Geekumentary: Nerdcore Rising

Nerdcore Rising follows MC Frontalot, the godfather of Nerdcore Hip Hop, on his first national tour. Along the way, Frontalot fanatics and music industry notables reveal the roots of the genre, the dorky complexity of its artists, and one MC's quest for nerd stardom.

It's 12:45 AM and I just finished watching the newly released Nerdcore Rising. As many as three of you may recall I stumbled onto Frontalot recently by way of the Get Lamp documentary (in development). Imagine my elation to hear that this was a 2 for 1 discovery! Frontalot was just coming out with his OWN documentary. There was a Boston screening of the film last week which I tragically missed, but held my own tonight on the couch, draped in a blanket and two cats.

Nerdcore Rising follows the MC Frontalot crew on their first big tour, which culminates in an appearance at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. I can't WAIT till PAX comes to Boston in 2010!

"I do get emotional when I read Harry Potter books" - MC Chris, Nerdcore rapper

I enjoyed this documentary, largely because I am all about this artist's music at the moment, but it was entertaining regardless. One thing that struck me was that these guys are just so normal. It's really quite endearing when you see their reactions to being snubbed by a college radio station, or how excited they are when they see the line of people at PAX that are waiting to see THEM. My very favorite part was when one of the band members issued the bubbly proclaimation, "So Kimmy says she wants to learn Magic: the Gathering, anyone else?" which elicits Frontalot's perfectly intoned, "You can't be #$%$@ serious." What followed brought me back to my early days learning M:tG. If you've played Hassle: the Dorkening (even once...especially once), you'll laugh.

"Frontalot raps about all the things I care about, like Magic: the Gathering...and internet porn addiction" - fan

Nerdcore Rising ranks in my top 10 geekumentaries list because the very nature of Frontalot's fanbase means that interviewing them hits on many geeky genres. There's frequent wookie yodeling by the band, and the fans include IT professionals, WoW players, LARPers...nerds. In a good way. The doc's also got interviews with Weird Al on the subject of nerdcore, which automatically gives it a +2 nerd check.

"...comic books, horror films, video games...all stuff that 15 year old kids love, and I'm not 15."

Right on, Brian Posehn, me too! I've been nerdcore all this time, and only now begun to appreciate it. Nerdcore is indeed rising. Hello, world!

Read about other geekumentaries in my Top 10 Geekumentaries article.