular, a.k.a. Drown Radio, who will prescribe a potent anecdote made up of eclectic silvery styles consisting of blasting beats and regal rhymes. This yo-yo world champion asserts that authoring these multifarious sounds “will never be more than a hobby,” although he has already performed with MC Frontalot, Beefy, MC Router, MC Lars and Shafer the Darklord.
Growing up, Popular listened to comedy records. After his grandparents ruled he was not to have a computer since it would make him lazy, this creative Californian quietly bought his first computer when he turned 24 and claims to not be, and will never be, a tech geek. Although, oddly, he told a Swedish Nerdcore website that he has always enjoyed using old cheap keyboards and toys as a musical source by opening them up and re-wiring the circuits. But, remember, he’s not a tech geek. In addition, before moving to computer music, Popular created all of his beats on his Playstation using MTV Music Generator. “It would let you import 7 seconds of sampled sounds, so I would record audio onto a cd-r, then double the speed and import it onto my Playstation. Then I would slow the speed down back to the original sample speed, effectively getting about 14 seconds of sound.” Again, not a tech geek.
Soon after he began rapping, a friend recommended Popular to listen to a sample of MC Frontalot, which prompted the thick black glasses-wearing San Franciscan to jump a trolley back to his place and begin writing and performing until he became the brilliant composer he is today. In 2005, Drown Radio produced a split e.p. with a band from Minneapolis called The Atomic Brothers where tracks were alternated and blended together from all artists using gameboys, trumpets, trombones, Casios, folk guitars, Speak n’ Spells and other instruments to create a funky cohesive futuristic pop music sound.
Popular also warns us not to worry about the guns and gangs in popular rap music. We have scarier things to stress about. Like lolCats, his new song which was recently used in the newest episode of Geek Entertainment TV. You’ll soon realize that, “The world is under attack, by L O L Cats, with gats.” Ahhh!!!
website | myspace
High C
Hailing from the dirrrty south, this Louisiana lyrical machine shone early on in nerdcore history. A long, long time ago, around the time of the first nerdcore dominion (as in, 1995 the year of our lord), High-C dropped his avant-garde first track “Godzilla,” where he began his mission to “bring pure unadultered 100% Colombian quality hip-hop dopeness into being.” This Tarzanian rhapsodist began frequenting topics such as technology figures, literary allusions and serial killers. Serial killers? Coincidentally High-C’s real name is Jason. Hmmm….
“From the depths of hell my wild style was born,
I mastered peas and cream corn.”
Oh, he mastered those peas and cream corn, all right. In 2001, High-C banded together with a ‘laptop geezer from the great white north’ named DJ Manticore to form Meter Versus Yard. Meters=Canada. Yard=USA. For conversion, or just abandon the calculator and listen to their tunes.
Rhyme Torrents’ The Nerdcore Hip-Hop Compilation CD Project contains some of High-C’s and Meter Versus Yard’s best work including Flame Extension and When In Rome. High-C has also collaborated with Australia’s The XXXXing Pigs, TINC Project and guitarist Kid Charlemagne. High C might call himself a “Tori Amos on male hormones” but he warns you not to invite him to “your momma’s mobile home.”
website | myspace
Shael Riley
This hip-hop artist is currently rhyming out of the Big Apple. He devotes his time to electronica and alternative nerdcore remixes, but he devotes his groin to Zelda. A significant contributor to the video game music arrangement community, he scored a major hit with “Zelda, Music of My Groin,” which made use of the original Nintendo theme song. Riley has asked that his biggest fans not describe what they do while listening to that song.
His first album Toy Box dropped in 2005. He also performed at Magfest in 2007. While, you’ll often hear him singing a sweet melody, Riley is no stranger to the finer art of rap. At Magfest, he tore it up in a now infamous freestyle rap battle with AE of Wave Theory. Unfortunately, feelings were hurt and myspace Top Ten Lists were adjusted accordingly.
Shael Riley’s collaboration project Tri-Forc3 is also knockin’ pencils out of pocket protectors. The rap group includes fellow game-addicted artists MC Router and Beefy, who have both stated in past interviews that Shael Riley, not Zelda, is the music of their groins.
wikipedia | myspace
Ultraklystron
Upon hearing the name, it’s understandable that you would immediately think “Oh, a radical linear-beam vacuum tube used to produce both low-power reference signals for superheterodyne radar receivers as well as high-power carrier waves for communication. Obviously.” But Ultraklystron is no tube. He is a revolutionary “magical girl moe” (meaning lover of fictional young anime women with superhuman abilities who are forced to fight evil and protect the earth while wearing a miniskirt and pink-ruffled thigh-high leggings…because how could you fight death and destruction otherwise?) Nerdcore Hiphop MC/producer and drum n’ bass/minimal techno/ambient/electronica artist best known for remixing phat funky bombastic beats for MC Frontalot and MC Chris.
An intense anime and manga (the Japanese word for comics and print cartoons, which is sometimes called komikku – remember that, we’ll be coming back to it later) enthusiast, this Washingtonian shoved Mozart over when he first started writing music at age 10, mostly inspired by smelling-like-teen-spirit alternative/grunge music before surfing into electronica after being introduced to it via Mtv AMP and then on to drum n’ bass after being introduced to Jungle Sky Records and Roni Size/Reprasent.
Inspired by a crush on a real life Ryoko (a hot anime chick), Ultraklystron dropped the first Nerdcore love album, Romance Language, after releasing his first Nerdcore LP, Revision4920. You can also catch him rapping freestyle on SpikeTV’s GameHead, collaborating with the sultry fembot Nursehella and producing/collaborating with Nerdcore/J-Pop (Japanese pop music) artist Rai. Oh, and don’t ask him if you can use a song for your adult film, Ron Jeremy, Ultraklystron only sticks to kawaii (cute) anime and komikku (remember?) women. So brush up on your Japanese but,
“Until then you better keep the floors clean and dusted
To make sure I’ve got a surface for the moves that I’ve busted.”
website | myspace
Nursehella
Move aside Lara Croft and Bastila Shan, the new goddess of Nerds has hacked your throne and claimed the universe with your gibs still hanging off her light saber. If the name evokes mega pixilated naughty nurse thoughts in your virtual memory, then you’ve uploaded correctly.
“Lets play spin the bottle – do you look like Harry Potter?
My kisses never miss, you’ll be reduced to Bantha fodder.”
Put your joy sticks down, boys, and take a number, this Vancouverian geeky version of Lady Sovereign has more than a few in her little black book. Best known for Nursehellamentary produced by agent provocateur Baddd Spellah, these two Jedis have an ancient system down. Spellah sends Nursehella a rough beat, which she writes to until it melts Kryptonite. After she’s good and ready, she teleports to his secret laboratory and they record there. She then zooms away in her pink Batmobile and Spella spends countless hours editing, writing, arranging and mixing until the track is hot and tight… like her wifebeater.
So listen up nerdlingers, bow to Nursehella ’cause… “I wail on the mic, and then I cause a scene, I’m super Evil Dead so won’t you hail to the queen!” myspace
Jesse Dangerously
Listen Ann of Green Gable’s maniacs, this isn’t Lucy Maud Montgomery’s poetic Eastern Canada anymore. With this nerdcore Canuck on the scene, it is officially Dangerous territory. Jesse Dangerously’s Perilous, Pulsing Rhetorical Territory, to be exact. His formidable balladry doesn’t recall flowery waves crashing in the sand – this time its about throbbing cadence and a beating baseline. And why has Dangerously emerged as a Canadian ambassador of nerdcore hip hop? Maybe because he provided galvanizing guest vocals on MC Frontalot’s album Nerdcore Rising or maybe it was because MTV Canada used him as a rap correspondent on the history of nerdcore.
This rhyming Jesse James of indie hip hop has been hacking into our hearts with his zibabyte beats since the late 1990’s with his debut album B.R.E.A.K. A notable member of the Canadian East Coast music scene, Dangerously has released five albums, has appeared as a guest vocalist on myriad recordings, has hosted a weekly radio show (The Pavement), has written a weekly column (The Daily News of Halifax), and has produced bumping beats for other musicians. What a freaking couch potato? I mean, do something with your life, Jesse.
This fast talking phenomenally gifted MC/producer/percussionist with a “keen grasp of odd time signatures” was first inspired by 1988 to 1994-era hip hop. Now, this is a story all about how his life got flipped-turned upside down and he would like to take a minute- (sound of record scratching to a halt). Not the Will Smith of now, people, but we’re talking the Fresh Prince of yore, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Das EFX, and Cyprus Hill and a handful of others.
He won the 2005 Music Industry Association of Nova Scotia Urban/Hip Hop Artist of the Year award and got a 2007 Rap/Hip-Hop Single Recording of the Year nod from the East Coast Music Awards. So turn your systems into safe mode and hold on to your hard drives, this hazardous maestro of beats is Dangerously dy-no-mite.
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