Nerd ho!
January 9, 2007 1:03 PM   Subscribe

 
NERDS!
posted by jonmc at 1:05 PM on January 9, 2007


Who needs flow when you've got bling nerd appeal?
posted by rxrfrx at 1:09 PM on January 9, 2007


you mean......he's not black?

wow

posted by Arcaz Ino at 1:18 PM on January 9, 2007


today's Achewood
posted by anthill at 1:19 PM on January 9, 2007


Nerdcore rappers take heart...your hour will come. Just look where the Average Homeboy ended up.
posted by fidgets at 1:46 PM on January 9, 2007


Alright, I've seen this Nerdcore thing mentioned on BoingBoing.

Can someone explain it to me?
I want to better understand my people.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 1:58 PM on January 9, 2007


All this hype sucks. It may be a novelty, but why do we need more than one mention of it on mefi? It's just not that cool. We're nerds, but who cares? These kids rapping about D&D are lame. Of course, who cares about my opinion?
posted by sunshinesky at 2:09 PM on January 9, 2007


It's funny when Weird Al does it.
posted by bardic at 2:11 PM on January 9, 2007


Not me, sunshinesky. But you're entitled to it.
posted by NationalKato at 2:12 PM on January 9, 2007


Can someone explain it to me?

It's just rappin' about cracker culture, Star Wars and computers and stuff like that. Hell, I've even taken up the art. Maybe I'll post some of the tracks on Metamusic when they're done. I find it oddly...I dunno, empowering in a weird sort of way.
posted by First Post at 2:21 PM on January 9, 2007


It's just rappin' about cracker culture, Star Wars and computers and stuff like that.

Ah, I see. Thanks.
So lets say, hypothetically speaking, a certain "rap artist" named CF12 made a rap about evolution and intelligent design and so forth.

Does that count as nerdcore?
Or is that just dumb?
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 2:35 PM on January 9, 2007


MC Stephen Hawking raps about that stuff, CF, but is he nerdcore?
posted by absalom at 2:39 PM on January 9, 2007


MF DOOM raps about Soul Calibur and Paypal and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and stuff like that. He doesn't need a label like "nerdcore" to legitimize himself, because his raps don't mostly suck.
posted by rxrfrx at 2:47 PM on January 9, 2007


Check out Regenerated Headpiece. I think they blow this MC Frontalot out of the water. My favorites are "fragments of segments", "Obese", "Rhythmically Rhyming", and "Escape from Slavecamp".
posted by PreteFunkEra at 3:09 PM on January 9, 2007


absalom: I don't know if you were making a joke or not, but MC Hawking is definitely nerdcore.
posted by p3on at 3:09 PM on January 9, 2007


Regenerated Headpiece myspace
posted by PreteFunkEra at 3:21 PM on January 9, 2007


White and Nerdy
posted by jcruelty at 4:22 PM on January 9, 2007


I bet those two chicks at Cal Tech want to bang the shit out this dude.
posted by The Straightener at 4:26 PM on January 9, 2007


Oh great, novelty rap. Just what the world needs more of...
posted by SweetJesus at 5:10 PM on January 9, 2007


Sweetjesus, it's not novelty rap. These guys aren't Weird Al covering "Ridin' Dirty" for a laugh, pretending to be nerds. They are real hardcore nerds, frontin' 'bout the shit that is they life. Word.
posted by tehloki at 5:25 PM on January 9, 2007


What makes this a novelty? Because the genre has a name? Is rapping about pimps 'n' hos a novelty? Is rapping about race a novelty? Is rapping about leaving your wallet in El Segundo a novelty?

It's not like all nerdcore songs are about D&D, folks. I don't play Magic the Gathering, but I'm interested in porn, politics, gay rights, and aging. If you're not interested in those things, that's cool -- don't listen to the music. No need to plotz about it.

CF12, if you want to call yourself a nerdcore hiphop artist, go ahead. Whether that's dumb or not depends on whether, you know, you can actually rap.
posted by equipoise at 5:27 PM on January 9, 2007


Having checked a bunch of this out yesterday, I'm prepared to say that some of it is novelty rap (MC Hawking, I think we can all agree on), and a good bit of it is, as equipoise points out, real rap that happens to be about nerdy topics.
posted by Partial Law at 5:52 PM on January 9, 2007


Teach, equipoise, teach!!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:10 PM on January 9, 2007


novelty rap

Ninja, please.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:22 PM on January 9, 2007


Whether that's dumb or not depends on whether, you know, you can actually rap.

It is sooooo dumb.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:13 PM on January 9, 2007


Eh, I've yet to find any "nerdcore" artists who can, you know, actually rap. "Rapping" does not mean "rhyming." (MC Hawking actually has a much better flow than any "nerdcore" kid I've heard, most of whom flow like silly putty.)
posted by Banky_Edwards at 8:52 PM on January 9, 2007


I am too old and I can't tell who is being sarcastic and who isn't in this thread. [head explodes]
posted by craniac at 9:31 PM on January 9, 2007


I would agree MC Hawking is more novelty than nerdcore, yes.
posted by absalom at 4:26 AM on January 10, 2007


Banky_Edwards, have you actually listened to MC Frontalot? No all his music is specifically rap (probably why hiphop is a better description). But when he does bust out a rhyme, he's really good. I enjoy his music as much for his geekery as his musical stylings.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 6:12 AM on January 10, 2007


MF DOOM raps about Soul Calibur and Paypal and Aqua Teen Hunger Force and stuff like that. He doesn't need a label like "nerdcore" to legitimize himself, because his raps don't mostly suck.
posted by rxrfrx


But he does wear a Dr. Doom mask in public, which is pretty nerdy and gimmicky.
posted by NationalKato at 7:08 AM on January 10, 2007


fucking christ. nerdy =/= gimmicky. just because it doesn't mesh with the standard repetoire of bling and hos and frontin' doesn't make it a fucking gimmick.
posted by tehloki at 7:13 AM on January 10, 2007


[clever name], that's one I haven't heard. I'll check him out - I'm not afraid to be proven wrong!
posted by Banky_Edwards at 7:14 AM on January 10, 2007


Nthing the recommendation of MC Frontalot. His delivery is as dextrous and his composition as flexible as anything you'll hear in the mainstream, and his lyrics are a heck of a lot wittier. From "Bragadoccio":

I stand seventy-seven feet tall
I got eight balls
and all
o' y'all
are subject to my thrall
I act appalled
when in receipt of less than the highest honor
someday
I'll be
both revered
and passe
like Madonna


Tell me that's not good stuff.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:52 AM on January 10, 2007


just because it doesn't mesh with the standard repetoire of bling and hos and frontin' doesn't make it a fucking gimmick.

In some cases, I think that it's because it does mesh with these that it's not a gimmick. Nerdcore can certainly contrain plenty of fronting, as well as liberal doses of bitches and hos. There are even occasional visits to The Club, Ride-aggrandizement, dis-tracks, and so on.

Proceeding from the premise that rap has hit kabuki-level formalization, (good) nerdcore isolates the elements that are crucial to the form, then subversively swaps out the rest for its opposite. It's like doing Comedia in which the Captain is still charging recklessly in to save Columbine, but he's doing it in a concentration camp.
posted by longtime_lurker at 7:57 AM on January 10, 2007


Faint of Butt, that was the exact recommendation I was going to make, but I figure its better to hear it it all.

And because of that song, I can't help but call things the dopest innovation since the slicing of bread.

(this thread made me wear my Front shirt today. Of course I can't get anyone at work to listen. i guess the term "nerdcore hiphop" is frightening.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:53 AM on January 10, 2007


But he does wear a Dr. Doom mask in public, which is pretty nerdy and gimmicky.

Sure, but he can actually rap (and produce) really well. It's not like he relies on humorous mask-wearing to market himself and justify his music (he was a good rapper before he took on the alias). On the other hand, if you take away the "I'm a nerd and therefore I get my own set of criteria for what makes a good rapper" gimmick of people like Frontalot, you're left with a guy who just isn't very good. It's novelty. When MC Chris did those raps on Aqua Teen about candy and doin' it for the shorties and stuff, it was like, woah, that's a pretty good funny rap about stuff that happens in a cartoon. Ditto "The Tussin." When he's not just being funny and you get to focusing on his rhythm and lyrics, enh, not so good.
posted by rxrfrx at 9:04 AM on January 10, 2007


"I'm a nerd and therefore I get my own set of criteria for what makes a good rapper" gimmick of people like Frontalot, you're left with a guy who just isn't very good. It's novelty.

Them's fighting words, punk.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 9:32 AM on January 10, 2007


Worlds of fun await when you actually click on the links in the post, Banky-Edwards!
posted by equipoise at 10:05 AM on January 10, 2007


In other words, your favorite rapper is gimmicky and also sucks. Wow, pure deductive genius.
posted by tehloki at 10:28 AM on January 10, 2007


I'd like to point out Frontalot's Mountain Kind, which is about drug use, and makes no mention of computers, video games, D&D, the internet, etc.
posted by Partial Law at 1:59 PM on January 10, 2007


I'd like to point out Frontalot's Mountain Kind, which is about drug use, and makes no mention of computers, video games, D&D, the internet, etc.


That's a great point. Probably close to half of his music isn't about geekery, just fun and/or fun subject matter. I mean, how many rap songs are there about little red riding hood. So saying he's a gimmick because he makes "nerdcore" would be incorrect. And is making quirky music a gimmick?
posted by [insert clever name here] at 3:15 PM on January 10, 2007


A Gimmick is just a clever act interpreted by a jaded and elitist nincompoop.
posted by tehloki at 4:27 PM on January 10, 2007


Sweetjesus, it's not novelty rap. These guys aren't Weird Al covering "Ridin' Dirty" for a laugh, pretending to be nerds. They are real hardcore nerds, frontin' 'bout the shit that is they life. Word.

If you keep talking like that, they'll revoke your slang card. You do know "frontin'" is synonymous with lying, right? Like "Putting up a front". Maybe I'm just not getting the sarcasm, or something.

As both a nerd and a huge hip hop head, I have to say, stop. Stop, stop, stop, stop! You're making fucking fools of yourselves, and you're hurting hip-hop. It's worse than laffy taffy - at least laffy taffy is catchy.

But he does wear a Dr. Doom mask in public, which is pretty nerdy and gimmicky.

Not trying to jump all over you here or anything, but MF DOOM is Zev Love X from KMD. He's was down with 3rd Base and Native Tongues, and went through a lot of shit after his brother died, and for various reasons he adopted the mask. But he also is a genuine artist and poet who adopts different characters, each with a different flow and production. He made Operation DOOMSDAY, which anyone who knows anything about hip hop will tell you is a classic album. In short, he gets to adopt any quirks he wants because they don't define him as an artist. He doesn't swagger-jack a popular trend to make internet friends...

Whatever, maybe I'm a bit too bitter about this, but this whole nerdcore thing annoys the hell out of me.
posted by SweetJesus at 5:27 PM on January 10, 2007


What makes this a novelty? Because the genre has a name? Is rapping about pimps 'n' hos a novelty?

If you walked around dressed as a pimp, always talking about about the pimp-lifestyle, rapping about inside-pimp jokes, touring with your pimp entourage, posting to your pimp blog and naming your style, with no irony whatsoever, "Pimp-Core" you're a fucking gimmick and deserved to get smacked.

And please don't ever, even indirectly compare these dweebs to Q-Tip and Blackalicious again - It's what makes babies cry.
posted by SweetJesus at 5:47 PM on January 10, 2007


thanks, sweetjesus.
posted by rxrfrx at 7:26 PM on January 10, 2007


SweetJesus; you can't really think that the nerdcore artists out there are really with out irony, can you?

I don't get what your beef is with nerdcore. As tehloki points out, your favorite band/musical style sucks, but other than that, what makes this any less legitimate than other styles of music?
posted by [insert clever name here] at 5:47 AM on January 11, 2007


I don't get what your beef is with nerdcore.

Because it smacks of a bunch of hipster-dorks and their supporters like Cory Doctorow trying to "take back the word nerd" and equate hustlin' and flowin' about calculators and slide rules with some sort of genuine cultural importance or merit. To those people I say, high school was a long time ago, and you need to fucking get over some things.

You also seem to know 0 about hip hop, from what I can glean. It's not cool to shit all over someone's culture and know nothing about it.
posted by SweetJesus at 6:19 AM on January 11, 2007


SweetJesus, what exactly is your beef with nerdcore? Did you accidentally play a song by MC Hawking while you were living the "hip hop culture" and scatter your various ho's and bro's to the winds, leaving you alone on your large pile of bling, champagne and firearms?

If so, my heart goes out to you in your time of loss.
posted by tehloki at 9:50 AM on January 11, 2007


your various ho's and bro's to the winds, leaving you alone on your large pile of bling, champagne and firearms

*smacks forehead*
posted by rxrfrx at 11:21 AM on January 11, 2007


Did you accidentally play a song by MC Hawking while you were living the "hip hop culture" and scatter your various ho's and bro's to the winds, leaving you alone on your large pile of bling, champagne and firearms?

Argh, stop talking in that faux-Black slang, please! Go appropriate Twee music and start a nerd sing along, whatever, but please stop trying to speak like what you assume people who listen to hip-hop speak like. It makes me want to tear my eyes out. It's like when your nerdy, older uncle trys to talk "like the kids do" without knowing what he's saying - embarrassing for both you and me.

Anyway, my beef is with people like you who appropriate something they are completely ignorant of, murder it, and frame the corpse up like it's some idol of importance. It pisses me off. I tolerate it, but I'm sure as hell not going to respect it or put it on some pedestal.
posted by SweetJesus at 4:13 PM on January 11, 2007


I don't think SweetJesus knows as much about HipHop/Rap as he lets on. Sorry but what do you think HipHop is about? Being black? Poor? A Gangster?

It's just a fucking musical style that started in disco's in the 70's man. You can put whatever content you want into a rap. The Beastie Boys have been putting out some pretty smart and geeky lyrics for some time. How about 2 Skinnee J's? Are they not legitimate rappers either? Hell even Biz Markie has mentioned Monty Python and the Holy Grail in his a rap.
posted by MrBobaFett at 5:41 PM on January 11, 2007


This thread is like some horrible car wreck. I can't bear to look away. I have no idea what the fact that the Beastie Boys and Biz Markie are good hip hop artists has to do with the crappy gimmick musicians being discussed above. SweetJesus keeps saying "this is not about skin color or lyrical content, it's about whether you're a fucking wack corny gimmick" and then you go throwing it back in his face as if he'd said the opposite.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:17 PM on January 11, 2007


This thread is like some horrible car wreck.

Indeed. I guess it's at least a positive thing, though, that people can still get this passionate and argumentative about music. I guess it shows that it's still important to people. Then again... there is a talking in circles going on big time, and at this point the whole thing seems to have devolved into uselessness. I wouldn't imagine anyone, at this point, is gonna get his mind changed about any of this. Of course, you could say the same for any number of other MeFi threads. I'm kind of enjoying this one since I don't really have a horse in this race or an axe to grind. Y'all rage on!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:34 PM on January 11, 2007


Sorry but what do you think HipHop is about? Being black? Poor? A Gangster?

No, and I sure as hell don't think it's "frontin' 'bout the shit that is they life. Word." or "[a] large pile of bling, champagne and firearms?" or some other ignorant shit. I know what he's imitating, and I find it puerile. Go

Also, where are you reading-in that I said or implied any of that?

Hell even Biz Markie has mentioned Monty Python and the Holy Grail in his a rap.

Yeah, and he meations a whole lot of other shit too. That's my whole fucking point.
posted by SweetJesus at 6:57 PM on January 11, 2007



Yeah, and he meations a whole lot of other shit too. That's my whole fucking point.


Yet you rag on frontalot, who as I pointed out above actually does a large number of non-geek songs close to half. If you don't like it, that's fine, but your reasons for saying its not legitimate show a profound ignorance of the subject matter. And so what they co-oped the name "hiphop" when they decided to call it nerdcore hiphop. THey're not saying "this is your run of the mill hiphop music", hence the modifying adjective.


Argh, stop talking in that faux-Black slang, please! Go appropriate Twee music and start a nerd sing along, whatever, but please stop trying to speak like what you assume people who listen to hip-hop speak like.

You do understand that these things are being said with irony, right? Tell me you get that.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:39 PM on January 11, 2007


There was a guy who lived in my small Texas town during his childhood, then moved to Dallas and hustled in the clubs until he got a record deal.

His first album was all about stuff he didn't do and places in which he did not do them. He refashioned himself as a street kid who came up hard in the Miami area. It all turned out to be bullshit and he got called on it.

His name was Robbie Van Winkle, but you might know him as Vanilla Ice.

I'm not sure if you're arguing that nerdcore goes against the hip hop ethos of "keepin' it real," but it seems like it's better to Write What You Know than try to front like you're some banger 'n slanger from the hood or whatever, when that is actually not your true background at all. Maybe you're saying white people should just stay out of hip hop altogether, which shows no small amount of prejudice and is against the stated wishes of its founders (Zulu Nation welcomes all who are down).

It doesn't have to be a gimmick until you're trapped in it, like some of these gangsta cats who went on a big come up and now they're rich and pampered but they still gotta write about some street shit if they want to keep clockin' bank.
posted by First Post at 8:09 PM on January 11, 2007


(The Rappin' Duke, now that was a hell of a gimmick. Da haaa, da haaaaaa..)
posted by First Post at 8:10 PM on January 11, 2007


I know what he's imitating, and I find it puerile

He's not imitating it, he's fucking doing it. That's the part you don't get. It's not a parody. It's not Weird Al. It's dudes who like hip hop and make hip hop. They like rapping, so that's what they are doing. The only thing that makes them "NerdCore" is a general topical aspect to their lyrics and the people those lyrics appeal to.
posted by MrBobaFett at 8:11 PM on January 11, 2007



He's not imitating it, he's fucking doing it. That's the part you don't get. It's not a parody. It's not Weird Al. It's dudes who like hip hop and make hip hop. They like rapping, so that's what they are doing. The only thing that makes them "NerdCore" is a general topical aspect to their lyrics and the people those lyrics appeal to.


I'm talking about tehloki, dude.
posted by SweetJesus at 8:30 PM on January 11, 2007


You do understand that these things are being said with irony, right? Tell me you get that.

What's ironic about it? Point out the fucking irony to me. All I see is minstrel-ism
posted by SweetJesus at 8:33 PM on January 11, 2007


And so what they co-oped the name "hiphop" when they decided to call it nerdcore hiphop. THey're not saying "this is your run of the mill hiphop music", hence the modifying adjective.

Fine, but it's still a gimmick. If you're in to the gimmick, go dig your gimmick, but don't front like "nerdcore" isn't one.
posted by SweetJesus at 8:40 PM on January 11, 2007


He refashioned himself as a street kid who came up hard in the Miami area.

Of course, if it were really against the rules of rap to say things you never really did or saw, we'd probably lose 80% of our greatest musicians. I think this is more about style and artistry than lyrical subject matter.
posted by rxrfrx at 4:35 AM on January 12, 2007


Fine, but it's still a gimmick. If you're in to the gimmick, go dig your gimmick, but don't front like "nerdcore" isn't one.

If that is indeed the case, then what you're describing is any style of music that may appeal to one culture is a gimmick. Come on. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean its a gimmick.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:37 AM on January 12, 2007


gim·mick (gĭm'ĭk)
n.

1. A device employed to cheat, deceive, or trick, especially a mechanism for the secret and dishonest control of gambling apparatus.

2. An innovative or unusual mechanical contrivance; a gadget.

3. An innovative stratagem or scheme employed especially to promote a project: an advertising gimmick.

4. A significant feature that is obscured, misrepresented, or not readily evident; a catch.

5. A small object whose name does not come readily to mind.


So MC Frontalot's music doesn't seem to fit any of these definitions. The label "nerdcore" maybe fits definition #3, although it wasn't like a marketing company invented the term. My sense is that MC Frontalot is a guy who likes rapping and was poking a little fun at himself by giving his music that name.

SweetJesus, given that this music is NOT all about one thing, given that it's hardly a marketing-driven phenomena, and given that none of this has anything to do with gambling...what do you mean when you call it a gimmick?
posted by equipoise at 1:24 PM on January 12, 2007


Sorry for painting all mainstream hip-hop lovers with the same brush back there... I'm just not a big fan of the "your favorite hip-hop artist sucks and here's why, and no, no you can't argue with it, stop it" sentiment.
posted by tehloki at 1:28 PM on January 13, 2007


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