Nerdcore

Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot coined the term in 2000 in the song "Nerdcore Hip-Hop". Frontalot, like most nerdcore artists, self-published his work.

Popular nerdcore subject matter includes Star Wars (Frontalot's "Yellow Lasers", 2 Skinnee J's "Mind Trick", mc chris's "Fett's Vette"), science (MC Hawking's "Entropy", 2 Skinnee J's "Pluto"), and computers. Many non-nerdcore hip hop compositions exist that focus on these and similar topics.

Nerdcore artists

• 2 Skinnee J's
• MC Frontalot
• mc chris
• MC Lars
• MC Hawking
• MC Paul Barman
• MC Plus+
• Optimus Rhyme
• Ultraklystron (especially on his albums Revision 4920 and OpenSource Lyricist)
• YTCracker
• Commodore 64 (band)

Related artists

Although the following commercially-released hip-hop albums and songs do not meet the necessary and sufficient conditions of nerdcore, they do feature themes typical of the genre:

• Dream Warriors – "Twelve Sided Dice" (1991)
• Dream Warriors – "Voyage Through the Multiverse" (1991)
• "Weird Al" Yankovic – "It's All About The Pentiums" (1999)
• Deltron 3030 – Deltron 3030 (2000)
• General Patton vs. The X-Ecutioners – "L.O.L.- Loser On Line (Hate the Player, Hate the Game)" (2005)

Media coverage

• Scott, Toby. "Beware geeks bearing riffs." The Guardian June 17, 2002.
• Andrews, Robert. "Rap Marketing Comes to Nerdcore." Wired June 23, 2005.
• The Brian Lehrer Show. "(Not So) Hip-Hop." WNYC, New York. August 11, 2005.
  • An audio interview with MC Frontalot (MP3 format)