Moments ago I received a press release announcing the latest work of nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot, a cut on the soundtrack for the upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. To say this move is due to the demographic overlap between his music and the audience for the title would be like saying I’m having difficulty writing this because I’d much rather be watching the Street Fighter 4 teaser over and over again: exceedingly obvious.
I’m going to be burned alive as a traitor to the cause for saying this, but I just don’t get the whole nerdcore movement. Perhaps it was my early exposure to the gangsta rap scene of Southern California or maybe it’s my contrarian trend abhorrence, but I just don’t understand the appeal in glorifying one’s own social ineptitudes. Sure, I get the idea that all people want to belong to something, but couldn’t the less socially apt just create primitive subterranean societies? It isn’t like they get much sun anyway, and did you see how well it worked for the Morlocks? They even had slaves!
Hit the jump for the press release.
MC Frontalot to Record Original Song for Penny Arcade Adventures
Vancouver, British Columbia – Oct. 17, 2007 – Hothead Games today announced that its highly anticipated game, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, will include an original song by nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot.
“Penny Arcade and MC Frontalot have a longstanding friendship,” said Vlad Ceraldi, Hothead’s president. “Frontalot’s ‘Penny Arcade Theme’ has become a nerdcore classic, and we’re sure his new song will be an awesome addition to ‘On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.'”
On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness: Episode One is the first title in the downloadable Penny Arcade Adventures series for Windows, Mac OS X, Linux and the Xbox 360(tm) video game and entertainment system. Hothead is working with the Penny Arcade creators and adventure game pioneer Ron Gilbert in an intense collaborative development process.
Editor’s Note: MC Frontalot’s “It Is Pitch Dark” video, which premiered during the Hothead panel at Penny Arcade Expo 2007, is available for your use at the MMPR ftp site (http://www.mmpr.com/MMPRFTP/), inside the Penny Arcade folder.
About MC Frontalot
MC Frontalot is the stage name of Damian Hess, a musician and author currently based in Brooklyn. In late 1999, Damian pioneered the subgenre of rap music called nerdcore hip-hop, a 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 two retail albums Nerdcore Rising (August 2005) and Secrets From The Future (April 2007) are in their fourth and third printings respectively. He is the official rapper of Penny Arcade (the web’s most popular comic with 3.5 million daily readers) and headlines at their annual convention to an audience of over 5,000.
About Hothead Games
Headquartered in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Hothead Games is an indie developer staffed entirely by industry veterans. With a focus on innovative gameplay and episodic delivery, Hothead is building titles for both PC and console platforms. Read all about Hothead’s games at www.hotheadgames.com.
About Penny Arcade
Equal parts online comic and commentary, Penny Arcade (http://www.penny-arcade.com) covers videogames in a way that is genuine, insightful and respected by the gaming community. What started as a hobby for Jerry “Tycho” Holkins and Mike “Gabe” Krahulik has, over 8 years grown into an online phenomenon that serves 55 million page views a month to millions of readers worldwide. In addition to the comic strip and PAX, Penny Arcade also manages Child’s Play (www.childsplaycharity.org), a gamer-driven charity for sick kids in Children’s Hospitals across the world.
