So, a few weeks ago, a friend of mine came up to me, not saying a word, and shoved this into my face:



Needless to say, it was one of the greatest things my eyes have ever come into contact with. I'm a monster Nerdcore fan; it's as if my 2 greatest loves (hip-hop's dynamic lyrics and all forms of geekery) fucked each other raw until a beautiful, precious child was created in their image. Every artists, from Optimus Rhyme to MC Hawking, brings something new to the table. Some rap about games exclusively, while others freestyle about hacking their old TRS-80.


Yeah. Hip-hop freestyling about this.

I especially love MC Frontalot and MC Lars, 2 of the biggest names in nerdcore. You'll know Frontalot from various outings at PAX, along with his documentary Nerdcore Rising, and most might know Lars for his songs "Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock" and "The Room Mate From Hell," which he recorded with MC Chris. So, last Thursday, I put on my Saturday morning best, hopped on my bike, and went over to see one of the best shows I've ever seen.

Before I talk about the actual show, I want to mention that I went for more than just the artists. I'm in the process of becoming a DJ for my campus' radio station, and one of the things we do to promote the station is have musicians and celebrities do "station drops" for us, where the artist just says their name and the station. You've probably heard one before; it goes like "This is Ratt, and you're listening to 98.6 The Edge, Oregon's best hair metal," or something like that. So, I decided to get one from MC Frontalot. Since I'm a bit of a pussy, I was a little intimidated by meeting a celebrity like Frontalot. I'm not sure why now; MC Frontalot is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. I got to the show, and he was helping set some shit up for the first artist. I just casually went up to him, introduced myself, and asked him if he wanted to do the drop. Of course, he said yes, and was rather happy about it. After giving me the promo, we went back up to the stage and I got to meet and talk with a bunch of cool people. Also, I gotta talk about the atmosphere of the show; every single artist that was their was either at his respective merch table, or mingling with the audience. Plus, 2 tables were set up, for playing Magic: The Gathering and DS. I've never felt more at home

Anyway, on to the show. The opening act was Dual Core, who, for being an opening act, blew me away. I met int Eighty, the only member of the duo at the show, early on, and he looked like a normal guy you'd see walking the streets. Nothing special. Then, he got on-stage. I have never seen someone's demeanor and posture change so much. It's like I was watching a completely different person rapping up there. Plus, all he had was a mic and an iPod with his backing tracks pre-programed, and he KILLED! His best song was "Hostage Down" (which you can find on their Myspace), a rap about Counter-Strike, where the chorus was comprised of some lyrics followed by the in-game voice saying "Hostage down!" Nothing is better than a group of nerds yelling "Hostage down!" as loud as they possibly can. Right after his set, I picked up his latest album, Lost Reality (which he made a point of telling me was DRM free; awesome), and I'd suggest you pick it up, too. It's pretty fantastic.

Up next was MC Lars, who commanded the biggest crowd of the night, and for good reason; he killed his set. He ran through all of his best, starting with Space Game, and moving on to Mr. Raven, Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock, 21 Concepts, Generic Crunk Rap, and others. He was also joined on stage by YTCracker and MC Frontalot, as well as Frontalot's band members Black Lotus on bass and Sturgenius on drums. Each and every song had the crowd going wild and singing along, and he had 2 big projection screens with accompanying video that made each song even more spectacular. The best song had to be his opener, Space Game. It get the crowd even more riled up for the coming set, and it had an amazing solo by Black Lotus at the end. Here's a video of it (at a different venue, but it was the same when I saw him):


After Lars was YTCracker, who, unfortunately, I missed, due to some partying over at a friend's house. But, I was able to hear him during Lars and Frontalot's sets, since he rapped along with them for most of their sets. I enjoyed watching him on-stage as well, and the duets he did with Lars off of their new record The Digital Gangster LP were sick (Carmen San Diego Has Bad Morals was the best song I heard all night). After the show, I checked out his site to see what other music he had. What I found knocked me out of my chair: he has a free album called NerdRap Entertainment System, where all the songs are backed by popular NES tunes. For instance, Mega Nerd is Cracker rapping over the Mega Man 3 theme. Download. This. Album. NOW! You're doing yourself a disservice by not listening to it.

Last, but not least, was the guy everyone was waiting for: MC Frontalot. I'll let him do the talking here:


That was taken at the show, and it was, I think, his second song. It only got better from there. Lars got up on stage, and they did a duet called I Hate Your Blog. Every artist there got up at the end and helped out singing Nerdcore Rising, with each rapper getting a verse to freestyle over. It was pure geek ecstasy. If you've never heard any of his stuff, check out his site for a bunch of free MP3s.

The best part of the night came at the end. Tired, drunk, and smiling ear-to-ear from the amazing music, I was able to go to the merch table and get a pic with each of the artists:

Me and YTCracker

Me and Frontalot.

Me and Lars.

These guys are all on tour for the next few months. If they come ANYWHERE near you, spend the money to see them. Seriously. These guys are amazing lyricists, spectacular musicians, and some of the nicest people you've ever met.

SUPPORT NERDCORE HIP-HOP!