When you think of a stereotypical “nerd,” you probably don’t think of someone like MC Lars. MC Lars is the self-proclaimed creator of “post-punk laptop rap.” The Stanford graduate’s 2006 release, “The Graduate,” is perhaps the most prominent example of the nerdcore genre.
The term nerdcore was first used by MC Frontalot in his 2000 single “Nerdcore Hip-hop.” A primarily white subgenre of hip-hop, nerdcore focuses on pop culture and is self-produced by laptop-swinging, self-taught geeks. The genre often contains obscure references to science fiction television shows and computer programming languages.
In “The Graduate,” MC Lars raps not only about Star Wars and the history of hip-hop, but also about the impact of the Internet, media and current events on the generation that grew up using the Internet, the “iGeneration,” which is the title of his 2005 single (“No Vietnam for us, yo, Iraq, it’s on”).
Listen to iGeneration:
Throughout the CD, MC Lars’s musical talent is evident in his laugh-out-loud, lyrical wit. “Ahab” is a foot-stomping synopsis of the classic novel “Moby Dick” (“Peg leg, sperm whale, jaw bone, what!”), and “Space Game” alludes to both sci-fi movies and postmodern art (“I broke through the carbonite, that’s how I got free / Jabba, back off, because there’s no stopping me”). “Internet Relationships (Are Not Real Relationships)” is another gut-buster, doubling as a warning to the virtually promiscuous.
Listen to Ahab:
The CD also features addictive dance songs and memorable lyrics. “Download This Song,” a tune lamenting a twisted music industry (“Hey Mr. Record Man / The joke’s on you / Running your label / Like it was 1992”), is so catchy that it was 29th on the Australian Recording Industry Association’s charts, an impressive feat for nerdcore.
Listen to Space Game:
“The Graduate” both criticizes and reveres the rap, hip-hop and punk genres. In “Generic Crunk Rap,” for example, MC Lars disapproves of what he believes is an oversimplified and stereotypical message presented in modern rap (“Phrase about my gun, rhyme about my loot / Phrase about these haters I sometimes have to shoot”).
At the same time, “21 Concepts,” a light-hearted parody of Jay-Z’s 2004 single “99 Problems,” praises Jay-Z for being lenient with remixes or “mashups” of his own work (an art form similar to nerdcore in that both sample other artists’ songs).
Even if you miss one or two of the references to Star Trek or to the 1937 bombing of Guernica, “The Graduate” definitely deserves a place on your iPod.
Visit stuyspectator.com to listen to samples from “The Graduate” and more.
