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The Dueling Nerdcore Documentaries
Colin Reuter writes "There are not one but two feature-length documentary films in the works about the burgeoning nerdcore hip-hop scene. Nerdcore Rising from indie company Vaguely Qualified Productions in NY focuses on the founder of the "movement," MC Frontalot, and features MC Hawking, mc chris, Weird Al Yankovic, Brian Posehn, Daily Show personnel, and dozens of aspiring nerdcore rappers from around the country. The competing movie, Nerdcore For Life from Chicago's Crapbot Productions covers many of the same personalities, getting the backstory on more than twenty young nerd rappers including ytcracker, MC++, and Lords of the Rhymes. With two movies duking it out, the print edition of Wired profiling the rappers, and the Associated Press getting onboard, is nerdcore going to turn into a legitimate subgenre? Or will this always be our dirty little secret?"
No, and yes.
Seriously, ANYTHING can be a "subgenre" of something, and you'll always be able to find someone or group out there who likes anything. The answer is, it's already a "subgenre".
If the question is, "Will nerdcore ever be popular beyond my really small group of friends and I who never get laid?" then the answer is, "No."
:D
Rise up my fellow nerds for this is the day we always waited for, when we will be hailed as the new cool!
Seriously though, as the tech industry companies already depend on us, why not get a little fun in the music industry.
I don't know about that. The article mentions Weird Al Yankovich, who was nerdcore before there was name for it. He's made himself quite a living doing what he does and has gotten a whole lot of airplay. Will all nerdcore go as mainstream as Weird Al? No, but neither did all gangsta rap or all goth rock. But some of it snuck through, and I expect nerdcore will continue to grow in popularity. Do you know how many people I've heard with a fhqwgaads ringtone?
My blog
like what? Wii vs. PS3? Linux better than Microsoft? Microsoft bashing? book reviews on programming subject we have seen 100s of times? more crap about Stallman? your right and net neutrality or some other "web [VIRTUAL] atrocity" etc... etc...
None of it really matters, it's all just interesting to read. Not all of it, but there is something for all nerds here. Also, If I had mod points and this was not an AC post (as I just realized as I get to this point in my response), I would mod down.
Why do these movies 'dueling' and 'competing'? Sounds like they're different takes on the same subject. Can't we watch both?
children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult
each one is able to support more than 14 tons
and you can really see how big it is
and together they stretch for almost 1/4 mile
2.5 times the height of mount everest (the highest point on earth)
this super-imposed outline will give you an idea of its size
it's 370 miles wide at the base
and over 100 feet in length
but that's 40 miles from the opposite rim
and over 75,000 feet at the top
and that figure increases every year
Rugged, easy-to-clean plastic laminates are used on all the walls and surfaces
and that figure increases every year
the floors on which you are walking
the floors the floors on which you are walking
the floors the floors the floors on which you are walking
the floors the floors the floors the floors on which you are walking
children under 7 must be accompanied by an adult
... is to have a VJ battle of the two documentaries and release the resulting mash-up.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
Pimp Daddy Welfare still rocks over any nerd core.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I am sure about that.
The thing is, suburban non-nerd are not into pretending to be nerds.
All that other rap shit out there presents kids with a desirable (to them) image to try an emulate, who the fuck wants to emulate the nerd image.
It is funny shit if you ask me but will it ever be big? Abso-fucking-lutly NOT!
the ON [Original Nerd (C)] Netmaster 10baseT?
It only take a room full of idiots and a music exec. I suspect that we already have enough idiots and now all we need to do is wait for a music exec before we're stuck with another genre of crappy music. All hail the music industry for taking so many small time fads and turning them into massive trends for the masses. /optimism off
Cram it, summary! Cram it wherever your species traditionally crams things!
Sorry.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Someone shoot me.
These sound interesting, but I have to wonder, if if they're released, where in the world will they be viewable? I mean, it's great that these are getting made, but pretty useless IMHO if the only place to see them is at some film festival that is inaccessible to the everyday person.
The true hero of sealab!
Oh and...
My backpack's got jets
Cause I'm Boba the Fett
Weird Al is NOT an aspiring "nerdcode" rapper, and PLEASE for the love of God don't lump the proven genius that is Weird Al with these other obscure whatever-the-hell-they-ares.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Plus he's got Stan Lee samples on his albums. How dorky is that?
Also, have the older "rap is crap" crowd taken the day off because usually these stories have whole threads about how music died in the 60's?
come for the naked robots, stay for the zombies
who the fuck wants to emulate the nerd image.
Sadly, there are tons of poseurs where I work. They see "the IT guy" strolling along and they all want to know what is going down and most offer suggestions that are way off base. There's a ton of wannabes out there, without the resources to be what it is that they want to be they normally turn to pop culture to give themselves an identity.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
He stole his name from Petey Pablo. Optimus Rhyme was one of Petey's earlier monikers.
Bad start for a rapper , where originality is everything.
On the other hand, GREAT FUCKING NAME !
I learned all of this from TV, behind the music or some documercial.
music lover since 1969
Those are just stupid nerds. They aren't emulating. ;)
another hilarious name.
check out his supervillians video !
supervillians
music lover since 1969
What about MC Paul Barman, Infesticons (and their alter egos the Majesticons), even El-P and Company Flow have been delving in these realms for years. Check them out if you never heard of them, you may like them even if you are not a fan of hip-hop.
"...is nerdcore going to turn into a legitimate subgenre? Or will this always be our dirty little secret?"
As long as these dudes start buying their beats from me, I could care less if it becomes "legit" or not.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
Some like Weird Al are already popular and others like MC Lars are getting there. Their songs have mainstream appeal and do talk about other things than technology. They also don't get too overly technical with their songs that are more tech driven. However, others like ytcracker who raps in java during one song are simply too geeky to be mainstream
I don't know about that...there are some bands out there that, even to the members themselves, defy classification. Take, for example, The Blood Brothers and also Liars. More often than not, I've seen these two bands simply refered to as 'other' or 'unknown', simply because there is nothing to legitimately compare it to, even after their having been around for a while.
Of course, one could argue (and many do) that both bands are horrible and can only be qualified as 'crap', but still...not *everything* can/will be a subgenre unless there are more bands that get into producing like-minded music.
With regard to the question of Nerdcore, though...I honestly believe that it will transcend its small stature in the coming months/years, not because of an explosion in the amount of people who 'get it', but because of an explosion of kids/hipsters/scenesters who absolutely must like something kitsch.
The same could have once been said about UK Hip-Hop, or rapping Hasidic Jews...and, well...I think the facts speak for themselves, there. They may not be the next in line to inherit (insert popular hip-hop mogul here)'s throne, but they're certainly capable of selling vast amounts of albums and concert tickets.
"How like you to drag your keyboard to a gun fight." - Aaron Bedard (BANE)
If you are reading about Nerdcore Documentaries on Slashdot, then suspect no longer, you rival all of your friends in the world of geekdom.
Alas, I honestly feel the need to go out and do something 'cool' now that doesn't involve computers, WoW, etc.
...cause my geekcore genre is the mad shizizzle. My geekcore rhymes are fresh and fly, 'cause they're written by a Lisp-powered strong AI. And my DJ skills are so off the hook, they be askin' me to write the O'Reilly book. Y'all test my songs while they're still in beta, and don't be no RPG playa hata. If all y'all hear me, wave your hands and say: G to tha E to tha E to tha K.
Step into a huge movement. Don't Tread In Me.
I'm also quite annoyed by people more into geek or nerd 'culture' than the intellectual pursuits which usually end up earning the honorable title of geek or nerd. People just into the look, sound, dress, or other surface effect just aren't.
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
Actually, Al and his wife Suzanne have a daughter named Nina.
My blog
But the question is, has Weird Al gotten laid yet?
uhh, he's married and has a kid. i'll let you come to your own conclusions.
my pet machine
Couldn't you say that nerdcore is the burgeoning musical outlet for a subculture that already exists? Or in specifically musical terms... if a movement of music doesn't neatly fit into any classications of genres that exist already, especially if it takes elements of genres that exist already, would that define a new (sub or no) genre of music? This is a tendency that's especially prevalent within electronica. Which comes first? The genre or the subculture?
i don't really know what to think about all this. i mean White and Nerdy hit a little close to home. Now they're making documentaries? what part of recluse don't they understand? If i wanted to be cool, i'd have learned to play guitar instead of asm.
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
>Also, have the older "rap is crap" crowd taken
:) Rap, after all, has enough ...
:p
... he's ;)
>the day off because usually these stories have
>whole threads about how music died in the 60's?
Maybe this stuff is so lame that it doesn't even
deserve comment
substance to be a worthy opponent
After all, this stuff is *designed* to be crap
(but *ironic* crap: "no, really, I'm not trying
lamely to act hip and cool by rapping, it's
ironic! It's beyond criticism!")
Weird Al, BTW, is exempt from the above
old enough for us old timers
Technically, there is no such thing as a "subgenre." According to Carolyn Miller, one of the most influential founders of the North American school of genre theory, "genre" is defined as a patterned set of responses to a recurrent rhetorical situation ("Genre as Social Action" Quarterly Journal of Speech, 1984).
"Tu fui, ego eris" - Virgil
While not strictly Nerdcore, I'd say MC Lars should be included. He's more of a literature geek, but his stuff is definitely White & Nerdy rap. He bills his work as "post-punk laptop rap". A few of his songs:
- Download This Song
- iGeneration
- Space Game
- If I Had a Time Machine
- Mr. Raven (based on Poe's "The Raven")
- Internet Relationships
- Ahab
- Signing Emo
Give him a try. His stuff is fun.
I.V.
"These laws they're passing won't even compile anymore, let alone execute." - anon
Your comment was rated insightful. I am guessing it was for the insight you displayed into those who like hip-hop and rap. Frankly, knowing your views, I'm surprised you don't like it more.
There's a huge difference in the artists featured and Weird Al, which is that Weird Al uses references and music that specifically DO appeal to larger numbers of people, and if they don't appeal to them, at least most people can get them. I think there's a specific group of people out there that want something that only they and a few people get (partly because it makes them feel good and elitist). That being said, it would have to be GOOD, in the ways that Weird Al can be considered good by SOME objective standards, to become any more popular, and it's not that. I'm subjected to that crap when I drive anywhere with my boyfriend, and having heard too many albums now, I feel very comfortable saying it's just NOT GOOD in any musical sense or genre. NOT trying to bait anyone, but it's not.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Of course - a smart crowd with large vocabularies could never be interested in a form of expression which relies heavily on the quality of the lyrics, rhymes, and meter. That's also why smart people generally avoid such primitive forms of non-art as poetry.
As a fan of hip-hop music, as a geek, and as a technology enthusiast.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
http://www.mccoffeemug.com/
I dunno. Since the Lasik and the perm, Al is actually a fairly good looking guy now. My former business partner is a very attractive female. She sweats his parodic ostimoticles.
So will there be a beef between linux rappers and Windows rappers?
If MC Ubuntu gets shot I know it was Windows 2000 PAC that did it.
Are there lyrics licensed under GPL?
Windows 2000 PAC
I spit mad rhymes without taking a breath,
Any sucka MC's that step to me will see my blue screen of death!
It's necessary that my style is proprietary,
All you bitches running MAC are straight up wack.
MC Ubuntu
Of course my flow is open source.
I know you like it so,
Download and burn my ISO
I aint no sucka MC
you can download my shits for free
Not free as in beer,
You dumb ass Ballmer queer
I guess it's true that history always repeats itself. http://www.jabootu.com/lambada.htm
Nerdcore. Evidence that Nerds are just as dumb as the rest of the population.
I would presume so, considering that he's a) married and b) has a daughter, which is more than can be said for most slashdotters. If not, then his wife is a cheating bitch, but who would cheat on a nice guy like Al? Anyway, Weird Al is far from being a nerd - it's an act; his career. He makes FUN of nerds. He MOCKS them. Mercilessly, and makes big money doing it.
Agreed. This is a troll.
v4sw6PU$hw6ln6pr4F$ck 4/6$ma3+6u7LNS$w2m4l7U$i2e4+7en6a2X h
Dude your sig is really messed up. It roughly translates into: "you he was, i you will be". It should be either "Tu fuisti, ego ero" or "Ego fui, tu eris". And remember that tu or ego are optional.
:P
PS: Latin grammar nazi team please mod me up for this, kthanks
I don't even know who these other guys listed are (besides weird al), but mc chris is the only nerd rapper IMO; and he's funny as hell live.
Perhaps, but the rest of your post doesn't support that:
And...so? Leaving aside whether that's the best definition of genre to apply in this discussion, how does that rule out the existence of "subgenre"?
A while back, some people on the somethingawful forums created the futuristic sex robots and released an album under the creative commons. Their songs rap about WOW, crusing in a DeLorean, and the way things were back in the day; their most popular track is "Fuck the MPAA." They also sound a heck of a lot better than some of the artists listed above.
For that matter...why can't there be a nerdcore ROCK movement? I'd love to be able to get into a movement with good music with melody, lead guitar, and a bassline that doesn't just drone on and on and on....
If you like rap..cool, but, we need a movement for the rest of us out there, that want something we can jam too that also has more musicality to it.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I first got started on nerdcore with MC Chris. I didn't even know it as nerdcore then. Some time later I discovered there were more artists doing this kind of music. Forget how I heard of them, probably IRC. Started off with the Rhymetorrent site. Its stuff I can relate to and the beats are actually good. Its nice to see that its growing. I look forward to watching the 2 films. Best of all most of the nerdcore artists give their music away for free. If you haven heard of them, check out Futuristic Sex Robots. They're one of my favorites.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't.
I've never witnessed such a display of an utter lack of creative musical prowess! Does anybody else feel embarrassed to be white?
For that matter...why can't there be a nerdcore ROCK movement?
Didn't Buddy Holly start one way back when? Just ask John Lennon.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
Have you tried They Might Be Giants?
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
When I was picking the music to use for a crap geekcast I was am doing I was asked "Don't you want to use nerd core?" I gave the guy a dirty look even though I subscribe to a Nerdcore Podcast.
It is a good novelty but I just can't take it seriously. I have seen serious and funny nerdcore but I haven't seen any nerdcore that hits like Nirvana, NWA, Artie Shaw or even Neil Diamond. Maybe one day but not yet.
Ascii artist &
Nerd enough to read "Brian Posehn" as "Brian Posleen."
/me turns on Exile On Coldharbour Lane
But not nerd enough to know what the hell "nerd core" is. Weird Al is nerd core? MC Hawking is more than a gag, it's representative of a musical style?
I must be getting old.
Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
Have links to .mp3s of your songs.
Rule two of nerdcore rap:
Be sure the fucking links work.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I mod you down for being wrong. This is a true quote and is often used on headstones and whatnot, so even assuming you to be correct, it would be his fault.
Absolutely. These are what I call the "comic book geeks" (no offense to nerds into comics at all). They buy tons of shirts from Jinx and leave back issues of 2600 around for others to see. Just ask them to code Hello World in any language or ask them to set up a home network and they freeze in fear.
Unfortunately my brother is raising one of these guys. He's a 15 year old who thinks "Einstein rocks" but ask him anything about physics... oh, the blank expression that will cross his face. He also thinks he's a computer wizard but somehow has a problem with getting MS Office to install on a PC. Never mind the concept of seeking out any kind of google support. He just gives up and claims that someone else caused the problem.
As you can imagine it's a real fun time when he comes around asking questions. It wouldn't be so bad if he'd just listen to the answer instead of trying to get me to just do it for him. I've already told him that if he's going to have the attitude of being somehow good at this that he's going to have to sink or swim. Maybe it's harsh for a 15 year old but he's not going to get anything out of having someone else do all the work.
Dedicated Cthulhu Cultist since 4523 BC.
I would like this, as well. So much so that I'm attempting to get a band going with that very goal.
EXCELLENT suggestion...wow, I'd not thought of them. Time for me to dust off my copy of "Flood".
Istanbul was Constantinople.....Why did Constantinople get the works? That's no body's business but the turks....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
In my world Linux never existed
Linus Torvald was born disfigured it was too much
for his parent to take,
So they locked 'em a car and pushed it into a lake.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Rap is a form of expression? Fair enough. But it's not music. And sure as HELL is not poetry!
You can stop crying now.
is nerdcore going to turn into a legitimate subgenre?
t e-lyrics-MC-Chris/16FF523D3B5C945548256E8400077790
This question has lot stumped many star wars historians. For it's a question wrapped inside an enigma. To wit:
http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Fett's-Vet
Sorry, as head cheerleader for the Latin grammar nazi team, I'd like to point out that it translates better as "What you are, I was. What I am, you will be."
So there.
How can a post be modded "overrated" or "underrated" when it hasn't been rated yet?
Could be worse, I keep meeting low IQ uneducated girls who say they're nerdy because uhmm, they watch CSI? o.O
Anyhow just accept that nerd/geek/hacker/phreak have all become mainstream culture words, and it is time for all the former nerds/geeks to run off and find new words to describe them.
Captcha of the day: Retrying.
Like MC Chris says in his song "OMC":
Now nerds are trendy
They call it "geek chic"
Nerds never noticed
They were on their PCs
Urgh. I'm a frequenter of and part-time programmer for MC Frontalot's website (I've got nothing on the hosting or forums, only some minor PHP hoo-hah here and there). Of all the weeks for his site to glitch up, it chose THIS WEEK, right when it's getting hit with Slashdot to glitch. Argh!
I am not a troll.. (drool, dribble) I am a human being!
I'd like to see some Riot Nrrrd Bands too.
Yeah, on Dr. Demento. But only this year has he managed to get a single into the top 10, and it's White and Nerdy. I do think, like you, that it'll never be a major genre, but if it gets as big as gangsta rap, I'll be happy.
BTW, nerd music is nothing new. The last time around it was Devo, Men Without Hats and Talking Heads. Before that, it was Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream. And before that it was Wendy Carlos and Debbie Darbyshire. (Nerd music has always been tied to electronica, because the early synth pioneers were all nerds.)
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
Oh wait, I mean... Word!
... and then they built the supercollider.
...my homie Luke Ski.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Either a set of generic constraints differentiates the rhetorical artifact enough to qualify it as a separate genre, or it is an embodied generic artifact. "Nerdcore" is still rap; although it may be parodic - I've never heard any nerdcore. Parody is special - it is a "meta genre" used for commentary. Genres can evolve and expand - social interaction alone dictates that even recurring rhetorical situations will change based on evolving environment/social conditions/linguistic variations; however, subdividing genre only shows that the generic label is no longer adequate on its own: you're labeling new genres, not subdividing old ones. Genres that are too broad to be accurately labeled as such are more accurately described as memes - understood cultural ideas such as artifacts or modes of expression.
"Tu fui, ego eris" - Virgil
I dont know if eyedea qualifies as nerdcore, and he may take offence to the term, but anyone interested in the genre should take a look at Eyedea. 'First Born' which is I beleive officially released by Eyedea, and 'The Many Face of Oliver Hart' which is released under a pseudonym. Both of these albums lean heavily toward philosophy & poetry as opposed to any traditional hip-hop themes. Unfortunately imo since Eyedea won the MTV blaze battle in 2001(I think it was 2001) he went a bit more battle-rap in his style(i.e. freestyle about why my crew's so much better at hip-hop than yours not gansta rap which is i'm gonna put a cap in yo ***) which I feel is a big step down from his 1st 2 albums.
Imo Eyedea is far better than anything else I've seen discussed as nerdcore, managing to combine intelligent lyrics with actual significant ability for both pre-written and freestyle hip-hop.
How about Jonathan Coulton? One one album he has a song about the Mandelbrot Set and a love song from an evil genius to his captive. In fact, since his songs are Creative Commons, there are many legitimate fan-made music videos for his songs on YouTube. One example.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
i know a few people who listen to this stuff. my roommate listens to mc chris and admits it. i find all of it ridiculously annoying and not good "music" at all.
Spiral out. Keep going...
hahahahaah. Look at this, nerdcore folks complaining other nerds are posers, just like every other sub genre of music.
I guess that's a sign it's breaking out.
Sigs are awesome huh?
http://www.ocremix.org/ Having downloaded torrents of NerdCore and OCRemix torrents I can honestly say I prefer OCremix stuff better. Sure there is little 'singing' with it but the majority is a lot less offensive. I prefer my music suitable for all ages.
Read the fucking summary much? And it's ytcracker. Get a clue n00b.
My favorite. Kill -9
e d&search=
No more CPU time... raise the interrupt level baby
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Fow7iUaKrq4&mode=relat
Actually, Weird Al has made himself quite a living doing novelty songs, most of which are NOT rap. Remember Eat It? Sounds Like Nirvana? Not rap. If Weird Al had premiered with All About the Pentiums, would he be where he is now?
1) Isn't success in Nerdcore self-defeating? Isn't the whole point that they're just a bunch of geeks with Acid and a mic? If one got signed by a major label would he really be nerdcore anymore? 2) While there are talented rappers in the mix, most of this stuff is terrible. Absolutely, unbeleivably horrible. And the ones that are good are usually only good because they're funny. How can that be considered legitimate?
Well only if you translate tu as "what one is" and ego as "what i am", which is not very common.
Ps: Isn't "hodie mihi, cras tibi" or something a better text for on a headstone?
PPS: I want a new head of the latin grammar nazi cheerleader team.
Well, more literally: "You, I was. I, you will be."
PS: Personally, I prefer "Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc." Not just pretty words...
PPS: Why, is my skirt too short?
How can a post be modded "overrated" or "underrated" when it hasn't been rated yet?
What about They Might Be Giants. Now that was a great nerdcore band, and very comical in a subtle way. Sometimes that is the best humour.
Pagan? Geek? Check out #paganism on Freenode IRC
To be honest I find most rap atrocious, but you know melody and rhythm are just tools to help convey the message and I believe that there is some good rap albeit I've found rap to be most conductive in a comical and/or violent sense where as rock is what I listen to usually if I want to "jam out" but I also listen to electronica, new age, country (the older stuff mostly), and even classical. It would be nice to hear some nerds delve into the country and rock scene but only if they didn't act like poseurs. Heck, one could even argue that some subbranches or electronica were even inspired by new age and classical, just listen to some of the music from the Final Fantasy 6 sound tracks and many of the MOD artists of the 1980s and 90s.
The fact is that no matter the type of music the musical tone must help convey the emotional tone of the song, otherwise it's just a crap shoot which is why I don't listen to much rap or hiphop (plus the messages are just horrible).
Pagan? Geek? Check out #paganism on Freenode IRC
Will slashdot please get rid of the fucking McDonalds adverts at the top of the page, they make me feel physically sick, and no I am not joking, it's Monday morning here.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it