Nerdcore Rising DVD

Studio: b-side

Jan 10, 2010 Web Exclusive By Nick Hyman

The past few years has seen the advent of a small underground genre of nerd-themed hip-hop called Nerdcore. Nerdcore Rising specifically profiles MC Frontalot the "Godfather of Nerdcore" as he embarks on a tour of North America with his backing bandmates. Throughout the footage of their modest and nearly uneventful tour, there are sparse interviews with outsiders about this new Internet-based movement. Fellow Nerdcore artists mc chris and MC Lars are joined by more famous talking heads like comedian Brian Posehn, Weird Al (whose "White and Nerdy" is better than anything heard in the movie), and legendary hip-hop producer Prince Paul (De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising). What troubles me about many of the fans of Nerdcore-or at least, about the mostly-white fans featured in the film-is that they have a very uninformed view of rap and hip-hop and think that it's all violent and unrelatable. That's too bad, because I'm not convinced that MC Frontalot's long-winded and flat monotone flows about Magic: The Gathering and computer hard drives is anywhere near the nerdy content found in The Pharcyde, De La Soul, Wu-Tang Clan, and even Gorillaz.

(www.nerdcorerisingmovie.com, www.bside.com)

Author rating: 5/10

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Average reader rating: 6/10