One of the things about being a dilettante is that you tend to reinvent things that were actually invented years or decades earlier. For example, I invented the deflationary theory of truth, the Mary’s Room argument from knowledge, object persistence, transactional memory, and even the for-each loop, which were all well-known to the experts, but unknown to myself in my own personal ignorance, at the time I invented them.
One of the things that I ignorantly reinvented is Nerdcore Hip-Hop, also known as Geeksta Rap. I’ve been rapping about computer science and software engineering since 2004. In 2007, someone finally pointed out to me that Nerdcore was a well-established musical/literary genre. Immediately, as the Midrash would say, I went to Wikipedia to get a list of the prominenent Nerdcore MC’s. List in hand, I went over the list MC by MC and listened to whatever music they had on line.
One of the MC’s on the list was MC Lars. On his website at the time, Lars had the songs “Download this Song”, “iGeneration”, and “Hot Topic is not Punk Rock.” My reaction: good music and good delivery, but the lyrics were too earnest. There’s something unsubversive about an MC who can say “It’s the new artist model” with a straight face. So it made an impression...but I didn’t go back for more.
One of the MC’s from the list who I did buy was Shael Riley. I wouldn’t really call him an MC. He might have done some rapping, but he mostly plays music and sings. A few months ago, I wrote a rap inspired by Shael’s song “Music Ruined Video Games” (which, by the way, is breathtaking). I thought I might actually get the chance to record it, so I went to Shael’s website to download the song. On Shael’s website, I saw that he had a Twitter account, so I followed him.
I don’t remember if it was Twitter who suggested Lars based on the fact that I was following Shael, or if Shael actually retweeted Lars, but when I saw Lars was on Twitter, I followed him too. I thought, “He’s not a geek. He looks like a quarterback.”
From Lars’ posts, it soon became clear that he runs a record label. That piqued my curiosity. I’m always on the lookout for labels that might want to sign me. I checked the label's website: Lars and one other band, nothing in the mission statement about “this label exists for the purpose of publishing the albums of MC Lars.” I figured I should do a bit more homework before pestering, so I went to Lars’ website and clicked on “Music Videos”. I listened to “Ahab” and “Signing Emo” (I don’t remember why I didn’t listen to the other songs there). They were pretty cool, so I sent my unsolicited demo to Horris Records.
About a week later, I received one of the nicest rejection emails I’ve ever received. Lars basically said that he liked my songs but he wasn’t signing new acts right now. (The fact that he wasn’t signing new acts didn’t surprise me, but the nice email did.) In his email, Lars said I should listen to his new mixtape, “Indie Rocket Science”. I figured it was the least I could do, so I listened.
I was blown away. Somehow, nothing in “Ahab” and “Signing Emo” had prepared me for the brilliance of “Indie Rocket Science”. I wondered: when did the earnest Lars of 2007 become so ironic? Lars has his entire discography up for free online listening, so I listened to the whole thing in reverse chronological order.
I think that the leap from “great” to “brilliant” occurred between the “Digital Gangster LP” of 2008 and the “Gigantic Robot” album of 2009. I think that “The Graduate” (2006), which contains the songs I’d heard in ‘07, is a great album too, I’d just listened to the wrong songs from it. If I’d listened to “Space Game”, “Crunk Rap”, and, yes, “Signing Emo”, I would have bought back then.
Interestingly, I think there was also a leap from “good” to “great” between “Insectivorous” (2000, Lars’ first album) and the “Laptop EP” (2004). The delivery on “Insectivorous” is kind of unprofessional IMAO. I find this very encouranging. If MC Lars can learn to rap, maybe I can too!
In my arrogant opinion, Lars is the second-best rapper in history. I still think Eminem is #1.
One of the things that I ignorantly reinvented is Nerdcore Hip-Hop, also known as Geeksta Rap. I’ve been rapping about computer science and software engineering since 2004. In 2007, someone finally pointed out to me that Nerdcore was a well-established musical/literary genre. Immediately, as the Midrash would say, I went to Wikipedia to get a list of the prominenent Nerdcore MC’s. List in hand, I went over the list MC by MC and listened to whatever music they had on line.
One of the MC’s on the list was MC Lars. On his website at the time, Lars had the songs “Download this Song”, “iGeneration”, and “Hot Topic is not Punk Rock.” My reaction: good music and good delivery, but the lyrics were too earnest. There’s something unsubversive about an MC who can say “It’s the new artist model” with a straight face. So it made an impression...but I didn’t go back for more.
One of the MC’s from the list who I did buy was Shael Riley. I wouldn’t really call him an MC. He might have done some rapping, but he mostly plays music and sings. A few months ago, I wrote a rap inspired by Shael’s song “Music Ruined Video Games” (which, by the way, is breathtaking). I thought I might actually get the chance to record it, so I went to Shael’s website to download the song. On Shael’s website, I saw that he had a Twitter account, so I followed him.
I don’t remember if it was Twitter who suggested Lars based on the fact that I was following Shael, or if Shael actually retweeted Lars, but when I saw Lars was on Twitter, I followed him too. I thought, “He’s not a geek. He looks like a quarterback.”
From Lars’ posts, it soon became clear that he runs a record label. That piqued my curiosity. I’m always on the lookout for labels that might want to sign me. I checked the label's website: Lars and one other band, nothing in the mission statement about “this label exists for the purpose of publishing the albums of MC Lars.” I figured I should do a bit more homework before pestering, so I went to Lars’ website and clicked on “Music Videos”. I listened to “Ahab” and “Signing Emo” (I don’t remember why I didn’t listen to the other songs there). They were pretty cool, so I sent my unsolicited demo to Horris Records.
About a week later, I received one of the nicest rejection emails I’ve ever received. Lars basically said that he liked my songs but he wasn’t signing new acts right now. (The fact that he wasn’t signing new acts didn’t surprise me, but the nice email did.) In his email, Lars said I should listen to his new mixtape, “Indie Rocket Science”. I figured it was the least I could do, so I listened.
I was blown away. Somehow, nothing in “Ahab” and “Signing Emo” had prepared me for the brilliance of “Indie Rocket Science”. I wondered: when did the earnest Lars of 2007 become so ironic? Lars has his entire discography up for free online listening, so I listened to the whole thing in reverse chronological order.
I think that the leap from “great” to “brilliant” occurred between the “Digital Gangster LP” of 2008 and the “Gigantic Robot” album of 2009. I think that “The Graduate” (2006), which contains the songs I’d heard in ‘07, is a great album too, I’d just listened to the wrong songs from it. If I’d listened to “Space Game”, “Crunk Rap”, and, yes, “Signing Emo”, I would have bought back then.
Interestingly, I think there was also a leap from “good” to “great” between “Insectivorous” (2000, Lars’ first album) and the “Laptop EP” (2004). The delivery on “Insectivorous” is kind of unprofessional IMAO. I find this very encouranging. If MC Lars can learn to rap, maybe I can too!
In my arrogant opinion, Lars is the second-best rapper in history. I still think Eminem is #1.
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