counter

Nerdcore

« Selfish Gene - Daylight Savings Video
Korean Horror: The Red Shoes »

By: Kendall | in: Music |

I recently watched the trailer for NerdcoreforLife which left me with an interesting quote: “Bitches better fear the nerd revolution!”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8VTmy5clHk

Weird Al knows it’s here.  He proclaimed it.  Seriously, who didn’t get a little kick out of “White and Nerdy”?  We at The Plugg did.  One way or the other most of us reading this blog can probably relate in some way shape or form.  Any Star Wars Fans out there?  Or if you’re hardcore, how about Star Trek??  A lot of us comb the internet mercilessly trying to find video game cheats, and learn about new bands to talk up before friends find out about them.  Plenty of you collect comics.  I know you are out there.  In fact, who waited in line for a PS3 or Xbox 360? 

nerd2.gif

It has always been said that you should write about what you know, and that’s one thing that hip hop and rap have always done; tell tales of ones surroundings.  We haven’t all grown up on the streets, or in gangs.  Some of us were raised in the suburbs playing Dungeons and Dragons and video taping our ninja movies in the basement.  The term nerdcore was coined in 2000 by one of the most notable nerdcore rappers, MC Frontalot ( ), in the song Nerdcore Hip Hop.  Frontalot drops rhymes as edgy as anything you might hear laid down on an Eminem record, but more old school and mathematical.  Take this verse for instance:

making mention of my dj CPU
nerd-core hip hop is the style he use
step to my DJ, you better step prepared
he got 28 n 22/50ths squared
just a little more than the beat you thought
frontalot drop-kickin rhythm in the double ought
sought skinny little beats
but returned with the fat of the land
now I got a swollen hip-hop gland
I suffer hypochondria, think my beats is sick
but don’t trip, don’t trip
i’ma listen to the bootleg mp3
post the frontalot demo on my ftp
run away from the rappers who are just like me
cause they ain’t appreciating who my DJ be

 MC Chris

Now, mind you, that this is not necessarily full of sexual innuendos, and rants about ex-wives (or is it a wife again…remind me to ask Em about this.) and bad mothers. Nerdcore will cover subjects from science to light sabers, right on up through dextromethorphan (yeah, Nerds do drugs too!).  Mc Chris, another front runner for greatest Nerdcore artist, does a song titled “Tussin”, where he lets out his thoughts on the use this common high school drug. 

One way to define a person as Nerdcore typically, is “a person that takes very public pride in his/her nerdom”.  But it’s the combination of subject matter and hip hop that makes you a true Nerdcore rapper.  Some people would argue that artists like Blackalicious and MF Doom would be considered Nerdcore extrordinaires, but the difference is actually as simple as self identification.

For all of you out there who are closet nerds and dorks, check out this movie when it comes out.  Support your kind.  Don’t laugh because these guys aren’t street smart.  Chances are neither are you!


[Subscribe to this feed]



Posted on February 4, 2007

Comments

2 Responses to “Nerdcore”

  1. Nerdcore: Keeping it Real 2.0 at Baron VC on February 6th, 2007 6:30 am

    [...] A story on The Plugg reminded me of an article I’ve been meaning to write for some while. Rap has been on a slow decline with the emergence of gangsta rap, only propped up with a slow regional rotation. The East Coast/West Coast rivalry pretty much took a back seat to the domination of Southern hip hop. However, listeners can be forgiven every time a new song comes out to mistakenly assume they heard it before. After all, this is the genre where rappers who have been dead for a decade can release an album of out takes and still achieve platinum sales. No really, they do. [...]


  2. Charbarred on February 6th, 2007 7:20 am

    A few more alternatives on http://www.theplugg.com/2007/01/28/rap-for-the-indie-kids/


Leave a Reply