Friday, February 02, 2007

More Nerd News in Brief

My own little Carolina home has recently been besieged by some inclimate weather. And, while all members of the family Z. are safe and warm, said wintery mix has made it a little difficult to stay on top of the nerd news. Thusly, I figured a second helping of NNIB was in order.
  • Assimilation Process (nearly) Complete: After his shit-hot performance at last month’s nerdcore invasion of Las Vegas, ZeaLouS1 has been wicked prolific. This week alone ZeaL has dropped a new track with DJ Snyder and an equally strong showing with Super Dragon X and producer Spontane. Up-and-comers take note; this is how you do it.
  • So… How’s Your Girl?: In addition to restocking the rest of his designs, mc chris also has some new, ultra-femme pink t-shirts in stock just in time for Valentine’s Day. Fuck diamonds; nerd merch is forever!
  • A fanboy fantasy come true: Gaming blog Joystiq reports that Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime is looking for a new assistant. Tact and diplomacy are mandatory, and moxy is most definitely preferred. You should totally apply! You're cool like that.
  • What da funk?: funky49 just hipped me to a new track he is working on, and it is quite different from the hip hop output to which I’ve become accustomed. I can say no more, save that you’ll be surprised (and delighted) by this new offering sometime in late March.
  • Robot Friends forever: Please don’t forget that Doc Pop and I are dropping the podcasts for our Robot Friends project next Wednesday. Expand your musical horizons as the good Doctor and I celebrate our future captors.
  • Mind your mixtapes: While I’m sure Hipster, please! ain’t exactly your first choice for non-nerdy hip hop news, I feel the following is pertinent across the board. The degree to which the RIAA has fucked DJ Drama and Don Cannon is staggering to say the least. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, read this and this. Bottom line, this ain’t about mixtapes, hip hop, or fair use; this is about freedom.
  • Tell ‘em Z. sent you: Before I go, let me share with you a little message from Doctor Popular. Apparently, MySpace currently does not include Nerdcore as a genre within their system, and Doc wants to fix this. As MySpace is a huge place for nerdy artists to share their music with fans (and horrified onlookers), such an addition would be a positive step for the community. If you’d like to help, copy, paste, and forward the following to Customer Service, MySpace's Admin (or through email at privacy@myspace.com) and Tom. Feel free to blog it, post it at your site, and/or forward it to any other sympathetic parties. Represent your nerd brothers and sisters!

Dear Myspace,

In 2000, MC Frontalot coined the term Nerdcore Hip Hop, creating the foundation for geeks and nerds everywhere to pick up a microphone and start rapping. In the last 7 years, Nerdcore has flourished into it's own distinct style of music.

2006 has been the largest year for Nerdcore yet, and with mainstream press from Newsweek, Wired Magazine, Spin, XXL, NPR, and MSNBC, as well as accolades from websites such as Slashdot and Boing Boing, 2007 looks to be an even bigger year for Nerdcore.

This year will see more Nerdcore releases than ever before and Nerdcore's largest audience yet. Two new documentaries, Nerdcore For Life and Nerdcore Rising will be released later this year, and have already generated considerable buzz in both the music and film circuits.

Despite the popularity of Nerdcore music, MySpace still does not offer it as a genre. Haven't nerds suffered enough already?

There are Nerdcore metal bands, Nerdcore rock bands, and, obviously, Nerdcore hip hop artists on MySpace that can not properly be searched under the term "Nerdcore". Given that MySpace has surprisingly specific genres such as "Christian rap", "Shoegazer" and "Screamo", it is a shame that Nerdcore has yet to be added.

Consider the following:

The top 8 videos on YouTube tagged with "Nerdcore" have generated
1,581,216 combined views.
There are currently 2,640 profiles on MySpace with "Nerdcore" in their profile.
There are several websites, blogs, and even online channels dedicated solely to Nerdcore.
Beefy is a virgin.
Nerdcore Rising's profile has 1,285,674 MySpace friends.
The creation of a Nerdcore MySpace genre could be what will finally gets Beefy laid.

Relevant links include:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16840016/site/newsweek/
http://www.myspace.com/nerdcorerisingthemovie
http://www.myspace.com/nerdcoreforlife
http://www.myspace.com/mediocretour
http://www.myspace.com/mcchris


In an attempt to encourage MySpace to update its genres, I am taking part in a letter writing campaign. It is our goal for Nerdcore to finally get the recognition it truly deserves.

And besides, when else will anybody ever ask you to label them as a nerd?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The posessive form of "it", namely "its", does not have an apostrophe, Z.

Do we want myspace, and Tom, to think we're a bunch of poor spellers in the Nerdcore community? DO WE?!

Anonymous said...

cause are grammer is gooder!! (an are speling 2)

Z. said...

I’d love to pass the buck on this one, as Doc was the cat who wrote it, but I proofread it myself! I hereby relinquish my Grammar Nazi sash and name badge. :(

Anonymous said...

My mental mnemonic is that the apostrope is the remains of the dot on the "i" of the contracted "is."

And to anyone writing in to myspace, it's better to paraphrase in you own words. Exact duplicates are likely discounted as, essentially, spam.

But do write in.

Z. said...

True dat, Church!