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.