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Nerdcore for Life

It seems the time is ripe for nerdcore to charge into our consciousness, light-saber in one hand, mic in the other. From Weird Al’s resurgence in popularity with his spoof of Chamillionaire on “White & Nerdy,” to the now-tepid SNL skit “Lazy Sunday,” MCs rhyming about Stephen Hawking, comic books, and JavaScript seems to have struck a chord with today’s HTML — heavily-teased, math-loving — generation.

Now, a new documentary directed by Dan Lamoureux, Nerdcore for Life, explores the music and the subculture of the true underground nerdcore rappers. Lamoureux attributes his newfound obsession with nerdcore to an MC Chris set he saw in 2005. Realizing that MC Chris (read more) was not only a voice on one of his favorite shows, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, but also a passionate nerdcore performer, he decided to explore the genre further. The trailer, featuring some of the people Lamoureux interviewed and filmed performing, offers not only a basic definition of the essence of nerdcore, but also more philosophical thoughts about where nerdcore fits in the hip-hop pantheon (“I’m not trying to be or make fun of mainstream hip-hop. You know? We’re not a parody”).

While the documentary is not even in post-production, the trailer is already generating buzz:

Now Watch This:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/A8VTmy5clHk

Here’s what the pocket protector set on the net is saying:

“Dude, how come MC Frontalot never gets on these things? I mean, wasn’t Front the guy who popularized the term ‘Nerdcore’?” — OgreLawless, youtube.com

“This film will be better than Star Wars. Well, better than Episodes I-III anyway.” — Monziggity, youtube.com

“I’m still trying to decide my favorite part. Is it where the guy compares nerd oppression to the Civil Rights movement? Is it where the other guy explains nerd rapping as being the same as rolling for traits in D&D as if everyone will get the analogy? Is it the slow-mo shots of people playing Dance Dance Revolution?” — Jennifer, stevesiwy.com/blog

“I think the documentary has some blurring of the hipster/nerd line. The problem with muddling up the taxonomy being that nerds don’t have sex (with people), hipsters do. I mean, there’s occasional nerd-on-nerd sex, but some of those girls looked very hipster-ish, more likely to have hipster-on-hipster sex. Worth parsing out.” — Tom, stevesiwy.com/blog

“If white dudes can rap (see Everlast or Eminem), then white nerds have a shot. I support anyone or anything that makes obscure references to movies/books/games I dig, but shmucks rapping is shmucks rapping.” — Eric, stevesiwy.com/blog

Talk: Lord of the Rhymes? Or do they sound Gandalful? COMMENT

On SPIN.com:
Artist of the Day: MC Chris

On the Web:
nerdcoreforlife.com