Director's Cut

>> I would explain Nerdcore to someone as geek rap, Nerd rap, as rappers who rap about video games, computers, technology, stuff like that. >> Nerdcore should be taken seriously, because it's honest and it's truthful. I'm not trying to be or make fun of mainstream hip hop, I'm not a parody. >> I dig rap. And I dig other nerdy

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, but I've never seen the two put together. It's nerds making music. >> Yo. Welcome to Director's Cut. I'm Charles Monroe-Kane. That was a clip from a documentary, "Nerdcore for Life," which chronicles the work of hip hop nerds. We're joined today by the documentary's director and producer, Dan Lamoureux. Thank you very much for joining us today. >> No problem. >> Serious question. This is a full-length documentary feature about hip hop nerds. Why did you make this movie? >> Somebody had to. If I didn't, 20 other people would've done the same thing, because you know, when I discovered Nerdcore a few years ago, you could tell it was about to blow up. It was so insanely fascinating. The people were so genuinely serious about their love of the geek life and hip hop. I mean, it was just like they were oozing with passion. So, like, I could not not do it. >> You couldn't not do it. Did you stumble upon it? Are you a closeted hip hop rapper? Or how did you get about making this? >> The funny thing is, I'm a little bit of a nerd, and a little bit of a hip hop fan. I just happened to go there, to one of these shows. I was like angry that I was there, because some friends dragged me, and I was like, I don't want to see geek rappers. This is stupid. It's going to be cheesy. And I was like, this is the most exciting thing I've ever witnessed. People were going bonkers. It was like a huge club in Chicago, like a cool club, filled with nerds bouncing up and down to hip hop, for hours. I mean, like I'd never seen anything like it before in my life. >> And you're like, let's get the camera, man. Let's do this. >> Yeah. >> Okay, let's back up. What is Nerdcore? >> Nerdcore is hip hop made by self-professed geeks and nerds about things that they like and go through. So it's almost just kind of hip hop through a geek prism. Sometimes it can be very serious. Geeks are naturally very sarcastic, so a lot of it is kind of funny and sarcastic. You know, a lot of it is kind of, you know, geeks go through a lot of depressing stuff in life. Life can be hard if you're a geek. So it's, you know, they choose to express their pain and like talk about the trials they go through, through the music they grew up on, which is hip hop. >> Right, because someone who's, I'm 43, right, so hip hop was kind of born when I was in high school, right around that time. But I can imagine, it's so immersed in culture now that it's everywhere. So why wouldn't you think the first place to go is hip hop. You wouldn't think of a guitar, I think. >> If you're 25, hip hop is, you know, totally red, white and blue, all-American music. It was old before you were even born. >> Of course, the credo, as you and I would know, of hip hop is basically keeping it real. Being who you are. We're going to show a clip that kind of talks about hip hop keeping it real, from the film. We're going to come back and talk about some of the details inside of Nerdcore. Let's see another clip from the film. >> So what am I gonna do? How about Star Wars hip hop? Okay, that sounds great, and went ahead and did it. And other people do other stuff like that, you know. There's people that have like gardening hip hop like that. >> I rap about whatever I'm into, so that's my only rule. So, I can write a song about the Dark Tower. I could write a song about Star Wars. I could write a song about not getting the girl. I could write a song about pizza. You know, there's no real limit. I think that the key to hip hop is just talking about yourself, 'cause that's really all you're bringing to the table. >> I can only speak about what I know, you know? They say that writers can only talk about what they know about, and they've lived through, and stuff like that. Well, I lived through the death of the Phoenix, or the death of Quinn Stacy, so that's all I could write about, you know? I lived through saving Chris' peach from Mario.

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Or the very first time I beat, you know, Zelda. That's what I lived through, you know? So that's all I could write about, is those kind of things. But really, ultimately it's about making the music that I wanna hear, and like, that makes me happy.

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>> Wow. I don't even-- Part of me sees that and I love it. Almost like, I love it. It's fantastic. And part of me says, this seems like it's parody. Like, is it? >> Nerdcore artists insisted it is not parody. A lot of mainstream hip hop fans are convinced that it is parody. >> I can see why. That must cause a problem. For example, are there any mainstream hip hop artists who are even aware of this world? What do they think of it? Does it make them mad? >> It's amazing. You know, like Nerdcore got a lot of press at one point. It was, you know, in a lot of places. A lot of people were talking about it. It was amazing that mainstream hip hop artists never mentioned it. It was almost like people pretended it didn't exist. People didn't talk about it in interviews. You know, no one was saying, hey, what do you think about this Nerdcore thing. It was hard to ignore for a while. It seems like people were offended that it existed and wanted to pretend it was not happening. And just, if you ignore it, it's going to go away. Because, modern hip hop is geeky in it's own way. >> Totally, I was just going to say that. Not the hip hop that I would know, but I think that sure, you can go back to the Beastie Boys, they're nerds. No question about it. But Pharrell would be a good example, with a bow tie, and he's talking about nerd stuff. Other artists talk about skateboarding and Star Wars. Why aren't they Nerdcore? >> They-- They, I think, would be offended by the label. >> I'm sure they would. The guy from "Community," the show "Community," I think raps under the name Childish Gambino. He's like a nerdy rapper. He's like one of the only people I've heard reference Nerdcore. He basically said, F-Nerdcore. He was not into it. >> He was just in the Jay-Z Kanye West video recently. He needs to distance himself, or he's not going to get in that Jay-Z Kanye West video. >> He's a giant nerd. He plays a nerd on TV. He's like a nerd icon. You know, even he wants to stay away from it. >> But it's odd to me. I was watching the film, and I was very torn. I'm a huge hip hop fan. I listen to very underground alternative of hip hop, whatever that means. So, I'm not much of a Rhianna kind of guy, right? But I think about Rhianna and that group, that world out there, that pop hip hop world, right? I watch some of these people in your film, and I go back to the credo of hip hop, of keeping it real. And I'm like, hold on a second, I'm going to be an objective anthropologist here for a second. Rhianna's not keeping it real. She's not keeping it real at all. Kanye West is not keeping it real. Beefy, he's keeping it real. You know what I mean? >> Beefy keeps it real. >> But I think that's what hip hop is supposed to be about. Tell me about Beefy. >> Well, Beefy is one of my favorite performers. You know, his music, if I did not make this film, I would listen to his music. And I don't listen to a ton of hip hop. So he would make the cut. He, you know, he's been doing it for a couple years now, and he will perform if there's, you know, 100 people, if there's ten people. And all Nerdcore rappers will happily get up on stage and do a concert, even if the only people in the crowd are the rappers who are going to go on after them. They basically take turns performing for each other. I've seen it happen plenty of times, because the word "Nerdcore" does not usually draw in a crowd unless, you know, you can find dedicated hardcore fans, and there are some. They go up and do it because it's fun for them, and you know, they enjoy it and it gives them a little buzz. They perform for their friends. They enjoy watching their friends perform. So it's, you know, this might be a little insulting to some Nerdcore rappers, but it's almost like, you know, some geeky people like to, you know, kind of role play, and stuff like that. It almost has a vibe of role playing rapper. >> Wow, yeah, LARP and rap. >> Exactly. >> They probably don't want to call it that. We're going to see a clip from Beefy, because I responded to Beefy the same as you. It's like, wait a minute, this guy is coming across, it's like Biggie Smalls for the Nerdcore world. Let's check out a clip from Beefy.

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>> I didn't know what I wanted to rap about, I was just pretending to be like everything I saw on TV. It wasn't real, and I wanted it to be real. So, I started rapping about, you know, nerdy stuff, and about being white skinned, and about in love with my best friend's sister.

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>> People cannot believe that I rap sometimes, 'cause in real life I'm this, I'm kind of sheepish when I'm around new people. I don't talk too much until I get to know somebody, and then I won't shut up. But yeah, and I'm like, they're like, so, Beefy, what do you, what do you do for fun? The first thing I say is like, I make Nerdcore hip hop music, which is, it's like hip hop for Nerds. And they're like, okay.

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>> I rap about technology, and comic books, and unrequited love, and, you know, all kinds of just your geeky stuff you wouldn't really hear covered in mainstream hip hop. Because, you know, it relates to me, and it relates to the people who listen to my music, as opposed to the stuff I listen to on the radio, that I don't know anything about being in love with a stripper, or rolling dirty, or riding dirty, whatever one it is. >> He doesn't know what it's like to be love with a stripper. And I think that's what we were talking about, right? He's rapping what he feels. If he was picked on and wants to rap about that, or rap about his weight. I was looking through his lyrics, it's like, he's rapping for real. He is not lying. He is rapping about what he means. I'm very curious in the way he has an anthem in the one song, "Nerdcore for life." I think about that word nerd, and I thought, there's another N-word I know. It's an interesting story with my children. My son said, "Hey dad, can I use the N-word?" And I go, "Oh, you can't use the N-word." He said okay, and I told him that was the worst word he could probably say. It's worse than the F-word. We're at the store and he says, "Look at that candy over there!" There was a Nerds, you know. In his mind, the N-word was "nerd." Then maybe it was, oh, he's young enough to not know what the N-word is yet. That's good. But I think about hip hop, it's always been uncomfortable for anyone to shout out and sing along to a song, and I'm like, I won't say the N-word while it's going through, you know, but the N-word is used in hip hop as a term of empowerment, the way someone, a gay person might use the word "queer," to turn the word for power against the society that's used it against them for power. Do they see nerd as the same way? Are they saying, you called me nerd in the schoolyard my whole life, screw you, now I'm going to glorify it and rap about it? Do they see it the same way as the way a black person would use the N-word in hip hop? >> I think that it didn't start out that way. It was just like, you know, a catchy label that somebody thought was cute and put it on there, and then kind of started to do it, as you know, mentioned it as a joke. It started with just a few artists that other people emulated. Then I think, you know, the people who make Nerdcore and who are fans of it are very smart people and image conscious. They quickly grabbed onto that narrative, like "we're taking nerd back," you know. We're not ashamed to be geeks anymore. So it was, you know, I think it was half kind of a stunt that everybody was in on, but also genuine in a way. Because if you say it enough, I've said nerd 30 times so far, and I don't think anyone is going to be upset that I did, or that I called anybody in the film a nerd. >> They would've been, I think, a decade ago. "Hey, you're a nerd." That would be really offensive to somebody. Now, if you're like, "You're a nerd," they're like "Yo!" >> The nerds have already had their revenge 20 years ago. >> Yeah, I know. If you missed the film, you wouldn't know that. >> So you know, nerds, I think it is well accepted that geeks are running the world and will for a long time. >> Mark Zuckerberg would be like, whatever, dude. >> So you've got to bow down to your nerd overlords. >> Speaking of nerd overlords, I want to play a clip from someone, and then I really want to talk about them for a while when we come back, because it's an example of the part of Nerdcore that just makes me completely uncomfortable. It makes me want to run the opposite direction and never, ever listen to it again. But at the same time, I totally get what they're doing. We're going to play one more quick clip. I think it speaks for itself, and then we'll come back and talk about this other clip from "Nerdcore for Life." >> The first new rhyme I wrote was for this band called Lords of the Rhymes, which I was a guest on for a minute. Maybe you can even use that as your segue.

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>> For anyone who's read the "Lord of the Rings," you would, you'll know that J.R.R. Tolkien fills the stories with rhyming, that that's a really important part of how he tells the story. So it's sort of natural when you have that rhyming to just set it to a beat and, uh, make hip hop out of it.

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>> My name is Quickbeam, also known as Q Beam, MC with Lords of the Rhymes, straight out of Brooklynshire, and this is the Grey Pilgrim, the Wizard DJ on the Wheels of Steel. >> Also from Brooklynshire.

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>> Hip hop, it's a culture, we're part of it. >> Yeah, we're all part of it, the fabric, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lords of the Rhymes, we're all together in it. >> I don't think Jay-Z is going to agree with that at all! Okay, okay. Tell me about that band, Lords of the Rhyme. >> Lords of the Rhyme. So they, since the film, they have sort of disbanded. Sadly, yes. But they were guys who loved "Lord of the Rings." It probably started as a little joke among them, and then they got into it. I kind of liked their songs. I mean, you know, it's interesting stuff. There are so many people who love "The Lord of the Rings." I mean, they're obsessed with the books and the music. Those guys did a whole DVD, like for their fans. If you love something, you want to celebrate it. You want to shout it from the rooftop. You don't want to have to hide in a little convention hall with people like you. You want to run down Broadway dressed as a hobbit, rapping, and shooting your music video. Everybody else gets to do it, why can't you do it? >> I know! I love it, but then you have a guy dressed in green leotards with a green stocking on his head, rapping, and it makes me real uncomfortable as a human being. >> You know, there is no pre-approved list, you know, on some wall in Brooklyn, or whatever, like, these are the things you shall rap about for the next 100 years. >> I love it. I love it, the freedom that some of these people inside is amazing. But then I think of some of these other artists. I mean, MC Hawking, right? Tell me about MC Hawking. He goes more into the extreme of Nerdcore, but he's also very popular. Tell me about, how does that work? >> MC Hawking, Lord of the Rhymes, they kind of fall into the category, on the spectrum of, you know, of acceptability, MC Hawking and Lord of the Rhymes are the guys who make people feel uncomfortable because it seems like a joke. And honestly, it is a little bit. But there's a lot of ways you can make a joke. You can make fun of, you know, or make viral videos about MC Hawking a hundred different ways. It's just that the guy who wanted to do that loved hip hop. Not only that, he loved Stephen Hawking. >> Tell people who, again, for people who don't know who MC Hawking is. >> He basically-- >> It's hard to say. >> He found the same voice emulator that the real Stephen Hawking uses, and decided, I'm going to make him say hip hop lyrics. Then he made a whole album, cut a bunch of beats together. It's well produced and it's entertaining. It's not something you would listen to every day, but if you listen to it once, you know, if you say, love science or love Stephen Hawking, you would enjoy it. You would get a huge smile from it. >> What did Mr. Hawking think of this? >> He did write them. He sent MC Hawking an email, and said something like, I'm very flattered. Thank you very much. My assistants played me a bunch of your songs, and I thought they were very enjoyable. >> It's so interesting. It's so bold. >> People who, if Stephen Hawking is your hero, you think he, you know, is an awesome guy, and you want to boast on his behalf, almost. That's what he did. >> So fascinating. As I watch all this, and see all these artists, I see high production values, highly produced. These albums are very highly produced. You know, techno computer technology is quite high, and these are probably guys who know computers well. It's like, is this just something that people do on the side? Are they a professor, or are there people doing this for a living? Do they go on tour? >> There are about probably three guys in the film that tour pretty regularly, do a lot of shows. Maybe two or three guys, maybe three or four guys in Nerdcore who do it as their job. >> Wow. >> Like, MC Lars is one guy in the film. He is on tour all the time. The top Nerdcore guys have a fan base like you wouldn't believe, so they can go to the same town twice a year and, you know, they'll get a few hundred people to show up. They're starting to reach into Europe now, so there's a few Nerdcore European tours are happening. So there are a few people, and a lot of people have tried to become one of those top tier guys. No one from the second tier has really cracked into that level yet. There's a few guys who tour, and then a few guys who play some shows. >> They need a "Nerdapalooza." I could help them produce that. Nerdapalooza. >> They're up to Nerdapalooza number four. >> Oh, god! I never have any fun. >> Every summer in Florida, and they get about 500 people. Florida is a nerd mecca. >> There you go, for some reason. We're going to see another clip, probably my favorite clip from the entire film. We'll come back and talk about some more. Another clip from "Nerdcore for Life." >> My career is so hard that we roll in NP. NP is a particularly challenging class of problems, and

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dereference my pointer for free, I think you probably know what kind of joke I'm going at with that, dereference my pointer is a computer science thing where you have like, basically a pointer is an address to a particular region of memory and when you dereference it you can access what's stored at the memory rather than the memory location. >> So it's kind of ridiculous. I put it in there as a wishful thinking I guess. Instrumentality, which is another Ava reference has begun, and it's about like, you know, the instrumentality in the context of MM Galleon is like they're trying to merge all the souls of everyone on earth into one consciousness. So that's where you get becoming one on the two and the one, so it's like we have instrumentality on the turntables, even though there's no turntables in the song. >> When I'm linear probing they're like damn, that's gigantic. And this is referring, the damn that's gigantic is referring to my pointer that the

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are dereferencing. Linear probing is a technique for resolving collisions in hash tables, but I'm sure you can imagine the other interpretation of linear probing. I showed it to your mom and she used Hoare semantics. C-A-R Hoare, H-o-a-r-e is how you spell his name, he was a famous computer scientist and he had a certain way of implementing monitors. There's, so there's two types of semantics for implementing monitors, Hoare semantics and Mesa semantics. Um, so I guess MC Plus+'s mom obviously uses Hoare semantics. >> Bishojo, this is a Japanese word for pretty girls. And I use this again and again, because it's my way of having that kind of rap thing of being all about the ladies but in an incredibly otaku centric fashion. >> Oh, my god, I don't even know what to say. I love that clip. It reminds me of hip hop. Like I said, I'm 43 years old. I grew up with hip hop. I know a lot about East LA, GATS, hustling. I mean, I know how to hustle. Why would I know how to hustle? I grew up in Ohio, you know, but because I listen to so much hip hop, I know what it's like have a GAT in my lap, cruising East LA, right? It made me realize that it's very much esoteric. Hip hop is very much about esoteric culture, as is this. I can't see it rising out of more than what it is. Can you? >> Not really. It does feel like Nerdcore has plateaued. That was Monzy, and he was reciting some of his lyrics. Monzy, his songs would get emailed to people in different, like physics departments around the country. It can only circle around so many times among all those departments, you know, before it gets out to the mainstream and people say no, and it stops. >> Because I don't know that is. This is very male dominated, as we have seen. But I know that throughout the film, there are also female rappers. Tell me, MC Router was one that I though was quite aggressive. I liked her. >> MC Router, yeah, she's still a good friend of mine. So she was one of the, you know, female Nerdcore pioneers. She kind of retired. She has gone through some life changes. She was a very aggressive person, you know, and had a lot of anger that she expressed through hip hop. She's had a religious conversion. She's now like a seriously devout Muslim. She wants to get her tattoos removed. So, she's like a whole new person. Nerdcore was a step on her journey to become an adult. I think that a lot of people do Nerdcore in like their early 20s, and they get over a lot of the issues of their teens. >> Sure. >> And then they're able to move on. >> Thank you very much. That was a very fascinating documentary about hip hop that I had never heard of, and no one I've ever met had heard of. I think it was very authentic. I appreciate it. Thank you very much for being here today. Thank you very much for watching Director's Cut. For more information on "Nerdcore for Life," please go to our website at wpt.org and click on Director's Cut. I'm your host, Charles Monroe-Kane. Check the gate.

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>> Oh, damn it! That last line was screwed up. You suck! You suck! All right, I'm just going to catch it around. Hold on. That was it. No, hold on. Give me a chance.