Posted by Migo on Dec 11th, 2007
I’m sure we’ve all heard of MC Chris, who’s done amazing things for William Street and Adult Swim, but there are probably a few other artists in this relatively unknown genre that you’ve never even heard of. I’m here to rectify that right now.
Nerdcore is a sub-genre of hip hop whose subject material revolves around the obviously nerdy, things like D&D, computers, comics, video games, and sci-fi just to name a few. Oh, it’s worth mentioning that the majority of these artists are some of the whitest kids you’ll ever see in your life as well.
Anyone who has spent any time at all checking out nerdcore knows the names MC Chris, MC Frontalot, and MC Hawking (yes, like Stephen Hawking). All great groups/MCs and all with some pretty killer free MP3s on their sites, MC Chris even has a full album available for download on his site. However, there are probably quite a few names that you don’t know that aren’t quite as good but have a lot of potential.
In addition to the aforementioned artists, names like 1337 G33K B34T (1GB), Optimus Rhyme, Jesse Dangerously, Beefy, & MC Lars are all excellent examples of the better side of nerdcore hip hop. Sadly, for every up there is a down and that means that there are some serious examples of what NOT to do if you want to be a rapper coming up next. Artists like DJ Snyder, Meter Versus Yard, and Oddioblender are currently ones to avoid in my opinion. I’m sure they have potential, but they have a long way to go before they can reach the same level as the upper echelon of nerdcore.
While I’m not really a rap fan I can still respect good rhymes and a strong beat, and a few of these artist deliver that in spades. Others…not so much, but at least they still have the guts to get out there and do what they do. As someone who has been on both sides of the stage I know one thing. Even if you don’t like the music, you’ve got to respect anyone who can get out there in public and put themselves out like that.
If you’re interested in giving some of these bands a listen I suggest clicking on a few of the links to the artists in this article. However, if you want a few nice compilation CDs we’ve got you hooked up there too. Not all the artists mentioned in this article are on these CDs, most notably MC Chris. You can find a ton of compiliations featuring most of the artists at Rhyme Torrents, a CD compilation project either started or managed by High-C. All CDs are free and in zip format containing MP3 format audio files. It’s a pretty solid cross section of the good and the “not so good” of nerdcore and definitely worth checking out. Who knows, you might even find something you like in there.
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I’d like to point out that MC Chris, while a very excellent rapper, doesn’t deal exclusively in the genre. Especially in his newest works, it feels like he’s distancing himself from pure nerdcore and going for a more early 80′s style of rap.
Still, though, he’s worth checking out just because of his highly impressive vocal skills, regardless of his genre.
That’s true, I should’ve pointed out that MC Chris seems to be distancing himself from the nerdcore scene. This is more prevalent since he refused to be part of the Rhyme Torrents compilations. He’s also distanced himself from William Street Productions to work on his musical career.
I agree with you though, Shawn, he’s still definitely worth checking out if he comes to your town. The boy has got some chops.