Chris Higgins
One Year Ago Today: Nerdcore Hip Hop Could Reign Supreme
by Chris Higgins - February 6, 2008 - 8:01 AM

I started blogging for the _floss one year ago yesterday, so I thought I’d share my second blog post ever: Nerdcore Hip Hop Could Reign Supreme. In a somewhat surprising coincidence, it was announced yesterday that Nerdcore Rising will premiere at South By Southwest in March! If you can’t make it to Austin, you can request a screening in your area. Anyway, here’s the year-old post:

Nerdcore Rising ScreenshotNerdcore Hip Hop, our favorite nerdy musical subgenre, is finally getting its own documentary: Nerdcore Rising. In case you haven’t gotten the Nerdcore Memo yet, here’s an explanation from the documentary’s producers:

Nerdcore hip hop is a sociological phenomenon born out of the internet and made possible by computer-obsessed geeks. Nerdcore Rising follows MC Frontalot – the “Godfather of Nerdcore” – on his first national tour to reveal both the roots of the genre and the dorky complexities of its artists. Featuring Weird Al Yankovic, MC Chris, MC Lars, Brian Posehn, Jello Biafra, Daily Show Folks, and a slew of other artists and commentators.

If you haven’t heard MC Frontalot yet, you owe it to yourself to download some MP3s (legal ones!) to get a taste. We recommend Indier Than Thou and Front the Most (those are direct MP3 links), though we celebrate his whole catalog. Superfans (like this humble blogger) can join Front’s Valued Sucker Program to gain access to special content!

A year later, I have (mostly) stopped using the Royal “We” and advances in my blog-fu now allow me to embed videos. Nerdcore Rising has a teaser trailer on their site, but it contains a bit of non-nerdy swearing, so here’s an earlier trailer without any uncouth language:

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Comments (7)

  1. I remember the first post – it turned me on to Nerdcore. Love it, so thanks for the tip!

    posted by Shane on 2-6-2008 at 11:47 am

  2. I thought my husband was insane when he told me he loved MC Frontalot’s music. Then I heard it and understood; it’s very smart and often VERY funny.

    posted by Sally Parrott Ashbrook on 2-6-2008 at 11:52 am

  3. NERD CORE FOR LYFE, ALL MY NERDS AND NERDETTES!

    True story: about 2 years ago MC Chris played one of my house parties (I live in QNS, and my roommates are musicians who have known him since before Adult Swim brought him to the masses). He was premiering a few songs from his upcoming album, so if you were at the Headquarters in July 2006, and you saw some hip-hop history.

    An aside, but hip-hop has ALWAYS been close to geekdom. I mean, Beastie Boys wrote a lot of songs about not being cool, and even Wu-Tang (known more for their hardcore thug life) was obsessed with kung-fu movies and comic books, even paying a lot of homage to the genres in their samples, arrangements and rhymes–totally geek.
    Daaaag, maybe they should replace “THUG LIFE” with “GEEK LIFE”. Just sayin’!

    posted by Cassandra on 2-6-2008 at 1:27 pm

  4. xcore aside, it’s totally fabulous that you started blogging on the anniversary of the day of my birth.

    Oh, Higgins, the stars were aligned. I was meant to be a flosser.

    posted by Zoë on 2-6-2008 at 6:31 pm

  5. Is Schaffer The Darklord considered nerdcore hip hop? If so I guess I’ve been a fan for a while! Saw him at a local bar and he was great! Very smart and funny with good beats.

    posted by jplanet on 2-7-2008 at 6:09 pm

  6. I think STD is considered nerdcore, yes! So welcome to the club. :)

    posted by Higgins on 2-7-2008 at 6:14 pm

  7. MC Frontalot is an awesome dude. I’ve covered a few of his shows and have had the pleasure of interviewing him, along with optimus rhyme and beefy, 2 a local show.

    LOL@ Cassandra. mc chris is not nerdcore, so why mention him in a nerdcore post? On another note, YTcracker does have “Nerd Life” tattooed on his stomach, and MC Router (also no longer nerdcore) Has “Level Up” tattooed on her chest, and “g33k l1f3″ on her knuckles.

    STD is nerdcore, and recently toured with MC Frontalot. Puts on a great show.

    Glad to see nerdcore is still abuzz on the internets. Thanks Higgins

    posted by TG_2005 on 2-8-2008 at 3:07 pm

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