At the forefront of the Nerdcore scene are Frontalot, mc chris, MC Lars, and YTCracker. Front is the godfather of the scene, coining the term and embracing all that is nerdy, dorky, dweeby, or geeky; you all know him and love him… and if you don’t, you should. mc chris doesn’t like to call himself Nerdcore, but due is a nerd rapper extraordinaire; you know him as MC Pee Pants and Hesh, or perhaps the dude who did that funny track about Boba Fett driving a Corvette. MC Lars is fun and enjoyable; he’s likely you’re friend on Facebook already, having nearly as many friends as Tom has on MySpace. YTC is a cracker and hacker turned emcee; Nerdrap Entertainment System still stands as a unique and groundbreaking work.

Beyond the big four, this illustrious site has covered the likes of Beefy, Shael Riley, Dual Core, and The ThoughtCriminals/Mikal kHill, as well as nerdy acts that don’t identify specifically with the subgenre like Pigeon John. However, today presents a great time to give the readers a brief primer of some other things the world of Nerdcore has to offer. Here are 10 more nerds that you need to know:

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thepaintedman rates this:

Thought Criminals was an influential Australian punk band that formed in 1977… oh wait… wrong Thought Criminals…

The Thought Criminals is a British electro… no that’s not it…

The ThoughtCriminals is not a punk band that formed in 1977. In fact, they are not Australian or British, are not punk or electro, and did not form in 1977. Rather, The ThoughtCriminals are a hip hop crew that sent me their CD a few weeks back after I saw them advertised as an opening act for MC Frontalot on a Facebook invite. When I messaged Mikal kHill, he immediately responded and asked my shirt size. When I responded, he apologized that they were out of stock on my t-shirt size, but he sent me the music to check out and continues to keep in touch with me promising that a shirt is on the way.

Well, first off, the shirt is unnecessary, as the album speaks for itself (though I am still welcoming the free swag, I’ll even post a pic of my fat ass rocking it once I get it). The 16 track self-title CD is chock full of intelligent lyrics, catchy hooks, good flow, and an overall fantastically constructed hip hop aesthetic. Sub-genre defying, the ThoughtCriminals are not a typical nerdcore act, despite having some ties to that scene; their sound is often very reminiscent of classic hip hop like A Tribe Called Quest and Boogie Down Productions, with some subtle and not-so-sublte influences from other hip hop artists ranging from Wu-Tang Clan to Frontalot himself.

Lyrically, some tracks are fun and uplifting, others are politically and social minded, and others yet are educational. Here are my notes on a few of my favorite tracks, taken directly from the notes I made on a back page of my planner while driving to and from work over the past few weeks. In no particular order:

Track 2 “Falling Apart”

Not what I expected… guess I was expecting something more obviously nerdy due to being an opener for Front. Great beat, talented band. Very Roots-esque, but fronted by a rapper more like Q-Tip or KRS rather than Thought.

Track 13 “Loud Enough”

Part Cornell West, part KRS, part Saul Williams… educational and entertaining, thoroughly enjoyable. Nice acoustic guitar work in the background. Homage to Leon Scott’s influence over 100 years ago. Works well enough on it’s own, but is perfect as the introductory track to “Corporate Sellout”

Track 5 “Pocket Full of Trouble”

Love the “Gin & Juice” references. In fact, the song sounds like it has a bit of that Chronic-era Dre feel besides just the lyrical references.

Track 3 “Things Change”

Synth reminds me of Double Ice Backfire, though that’s likely just because I’ve been obsessed with Songs from the Pit lately. Flow and synth together also bring to mind some of Beefy’s stuff on Rolling Doubles. The guy singing the line “just stay the same” in the chorus sounds very “radio rap”, can’t put my finger on who he is reminding me of, though.

Track 12 “Mile After Mile”

This track makes me feel happy from the door. Fun and happy music. Uplifting lyrics, references to everyday life, paying bills, and reading comics. All in all, the track most likely to be repeated over and over on my iPod. One last note… something about this track makes me think of Abdominal, not sure why though.

Track 4 “Pledge”

Beat is very Frontalot. I half expected Front to start rapping as the verse broke.

Track 8 “Economic Downturn”

Sounds like a video game as the song opens… so much so that it brought to mind Nerdrap Entertainment System. Lyrically, strong social conscience. Is it us or them? Our choices in life or the system? Interesting stuff.

A great album front to back, beginning to end, The ThoughtCriminals is a fantastic debut that this hip hop band can be proud of. Their page on cdbaby describes the CD as “Part live band, part hip hop crew, this group deftly hops across genres, mixing hip hop with a variety of styles and lyrical density unparalleled by anything you’ll hear in the mainstream.” This accurate description still does not do them justice, but it’s a start. If you like old school hip hop, bands like The Roots, underground hip hop like Sage Francis, The Coup, and Abdominal, or are a big fan of the nerdcore standouts like Front, YTC, and Beefy, then this is a must for your collection.

What HORROR WEEK would be complete without this:

thepaintedman rates this:

K. Flay, Hip Hop’s best kept secret, just released a hot FREE mixtape (available at her website) to wet our proverbial whistles for her debut full-length album. Frequent Nerdcore collaborator who has also worked with Del and Zion-I (among others) uses this release to demonstrate her production, rapping, and singing chops. Taking popular songs from all types of genres, K. Flay put together 11 tracks and a 12th bonus track where she intertwines great beats with familiar hooks and showcases her vocals for all the folks who are new to the Suburban Rap Queen.

I first got diggin’ on Ms. Flay when I heard “Other People’s Property” from The Digital Gangster LP, then I hear her on other Lars tracks, and I got my first full taste just a few weeks ago when I picked up the Single and Famous EP. Then a last week I was clicking through my On Demand music videos and saw a Zion-I video featuring K. Flay called “Coastin’”. After this, I was hooked, just in time to see MC Lars tweet about her mixtape… I immediately downloaded it.

The mixtape, as all good mixtapes do, works best as a complete product, but I do have a few favorite tracks.

The opener, “ON the bridge” immediately catches me with the RHCP sample it utilizes as the primary backing track. Flay’s flow on top of the track demonstrates her ability to chill out the listener with a sing-song rap delivery, almost like a female version of my favorite MC, Pigeon John. “boom boom pow KUNG FU” uses a cool sample of a kid saying just that with a well crafted computer drum loop to set up a perfect backdrop for her to crank up her showing of her MC skills. On “paper planes & SPITBALLS”, K. Flay chops ups MIA’s “Paper Planes” and brings MC Lars on board for a verse. Solid track, which is no surprise when considering how solid the entire tape is and that Lars is the best post-punk laptop rapper ever (he told me on Twitter that he was not Nerdcore!).

Flay samples tracks from Kanye, Missy Elliot, and a whole bunch of others. It’s well worth it’s price… and quite a bit more. So do yourself a favor, in fact, two favors:

1. Download the mixtape.

2. Watch this video of Zion-I featuring the Suburban Rap Queen.

…is my new favorite Nerdcore act. Period.

thepaintedman rates this:

Sorry Shael. Sorry Beefy. Sorry Lars. Sorry YT. Sorry Front. Sorry STD. These cats got it going on. Rock beats, catchy hooks, tons of great guests (see above list of apologies, in fact), clever lyrics, and something a bit different than most of the Nerdcore acts that I’ve been digging on, mainstream viability.

Admittedly, part of their allure is that Next Level is the first album loaded on my new iPod Touch… so they have an automatic leg up on everyone else I’ve ever reviewed. However, I have no doubt in my mind that this unfair advantage was unneeded for this great crew. Crew may be a bit of an overstatement, as Dual Core is a duo: Cincinnati, Ohio’s int80 and Manchester, England’s c64.

This duo is brand new to me, despite their 3 previous releases. While I cannot comment on these previous releases, I can state, without any question, that their latest release is nothing less than solid rockroll influenced hip-hop output. Nerds will surely find a lot here that they like and relate to, but the well crafted beats and commercial viability of their sound broadens their prospective audience greatly.

Kicking off with guitar driven rap-rock, the album progresses through 13 tracks of unique and different beats, all the while remaining a album with solid continuity. There aren’t too many tracks that standout to me as being the most impressive, mostly because the album performs so well as a whole.

If I were to choose a favorite track, it would be “Magnificent Seven”, just because it is a Nerdcore All-Star show. I am not sure I could even name everyone on the track… but I’ll give it a go: MC Lars, MC Frontalot, Beefy, Schaffer the Darklord, Mega Ran, and YTCracker… I’ll have to Dual Core how well I did on that one, because my iPod says “(featuring Nerdcore)”. Besides the track featuring everyone and their mothers, it also has a phat beat and makes me bop my head, which is usually a good thing.

Overall, I’m not exactly sure what to say about this album that hasn’t already been said on Beefy’s Amazon review of Next Level. This is my new favorite Nerdcore album and without question one of my new favorite hip-hop albums. If you are a fan of the Nerdcore guys, mainstream nerd rappers like Del tha Funkee Homosapien, or rock inspire hip-hop like Philly’s Roots crew, this is an album, you WILL be down with.

PS. How cool is it that I was able to download an App for my IPod that simulates a light saber when I swing it around?

This email interview presented unaltered… no editing… so good luck!

Thanks for taking a few minutes to chat with TPM. My readers will appreciate it. Let’s start off simple, who is YTCracker?

ytcracker is bryce case, jr. straight out of the 719 repping colorado springs until the Almighty Spam God decompiles me and puts me back in the source code.

Your website claims that you are “the undisputed king of nerdcore”. How can I verify that is is true? I mean, according to wikipedia, you seem to be have the longest active tenure of the Nerdcore cats, but being the elder doesn’t always make you the king.

even my most famous contemporaries allow me to use this tagline and refer to me as such. it must be true.

Hmmm… well, if you could be anything other than a nerd rapper, what would you be and why?

i’m way more than a nerd rapper. i eat cereal in the morning. i also run the entire internet – you better axe about me.

Good answer. So, I reviewed NES a month or two ago… basically stating that I dug it a lot. It was a great concept and the overall product was quite well executed. Whether it be NES or something else you put out, what, would you say, it Ytcracker’s crowning achievement? What is the best contribution to music that can be attributed to you?

i cooked a steak once while rapping about the steak and entertained people at the barbecue. these are the things that are important in life.

On his newest release, Lars covers one of my childhood heroes, Atom & His Package. Were you ever an Atom fan?

i was not. adam ant though holla game.

I’d personally call him an “OG”. He was kinda Nerdcore before there was such a thing. Plus, he was always freaking awesome live. Live music has always been a big thing for me. Who are the best live acts, both in your Nerdcore scene and elsewhere?

everyone in nerdcore, including myself, sucks at irl. the only groupcever worthy of holding any sort of cred live is pendulum.

How about influences, both Nerdcore and otherwise… what has influenced you musically?

i have really eclectic tastes and i play the turntables, guitar, piano, and kazoo. i like dance music a lot, so the fusion of technology and rap has always interested me.

Ok, so let’s do what I always do for a few questions in my interviews, let’s veer away from music and talk about other stuff. We’ll do some word associations. I’ll throw out a word or topic and you can tell me whatever comes to mind. We’ll start with current events. Michael Jackson.

the man. i miss you. i always stood up for you in elementary school when no one else did.

Michael Vick.

big ron mex wb you were afk.

Healthcare Reform.

libertarian or bust screw socializm.

Okay, away from just current topics, how about just some broader topics, like… Religion.

Praise Be to the Spam God and His Infinite Bitstream.

Video Games.

monkey island in HD whodi holla.

Twitter.

my life fits terribly in 140 chars or less.

And one more… The Metric System.

everything you need to know about getting high lies in the metric system.

Good. In my previous interview with Beefy, he said that there have been some heavy beefs (no pun intended) in Nerdcore. Have any involved you?

one with mc chris and i, but i think that is squashelerized.

Well, I guess I’ve wasted enough of your time, so let’s just hit a few more quick things. What should we be expecting from YTCracker in the near future in way of new music?

new album drops next month – it was called “the throne” now it might be called “the heisman” – they all have stories behind them. penis.

I know that you and, well, everyone else in the scene performed at Nerdapalooza in the past couple of weeks. How come that stuff never happens out here? When do us East Coast folks (Philly/Reading, specifically) get to see YTCracker live on stage?

tour goes live end of august – i’ll have dates up soon i promise!!!!

Ok, so… last question… what would you tell my readers is the most important thing when trying to pick up girls?

confidence and swagger. ain’t nary a none whodi say a whodi fo shodi ain’t done the damn thang with these females ya dig, goon sire.

Thanks again. Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease.

to the middle east. thanksgiving feast.

I spent the last day and a half busy and away from my computer… when I returned I had a slew of emails, a tons of music to review, and a ton of hits on the site. Thanks everyone, so here are a few quick updates:

-Next week will be Hip Hop Week on TPM. While I vacation in North Carolina, you will be treated to interviews from Uno Mas (LA Symphony, Cook & UNO, The Eternals) and YTCracker, reviews of Shael Riley and Ed E. Rueger, and a Hip Hop 10 in 10.

-To kick off Hip Hop Week, Monday will be my first Mixtape Monday. On the first Monday of each month, you will be able to download at least 10 tracks from assorted artists. While this month will include all different musical styles, several great hip hop artists will be sharing tracks.

-There will be a great interview posted tomorrow with The Glass Gentlemen and a review of Everybody Out! Over the weekend, there will (probably) be a 10 in 10 and a review (and comparison piece) of the first Sookie Stackhouse novel by Charlaine Harris (the inspiration for True Blood)… If I get too busy, these could get pushed back until after Hip Hop Week, though.

-Also, in the coming weeks, there will be an interview with Mike Virus of Evacuate and reviews of Evacuate, Telegraph Canyon, Sebastien Granger, and much more.

Thanks, and check out this jam from Cookbook, Uno, and the rest of LA Symph before you head out!

Pictured below is Beefy w/ his buddies in Optimus Rhyme. Who is Beefy? Let’s find out.

Beefy? What’s up with the name?

I’m a big guy. Someone was trying to make fun of me on a message board once and called me MC Beefy Bee and I liked the Beefy part, so I used it. Then it just kinda morphed into Beef Thompson over the years. I likes it. How about you?

I appreciate that, I am also quite a large fellow… So, besides your name, tell the readers a little bit about you.

I’m a nerdcore hip-hop artist from Southeast Washington. I’m very much into my Xbox and iPhone and have been a comic book nerd for years. I’ve put out 2 full albums and a bunch of free EPs that you can get at my website and I’ve done shows with people like MC Lars and YTCracker in Seattle, Portland, and even Amsterdam. I’m also very sexy. Don’t deny me. You’ll just look foolish.

I have a couple of your albums, personally my favorite song is your cover of Frontalot’s “Nerdcore Hip-Hop”… not sure why exactly, I just dig it a lot. In fact, I like it a lot more than the original. Is Frontalot an influence on you, who else in the Nerdcore scene do you consider an influence on what you do?

Front is definitely an influence. I can’t write like him at all, but he’s cleaver with his concepts and is an amazing performer. I look up to the big acts in Nerdcore like Lars, mc chris, and YTCracker. I’m also a fan SJ the Wordburglar for his wordplay and punchlines. My favorite band and biggest influence is Optimus Rhyme, a Nerdcore Seattle act that sadly broke up recently. It sucks. Hard.

Nerdcore aside, who are some you you favorite hip hop artists?

I grew up on Notorious BIG and Jay-Z so that was my base. I’m a big fan of the first few Gym Class Heroes albums before it got really radio-friendly. Big fan of Lupe Fiasco and early Kanye West and Eminem. That’s honestly about it.

How about other music?

I’m a White Stripes fan. I don’t know if it makes me less manly but I dig Regina Spektor. Tenacious D is the greatest band in the world, but everyone already knows that. I’ve listened to Sublime’s 40oz to Freedom a million times and was in love with the first Gnarls Barkley album. I don’t know if that last one counts as hip-hop or not though.

Good stuff, Sublime is likely my favorite band of all-time and that is their best album, hands down. On the topic of other musical styles, what type of music is the scariest? I just re-read Lords of Chaos, about the Black Metal scene, but I find myself still most afraid of most Country music.

I don’t like music that seems like it’s pissed off at me. I don’t want my music to scream at me. I don’t get that whole scene. If it works for some people that’s cool, just not my cup of tea. I don’t know if I’m really afraid of it since it’s all just a big act when their on stage. I think balls deep Christian music scares me the most. Those people really really believe.

Christian music can indeed be a bit frightening. So let’s move beyond music for a minute, shall we? As a Nerdcore artist, I thinks it’s safe to assume that you are a self-proclaimed nerd (as am I). What are your nerdiest traits and tendencies?

Like a lot of nerds I can carry entire conversations using nothing but movie and TV quotes. It’s like speaking a different language. Besides that I don’t think there’s really one particular thing that is my nerdiest quality. I have a <3 and a Bullet Bill tattoo, so I'm clearly hardcore. Oh, I know, I've made albums worth of songs about things like Street Fighter and board games. That's pretty nerdy.

I actually got a Star Wars Father’s Day card from my 7th month old son, how awesome is that? You have any kids?

My girlfriend has a year and a half old daughter we call Nugget and she gave me a Batman chocolate box for Valentine’s Day. It might have been the greatest day ever. I’ve been involved with the little one since she was 5 months old so I get all the joys of changing diapers and cleaning up after her but lack the ability to make decisions or call her a daughter, so it sucks a little but I loves her so I allow it.

That’s really cool, great V-Day gift… so back to music… or rather, hip hop feuds. I believe the reason Nerdcore isn’t more prominent in the national scene is that there are no publicizedhardcore beefs and feuds like in every other sub-genre of hip hop. I am requesting that you start one now, by dropping me a short freestyle about a Nerdcore artist of your choice.

How out of the loop you are sir. Nerdcore started with nothing but beefs and fighting. I should know because it seems like I started 90% of them. It’s actually just finally calmed down. And I already made a diss song called “Diss Missed” that was on my Private Dick EP. People dug it. Not so much the people dissed in the song though.

Well, I guess I’m a late bloom in the Nerdcore scene… care to start a feud with me?

Fuck you. I hate you! Feud Status: IT’S ON!

Well, that’s just too much for me sir! This interview is over! By the way, take care and keep in touch.

I change my mind. I love you. Let’s be BFFs. Feud Status: BFFs!

Looks like the CookBook album has dropped a bit early. You can get it today at Sphere of Hip-Hop. You can read a full length interview with Jason “CookBook” Soto here tomorrow.

And… while you’re at it, download some more free music:

“Flamethrower” by Peter James

Nerdrap Entertainment System by YTCracker

“You Can’t Help Yourself” by Frank Lenz

“In Too Deep” by Kissing Cousins