About Nerdcore

Nerdcore is the unabashed embrace of nerddom set to sizzling beats that may or may not inspire awkward and/or slick dancing, spirited bobbing of heads, and rigorous waving of hands in high oxide count air. MC Frontalot stands at the helm of these nerdfans as the rapper de la resistance. He coined the term which then led other nerdcore artists to emerge from the circuitry, lyricizing their little hearts out! First there were a baker’s dozen, then a few score, and now hundreds who stand proud, virtually raising MP3’s above their heads and screaming “I am a nerdcore artist, hear me rap!”

Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds or geeks, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds, though it can appeal to others as well. Self-described nerdcore musician MC Frontalot coined the term in 2000 in the song "Nerdcore Hiphop". Frontalot, like most nerdcore artists, self-publishes his work and has released much of it for free online. As a niche genre, nerdcore generally holds to the DIY ethic, and has a strong amateur tradition of self-publishing and self-production.

Though nerdcore rappers rhyme about anything from dextromethorphan (mc chris, "the tussin"), politics (Frontalot, "Special Delivery"; MC Lars "UK Visa Versa"), and even science fiction, there are some perennial favorites in nerdcore subject matter, including Star Wars (Frontalot, "Yellow Lasers"; 2 Skinnee J’s, "Mind Trick"; mc chris, "Fett’s Vette"; MC Lars, "Space Game"), science (MC Hawking, "Entropy"; 2 Skinnee J’s, "Pluto"), and computers (Optimus Rhyme, "Reboot"; Monzy, "Drama in the PhD"; MC Plus+, "Computer Science for Life"). Making music about these topics does not make one automatically nerdcore – they are also popular themes in geek rock, filk, and other nerd-centric genres; the combination of hip hop and the subject matter makes them nerdcore. Somewhat less straightforwardly, there are hip hop artists who have recorded compositions which focus on similar topics, but who are not generally considered nerdcore. (An example would be Blackalicious, who are generally agreed to not be nerdcore artists despite science-oriented songs like "Chemical Calisthenics".) Conversely, one does not need to concentrate on those topics to be nerdcore: most of the songs by both of the undisputed leaders of the genre, Frontalot and mc chris, do not focus narrowly on stereotypically nerdy topics. The difference is largely one of self-identification; Blackalicious do not identify as "nerds", while Frontalot and chris both do.

The word "nerdcore" is also occasionally used as an adjective to describe a "hardcore nerd" (that is, someone who publicly takes pride in being nerdy) or anything which is nerdy to an extreme level.