I am a geek and a nerd and I’m proud to say it. In the current state of our culture, or lack thereof, it means I’m (probably) smarter than you and have a (relatively) better taste in media. Yeah, that’s incredibly cocky of me to say, but that is how nerdcore I am.
Now, let’s take a second for me to say right off the rip, that I’m not a geeksta, I’m not that nerdcore. I have no beef with my fellow geeks and nerds, even though I think “Star Wars” is terrible, Jean-Luc Picard would probably beat James T. Kirk in a straight fight, Kira Yamato wins in any fight against Heero Yuy and I count nothing in the Whedon or Abramsverses as sci-fi, save for “Firefly” and maybe “Dollhouse,” and “Star Trek” respectively. However, I’m so nerdcore that I knew who MC Frontalot was without immediately having to wiki him, though in the interest of full disclosure, the last time I heard one of his tracks I was still in college. If you have no clue who that is, or are really into Frontalot, then “Nerdcore Rising” is a movie you should watch.
“Nerdcore Rising” is the documentary/concert show of MC Frontalot, the absolute progenitor of nerdcore rap, embarking on his first national tour. He starts in South Carolina and ends up in the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. Think of this movie as the nerdy “The Kids Are All Right.” It shows the trials and tribulations of relationships on a road tour, as well as explains the origins of nerdcore and its place as a subgenre of hip-hop with help from contributors Weird Al Yankovic and mc chris [not a typo, his name is properly spelled without caps] among others.
Documentaries have never really been my thing. In fact, I can count on one hand the number of them I’ve seen, so my criteria for liking or disliking it is a little more weird than usual. Of course, I have to like the film overall, and from the sense I got of it, I would. Frontalot is hilarious, and I’m into nerdcore. I have to care about the subject matter to a degree, which I do. I care about the state of pop culture, and if people really get exposed to nerdcore, it could be a whole new thing. Would I pay to see it in theatres? Probably not, but if it came around on the tube or at a festival, I’d see it, for sure. Lastly, would the film be a waste of my time? For me, it wouldn’t, because I can totally relate to it.
My final analysis is this: If you’re a geek or nerd, you already know what time it is. For everyone else, if you’re a fan of “Sealab 2021,” I would recommend giving the movie a chance. Who knows, maybe you’ll start rapping about phasers and spice in addition to your guns and drugs.
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Follow Chris Hyatt on Twitter at http://twitter.com/hyattch.