Media Credit: Courtesy of Think Press Artist MC Frontalot performs the best of nerdcore hip-hop

A professional rapper, Damian Hess, figured his credibility as a narrative performer would at some point come into question. He just never assumed it'd have anything to do with his C++ skills.

"I used to be a Web developer," said Hess, "I have an English degree; I started the Monty Python fan club in my high school. It's not hard to have to assert my nerd cred, but I do get hassled for not knowing about computer programming."

As MC Frontalot, Hess stands at the forefront of the nerdcore (or "geeksta") rap movement, having coined the phrase back in 2000. Only needing a microphone and a PC, nerdcore is, at its epicenter, a bare bones DIY movement, an amateur and esoteric celebration of all the things that got you "swirlies" in high school. Yeah, they spit 16-bar verses about "Star Wars" and science, but their earnest and approachable aesthetic makes Frontalot and his associates underground heroes and Internet darlings to legions of blogging buddies.

"[Nerdcore] comes out of a bunch of kids who came of age as rap was coming into national consciousness," Hess said. "We saw them as the coolest people on Earth and thought 'How could we do this?' Through the magic of technology we're now able to find a niche."

"I've always been a writer, more so than a musician," Hess added. "What I love about rap is that people write three-minute songs that have 600 words of text crammed in."

Still, the hip-hop community has hardly lent a bling-studded ear. The movement remains underground after several burgeoning years and releases, consumed by teens clicking away at a novelty.

The elementary patterns and lyricism initially displayed by Frontalot's early work have evolved into mature marksmanship. Topical rhymes addressing generational issues have garnered MC Lars, presently sharing the stage with Frontalot on the "Secrets from the Future tour," across-the-board props with pop culture heavy bars like, "So we hit the 'Net while the Trade Center fell/New York met Hollywood, we ran like hell.

No Vietnam for us, yo, Iraq it's on/ So who agreed upon this cowboy Genghis Khan?"

"Lots of kids identify with nerdcore," said Hess, "[I think] people are getting into rap through nerdcore because we're exploring patterns that haven't been touched on since the old school days."

Continued...

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