Okay. Here’s my nerd card. I’m turning it in.
I was aware of MC Frontalot before last week. I knew there was something called ‘nerdcore hip hop’ but since I don’t, in general, listen to hip hop as a whole, I was only aware of it and its artists on the level of intellectual curiosity. I appreciated the fact that folks not unlike myself were using the style to write songs about things other than pimpin’ one’s ho’s and squeezin’ one’s gats ’til their clips be empty.
Then Rachel told us about the best night she ever had in her entire life.
I took her suggestion, tried out some of Front’s tunes, and now I hang my head in shame for not being a fan of his before now.
This is a revelation not unlike the one I had when Portal made me aware of Jonathan Coulton, who is now working on getting some of his songs into Rock Band. I for one look forward to singing “Code Monkey” and “Re: Your Brains” next time we have a get-together with more than three people. Anyway, Front’s music does something that I really appreciate when it comes to hip hop – he eschews the usual trappings of swearing and themes related to cops, drugs and loose women, focusing his clean, intelligent rhymes on gaming, science fiction, blogging and other nerd-friendly topics. Two things about this statement: I’m not implying that rappers are unintelligent as a rule, and I know Front occasionally gets pissed about stuff. Like people blogging about their dogs.
I’ll fully admit that Front isn’t going to appeal to everybody. He’s focused on a demographic that’s familiar with the differences between console generations, the nuances of Havok physics, the debate between Next Generation & Deep Space Nine fans and the reasons why neo-conservative picketers calling themselves ‘teabaggers’ is so hilarious. Then again, chances are, you fit this demographic if you’re a regular visitor of this blog (which, hopefully, isn’t the kind Front’d hate on).
Here’s what I’m on about.
Are you smiling? Are you laughing? You better be.
It’s a frakkin’ nerd’s world, after all.
April 29, 2010 at 1:12 pm
I haven’t played Rock Band in a while, but I do recall playing Sill Alive, Skullcrusher Mountain, and RE: Your Brains several times, and having them all in my library. If I recall correctly, Still Alive was released as a free DLC single on April Fool’s Day 2008, and Skullcrusher Mountain came with 20 free bonus DLC songs that you could pick up after redeeming a code that came with the Rock Band 2 game. I have no idea how I got a hold of RE: Your Brains. It might have been with the free pack of 20 songs, or might have been just an average DLC single. I’m also fairly certain there’s a couple of MC Frontalot songs available too, as I recall playing at least one of them when I let the game generate a random set list one time.
But yeah, Jonathan Coulton is quite awesome. Smoking Monkey, Thing-a-Week 2, and Thing-a-Week 4 are my favourite collections. I typically play Rock Band more for the crushing difficulty and challenge than anything else, but I wouldn’t mind playing along to some more laid back music for a change.
I’ll also take your word for it and give MC Frontalot a fair shot after I finish watching a movie I have lined up. I only know him from the G4 commercials and that sole encounter on Rock Band, and was pretty much turned away instantly by his squeaky (for a lack of a better word) white boy rap voice. First impressions can be funny things at times.