Slashdot Mirror

I'll just leave this here.
(lyrics)

You just reminded me of a song

Sadly, Frontalot is probably right... today's secure crypto tends to be tomorrows old and busted.

The former Soviets got caught re-using their one time pads after a year.

"Best of all, your secret: nothing extant could extract it.
By 2025 a children's Speak-and-Spell could crack it.

They were thinking, who would store the eTexts for that long, since OTP is unbreakable?

You can't hide secrets from the future with math.
You can try, but I bet that in the future they laugh,
at the half-assed schemes and algorithms amassed
to enforce cryptographs in the past."

- MC Frontalot, Secrets from the Future

Secrets cost money. How long do you need to keep them? Today we believe - with good reason - that most cryptographic protocols are secure. Bue even if that's true (and there's no guarantee), why not hoover up the data while it's available and wait for your opponent to slip up, or your mathematicians (or computer engineers) to make a breakthrough, whichever comes first?

What's with the short margins? Makes you sound crazy.

They're lyrics from MC Frontalot. The track is Secrets from the Future , and was "[c]omposed at a hacker convention, while Front muttered curses at himself for having just logged into three different chat accounts across the 'free' wireless."

What's with the short margins? Makes you sound crazy.

They're lyrics from MC Frontalot. The track is Secrets from the Future , and was "[c]omposed at a hacker convention, while Front muttered curses at himself for having just logged into three different chat accounts across the 'free' wireless."

You can't hide secrets from the future

So maybe you aren't an instant star. Big Fucking Deal.

Do you think that the guy behind Portal's Still Alive song was picked for that honor because the Valve devs heard him on the radio?

Do you think the reason someone gets invited to PAX every year is because he's got an agent behind him doling out the payola to Tycho and Gabe?

No, you can't find their CD's browsing Best Buy or Wal-Mart. But I bet you they still make enough on their work that they can afford dinner at the end of the day.

Some people have a low opinion of rap, and admittedly a lot of rappers simply aren't very good. Fine. But there are some rap artists who deserve a lot more respect than they either get, or indeed might even want.

The bottom lines is, rap is poetry. Or at least, rap is our societies current form of poetry. Don't believe me? Would you believe a Nobel Laurette? Rhyming verses, set a to meter. To be sure, rappers do not frequent poetry readings or college debating societies, but these are not essential artistic qualities.

Rappers are ultimately wordsmiths rather than musicians. Most may not be spectacular, but even the weakest typically have a command of English vocabulary over and above that the general population. When you finally see something like a freestyle rap "battle", you will understand just how sharp they can be.

Now some might say that a lot of rap is "wasted" on the "gansta'" lifestyle topics. That's the choice of the artists, and frankly, it sells. But there is a lot of alternative rap out there if you are willing to be open minded about the artform.

I am reminded of a certain Calvin and Hobbes strip.

It really depends on the artist in question. Take, for example, "Tag am Meer" (actual song starts at 1:20) by German Hip Hop band Die Fantastischen Vier, an extremely relaxed song about spending a day at the beach. Granted, the band is known as a rather artsy Hip Hop band but there's plenty of bands like them.

Most probably you only know gangsta rap as Hip Hop because that's what dominates the media in the States (whereas Germany used to be dominated by Fanta Vier and the fun-focused Hamburg rap scene). There's a lot of different English stuff available, as well; for a particularly nerdy example MC Frontalot, who is responsible for things like the Penny Arcade theme. The fact that his page proudly displays an endorsement by Noam Chomsky says a lot about him.


Sure, your post might have faked ignorance but hey, it's not like additional information has never hurt anyone. (I'm not delusional enough to not put that 'n' in front of "ever".)

Or MC Frontalot.

http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=lyrics&lyricid=41

Proposed soundtrack for this article. http://frontalot.com/media.php/325/MC_Frontalot_SFTF_(01)_Secrets_From_The_Future.mp3

Reminds me of this

If you know the dir of the nerdcore rhyme, then holler! (see PA Theme)

I wonder what Weird Al will be like 20 years from now

I'm reminded of MC Frontalot's Charity Case, where he's "begging ya'll to believe his CD isn't free!"

I'd have to go with MC Frontalot and Optimus Rhyme

But I'd also like to add Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie. I know it's a sketch comedy group, but they have some funny tech songs and tech skits. My favorites are "Every OS Sucks" and "Welcome to the Internet Helpdesk".

MC Frontalot
http://www.frontalot.com/

He's got incredible skill with words, whether talking about meeting a girl at a Star Wars convention, or telling the story of Little Red Riding Hood. And, for those who refuse to acknowledge the musical validity of a sampler and drum machine, he plays live shows backed by a jazz trio.

http://www.frontalot.com/
http://www.mchawking.com/

Not a single mention of MC Frontalot? Are you people nuts?!

http://frontalot.com/index.php

He's the most nerdcore!

MC Frontalot's pretty good himself, and is the official rapper of PA: www.frontalot.com And no, I wasn't getting paid for that.

The funny thing is, Al is exactly the kind of (relatively speaking) non-mainstream artist who would have the chance to do great via the non-traditional route of the Internet, avoiding a major label altogether. I know that as of today he's got more money than MC Chris or MC Frontalot but then again, he's been at this for almost 30 years.

And for any Star Wars geeks who like hip-hop, I recommend "Yellow Lasers" by Frontalot and (best song EVAR!!!11one) "Fett's Vette" by Chris.

• Bawls is going hardcore. They had a...brace for it...Bawls Slurpee Machine. And It Was Good. As if that was not enough...there were some sort of caffeinated yet vaguely carbonated Bawls Pillform spawned in a pitcher that would be poured into confused but curious hands. Yum.
• Take Defcon. Swap Hackers for Gamers. Swap Hot Vegas for Overcast Washington. Swap Feds for...I dunno...Nintendo? Still, the entire thing had the feel of an Alternate Reality Defcon, replete with everyone just so damn happy to be around so many other people who understood them. I mean, just look at Phil here. Happy! (A wink to anyone who sees the very subtle Defcon reference.)
• At Penny Arcade Expo, cosplay girl photograph YOU (in Defcon T-Shirt).
• Best coat check evar

Still, I cannot get over the concerts. Before the Saturday night show began, it was unveiled that there'd be a special act...see, there was this huge gaming competition called the Omegathon, and a mystery game had been decided upon...Karaoke Revolution...with 1700 geeks assembled to watch.

Bet Konami never planned for this.

For those not familiar with Karaoke Revolution, it's basically a game where you're scored on how well your pitch matches what the game tells you you're supposed to be singing. Now, gamers generally do not sing, but it's 2005 and it's time to expand the market (and the eyeballs of these poor geeks that just want to win every NES game ever released). With 1700 people cheering on, we watched...

Two possible reactions:

1) Complete withdrawl
2) Complete insanity

The second was entertaining in its own right, but the first was best represented by...Leroy. Now, these are gaming geeks. Gamers + Leroy = LeeeeROYYYYYYYY!. To say he was cheered on would be an understatement...and to say he didn't take it so well...so the guy's about three fourth through the round, and hasn't managed to sing a single note right. Finally, after much struggling, he gets...one note right. He's on the board! Applause thunders through the audience!

LEEEEEEEEEEROY!

OK. Maybe you had to be there. But it was a truly magical moment.

But about the actual concerts.

Both the Video Game Pianist and Connie Lin were incredible, and MC Chris was more insane than I had any right to expect...but the real surprise, for me anyway, was MC Frontalot. I'd say all sorts of stuff about him, but just grab the single. His CD is great, try not to get it off Bittorrent. Cool guy, too.

It wasn't all hype and noise. Actually just sitting down with a random geek and playing Soul Caliber 2 for the first time in ages was just pure fun. And seeing the faces of all these kids see

Got Message No. 419 Anyone?

it was just like a scene in an intrigue film and I'm still not convinced that it wasn't for real This isn't intended for me, I don't think. It's a missive from the edge of despair, I mean brink of total desperation; the communication therein says her hopes for survival are slim and she's writing to the Front, though we've yet to meet, with a confidential matter cause she's heard I'm discreet. And the urgency of her request for my aid is matched by the depth of the trust she displayed. "Don't betray me like our oil minister did, staged a coup and I'm about to flee Nigeria soon but I'll never make it out," she says, with twenty million three hundred twenty thousand US dollars that are still in her possession. She embezzled them, I guess. Look, I don't really know her so uh... that's none of my business. She's the LADY MARYAM ABACHA, deposed. These days can't even get her caps-lock key unfroze but yo, something 'bout a widow in distress (with 20 million dollars hidden in a metal chest) softened up the Frontalot's heart no doubt so I hit the reply button, tell her I can help her out. She writes me back: DEAR FRONTALOT, UNITED STATES... she acts so thankful. A bank full of money awaits! And I hate delays so I'm quick to turn around with my full name and the number to my checking account and the scan of my license to drive an automobile and my passport number proving Frontalot's for real! Then I'll meet the money in Stockholm, ain't gonna walk home, think I'll retire to the south of Spain and sip gazpacho. Not so quick, there's a little problem. LADY A apparently had difficulty running all them numbers I give her, but look, the fake ID's my only one and that's a real passport, I got it off usenet and checked, I'm not dumb. I'm not some idiot who's about to lose your money for you, quicker than I'm getting it and of course my bank balance is negative, whose isn't? That's why I need your 20% money laundering commission. And I'm wishing I could talk about this further with you but I can't. I just got an email from DR. UBUGU of Chad. He's got a hundred and seventy-seven million in a bag. I feel I got to help him 'cause his story is so sad. it was just like a scene in an intrigue film and I'm still not convinced that it wasn't for real

Mirror, just in case

Also, forgot to mention he's doing one last NY show this weekend. Here's the flyer for it.

YHBT YHL HAND

The article even points out that the Nerdcore rivalry is like the LL Cool J/Canibus rivalry, which was fabricated by Canibus for...wait for it...publicity. Go listen to Indier Than Thou by Frontalot or something by MC Hawking and tell me they take themselves too seriously.

You know they are taking themselves seriously because there is no hint of self-parody.

First, a lack of self-parody does not equate to seriousness.

Second, I strongly encourage you to listen to some MC Frontalot, whose very name belies any ego. (To front, you see, is to bullshit.)

And in this case, any seriousness is too serious

Wrong again. I'll refer back to MC Frontalot, and his track Special Delivery

You know they are taking themselves seriously because there is no hint of self-parody.

First, a lack of self-parody does not equate to seriousness.

Second, I strongly encourage you to listen to some MC Frontalot, whose very name belies any ego. (To front, you see, is to bullshit.)

And in this case, any seriousness is too serious

Wrong again. I'll refer back to MC Frontalot, and his track Special Delivery

As to what some of these other artists are putting out I'll have to go take a listen, but Frontalot I think represents some of the best right now and if you're reading /. everyday you owe it to yourself to at least listen to some of his stuff.

A lot of his stuff is free for download, check out the following, I guarantee you'll like it:

Floating Bridge a 90 second song that explains everything you ever wanted to know about bridge engineering, warning: this will get stuck in your head and you will love it

Yellow Lasers An obscure sexual encounter at a Star Wars convention

Gonna Be Your Man Frontalot donates his lungs to his biggest fan

Penny Arcade Theme a song for the Penny Arcade crowd

Crime Spree Front is not excatly a criminal mastermind, a tale of his not-so-deadly crimes

Which MC Was That Excellent rundown of improbable internet MCs

Nerdcore Hiphop Title track that named the genre

This is just a small sampling of some of my favorites that I think will definitely hook people.

My favorite nerdcore rapper is MC Frontalot. (http://www.frontalot.com/)

He raps about 419 scams, starwars, and other hillarious stuff. I really wish I could go to one of his concerts in NY. He has them occasionally.

Here's the "yellow lasers" sound about starwars fans with a eh, kinky ending Listen to it here: http://www.frontalot.com/mp3/mc_frontalot_-_yellow _lasers.mp3

My favorite nerdcore rapper is MC Frontalot. (http://www.frontalot.com/)

He raps about 419 scams, starwars, and other hillarious stuff. I really wish I could go to one of his concerts in NY. He has them occasionally.

Here's the "yellow lasers" sound about starwars fans with a eh, kinky ending Listen to it here: http://www.frontalot.com/mp3/mc_frontalot_-_yellow _lasers.mp3

The term "nerdcore" comes from MC Frontalot's Nerdcore Hip Hop. I doubt most "artists" in this genre are not really concerned about begin taken seriously as most of the m rap self effacingly about their social inneptitude and general outcast status. See mc chris's "Geek" and Frontalot's "Indier Than Thou" as examples.

Fortunately Frontalot will also be at the Penny Arcade Expo, so you can decide for yourselves.

His work is in a sub-genre of rap known as "Nerdcore" along with other artists such as MC Frontalot and Optimus Rhyme.

He (along with the other artists I mentioned) will be playing at PAX this year.

His most famous track is about Star Wars. One of his songs uses music samples from the arcade game Gauntlet. A lot of his other stuff covers fairly geeky subject matter.

So, you might not like his work. That's understandable. But he's still as relevent to Slashdot as anything else posted today.

That said, in addition to mc chris, we also have returning guests from last year:

MC Frontalot

Optimus Rhyme

and the Minibosses

Lastly, a couple of questions from me.

1)My girlfriend is a *huge* fan of the Brak Show, Sealab, etc... have you really left for good?

2)Making music for the Nerdcore seems problematic to me. Namely, I don't think that one would be able to put forth a bunch of intellectual property on the internet and expect this group to actually pay for it. Are you 'making it' on the take from the door at your gigs alone? (Hat's off on leaving your day job and giving it a go in either case).

3)Do you feel pressured to put forth a conventional full-length CD for your fans, or will you continue to offer up shorter, sweeter groups of songs for free on your website?

Thanks, and see you at PAX!

Stormy

As much as I respect TMBG, I would have never heard of them other than the fact back when their first album came out a good friend a Musicland had gotten some promos from their label and gave me one.

Does anyone here know of MC Frontalot? Just wondering because no one I've talked to does. Also, just to let you know: the website is http://frontalot.com/.
Nerdcore Hiphop and the remix are great. Also, Pennyarcade Theme I suppose might connect to the post.

I mean, somebody who raps about clock cycles really deserves more acclaim from a community like this...

That's Frontalot.com for the uninitiated.

Yeah, sucks to do things that other people do. Obviously that makes us stupid sheep.
Just for you Mr. Indie, I have bitten some rhymes:
I'm so indie that my shirt don't fit
you wonder out loud 'frontalot yo why you come so ill-equipped?'
because being all prepared to get on the mic is selling out
and I ain't even about to relinquish indie clout
I look confused, like I just got out of bed,
my rhyme style reflects this
use my overdeveloped sense of irony to deflect dis-
missiles, exploding all around me
unpromoted, don't know how you found me
soundly situated in obscurityland
famous in inverse proportion to how cool I am
and should I ever garner triple-digit fans
you can tell me then there's someone I ain't indier than--mc frontalot
Oh, yeah and I read giant robot too.

Please honor his memory and love a fag today.

Message No. 419 by MC Frontalot

I'm sure I'd use mine on MC Chris.

But MC Frontalot has way more computer references, and hence greater nerd appeal.
Whoa, does this mean my favourite rapper is more "real"? Can I shoot CowboyNeal now??
"Gang war!"

Try MC Frontalot.

Sure, MC Chris is good and all, but he's no Frontalot.

Ever wonder why the music industry is losing money?

Nope. They have (on balance) fewer acts and (in my opinion) a lot of the acts they have sound like each other. They have been reducing the number of CDs which get released, and that, coupled with fewer artists and (in my opinion) similar sounding CDs is why the music industry is losing money. I find it reprehensible that they can knowingly reduce sales and then turn around and blame the reduction on piracy. They *knew* they were releasing fewer CDs. They *knew* they had fewer artists. However, they continue to blame weak sales on piracy. I haven't purchased a CD from a chain store/big record company in years, and I have no need to. I can find excellent free and cheap music on the internet; I don't need the ??AA telling me what to like.
My favorite artist would have to be MC Front-a-lot, and you can download his MP3s right off his page.
Fuck the ??AA. I'd personally rather listen to music that was made for the love of it rather than for cash. This may not be best for the artist, in terms of being able to pay bills, but that's not my concern. If someone can make a living doing what they love to do, they're lucky. If not, they'll just have to do it in their spare time like the rest of the world.

Nerdcore hiphop
other rappers run in fear

Ah, I suck. Just go to MC Frontalot's website and hear for yourself.

Oh yeah?

Well I'm so indie my shirt don't fit. :P

If you haven't already (since that KOMPRESSOR line is in a song with MC Frontalot) checkout
MC Chris and MC Frontalot (same guy, two names).