antisocial

2006-08-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

Nerd Cred, Vol 1.

In this article, I will review three nerdcore artists, review their particular area of nerddom and give them a ranking such as "Extreme Nerd" or "Halfway Nerdy"

Since this is Vol 1, I expect to be doing this in the future. I also might return here to add or correct information, so if you see something that's incorrect, please message me about it, or leave it in the comments.

"Why are you doing this?" you may ask.
First of all, because I can. Second of all, I want to. Third, because I might know some great nerdcore artist that you've never heard of, or that is rarely considered nerdcore. Fourth, to expose the posers. They're hard to spot sometimes.

Today's three picks are:
Mc Frontalot
Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
Beefy

MC Frontalot
rapping style: generally oldschool, but very unique
sounds like: Fresh Prince, LL Cool J
my current favorite song: Crime Spree
biggest contribution to the nerdcore scene: Inventing the word "Nerdcore" in the song "Nerdcore Hiphop"
nerd class: Academia, Science, Computers, Video Games

MC Frontalot is probably the most well rounded nerdcore rapper out there. He incorporates humor, science, computers, and a slew of other things into his songs, blending them together with the greatest of ease. He has rapping skill, high production values, and he caches in big time on it (as in, he makes money).

Rapping Skill: Great
Nerd Status: Approved
Nerd Level: Extreme Nerd
Antisocial Rating: 10/10

Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
rapping style: old school
sounds like: LL Cool J, Run DMC, MC Hammer, MC Frontalot
my current favorite song: Human Video Game
biggest contribution to the nerdcore scene: technically, this was before nerdcore, but he made it cool to rap about otherwise stupid stuff like video games and movies
nerd class: Video Games, Movies, Various Subjects

Fresh Prince was the Original Nerdcore Gangster, or ONG for short. He was so ahead of his time that he is still arguably nerdcore today. If you don't believe me, check out these songs:

Nightmare on My Street - a song about Freddy Kruger haunting his dreams
Human Video Game - rapping about a video game addiction, with a beatboxed Donkey Kong
I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson - a comic song where he loses to Mike Tyson
Men In Black (I & II) - What's not nerdcore about writing the theme song to a sci-fi movie based on a comic book?

Rapping Skill: Great
Nerd Status: Approved
Nerd Level: Minor Nerd
Antisocial Ranking: 7.5/10

Beefy
rapping style: various
sounds like: MC Lars beating Comic Book Guy over the head with an LP
my current favorite song: David's Sister is my favorite... but my favorite song is Tub of Tabasco
biggest contribution to the nerdcore scene: he owns the comic book niche
nerd class: Internet, Comic Books, General Nerdiness

Beefy is probably my most played nerdcore artist. I have him sharing time about 60/40 with MC Lars on my iPod. Despite not having the extreme rapping skills or production talents that other nerdcore artists have, he more than makes up for it with his funny subject matter, and clever lyrics ("I'm simple and pretentious, just like Macintosh"). He also regularly records a podcast entitled "Just Another Lazy Podcast" or JALP for short, which is pretty funny even though it's only nerd content is usually the songs that are played. Jones (heard on JALP) is featured in Tub of Tabasco, and I would expect him to be in more songs in the future, because his featured lines were comedy gold ("but Beefy, you don't even perform on stage", "I believe in you Beefy"). I think either Amy or Paige... or maybe both are featured on an upcoming unreleased track or tracks. Beefy has a joint project with Shael Riley and 1337 Geek Beat called Triforce.

Rapping Skill: Rather Good
Nerd Status: Approved
Nerd Level: Extreme Nerd
Antisocial Ranking: 9/10

Well, that's all for today. Join us next time for more nerdcore reviews.

2006-07-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Upon occation, I will hear a song and regardless if it's good or not, it has something that draws me in. CSS is just such a band. It's like cheezy rap mixed with dance beats. Can anyone say Kraftwerk? I thought so. Simplistic and catchy, this cracks me up sometimes.

Welp, I'm out.

2006-07-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

I decided it was time to get a blog... not so much because people will start reading it, but that I need to document things for the future.

Some basic tenants of this blog:

I rap... or at least *will* rap in the future

nerdcore rap, so no gangster shiite muslems
I try not to swear for the sake of parents and younger children

I like video games, so I will be posting my current gaming favorites
I like computers, so I will be posting about that
I listen to all varieties of music, so I will be posting new finds as they arrive

So... with that out of the way, here goes the first post:

Hello, folks, I'm Antisocial
my name's Mark Ridlen and I'm going postal
Linux, no thanks, I like BSD
I connect to it through a tool called PuTTY
-Exerpt from "Geeks are People Too" (currently unreleased)

I'm a computer / gaming / hacking / generic nerd.

I've been listening to mainstream hip-hop for several days now, and I'd like to report my findings and research:

First of all, most of the music I've heard so far has been rather dismal. I forgot just how bad it was. I could drone on and on about it, but allow me to summarize using a nice bullet point list.

The music - 808 boom with a cheezy synth riff (either an anthem horn or a video game beep)

basically, it sucks. I'm sorry to say it, but I could compose most of those backup tracks in a couple hours.

The production - high pitched male vocals teemed with pitch correction is not gangster. I'm sorry, but it's not. The rap vocals are often overusing the chorus effect to make them sound deeper... and it results in me not being able to understand what is being said.
The lyrics - songs commenting on dancefloor moves are so retarded. Also, overuse of slang or possibly creation of new slang makes these songs difficult to understand. Not that the songs are all that deep.
The lack of any meaningful song material.

So, keeping that in mind, I'm feeling very inspired to do a song involving the ninja turtles. That would be gangster to the MAX! They are hardened ninjas, and Michaelangelo is crunk. Hence this line, poking obvious jest at Eminem and Dre:

Michaelangelo likes to keep it crunk.
He likes to party, he likes to get drunk.
(but Mark, that turtle's only 16 years old!)
yeah, but he's got a fake ID though

We'll see if I can pull a song together. I also imagine making Donatello out to be a total nerd, and Raphael an emo kid.

More as of yet unplaced lyric fragments:

I stay away from Craigslist hookers,
but I've seen every youtube video by brookers
whenever I have some time to waste,
I catch the comedy clip about her eating paste
and watching people dance, like, all day long
like the gangster Gary B to some O-Zone song
there's over 3,000 clips of dragonsta din tea (dragon stah din tay, I think)
and I watched them all in a single day

On the plus side of listening to mainstream hip-hop, I heard "Unfaithful" by Rihanna, and I was just blown away. That song has grit to it, and I like grit. It's R&B, though, which is usually twice as bad as hip-hop, but in this case, you could take the lyrics and make any kind of song you wanted with it: country, industrial, dark synthpop, folk, punk... pretty much whatever.

Another band I've been listening to is Dispatch. They have the folky hip-hop that I have come to love so much. My current favorite is "Here We Go"... I might have to do a cover of that one eventually... like a gangster.

How about Beefy of Beefyness.com? I listen to more of his music than probably any other nerdcore artist alive or dead. Why? Because he makes me laugh, and he is very clever about some things. Plus, he's got a good sense of rhythm, and he can actually rap pretty well. I really like Tub of Tabasco. It sicks in your head, and I cant stop rapping/singing it. I probably want to cover one of his song one of these days... probably "Internet Celebrity."

Citizen Red? This is Shael Riley's side project (you might remember him from such internet semi-hits as "Bit Pop" or "Down With Bane"). I especially liked his cover of Snoop Dog's "Who Am I?" I liked it better than the original, which I heard on the radio today. The original had a good sound, but this one blew me away. His rapping style is more like rap-rock in the vein of Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit (or even Rage), which sells me. The lyrics still suck, but that's not his fault. The production on this track is amazing too, lots of different vocal styles and mixing effects, plus he has a great singing and rapping voice. Here is the link: http://shaelbopp.livejournal.com/535326.html
The rest of the album is not as good, more experimental, and weird, and this song was like the only normal one on that internet-album. The remix of creative process is decent, but I'm not sure about the chords.

Well... that's all for now.