Nerdcore Rising is a documentary

Documentary film

Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...

/concert film

Concert film

A concert movie, or concert film, is a type of documentary film, the subject of which is an extended live performance or concert by a musician ....

 starring MC Frontalot

MC Frontalot

Damian Hess , better known by stage name MC Frontalot, is a Brooklyn-based hip hop musician and self-proclaimed "world's 579th greatest rapper". He is best known in nerdcore hip hop and video game culture, for naming the nerdcore subgenre, and performing at Penny Arcades annual Penny Arcade Expo...

 and other nerdcore hip hop

Nerdcore hip hop

Nerdcore hip hop, is a sub-genre of hip hop music 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 has the earliest known recorded use of the term in the 2000 song...

 artists such as mc chris

Mc chris

mc chris is an American rapper, voice actor, writer and improvisational comedian....

, Wheelie Cyberman of Optimus Rhyme

Optimus Rhyme

Optimus Rhyme was a hip hop group from Seattle, Washington. Optimus Rhyme is most widely considered a nerdcore hip hop group because of the nerdy nature of their lyrics. The name of the band as well as the stage names of the members and a majority of their lyrics refer to the Transformers...

 and MC Lars

MC Lars

Andrew Robert MacFarlane Nielsen is an American rapper, known by his stage name MC Lars. He is the self-proclaimed originator of "post-punk laptop rap". He was one of the first underground rappers to sample and reference post-punk and emo bands...

, with contributors from artists such as "Weird Al" Yankovic

"Weird Al" Yankovic

Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

, Prince Paul, and Brian Posehn

Brian Posehn

Brian Edmund Posehn is an American actor, voice actor, musician and comedian, known for his roles as mail clerk Kevin Liotta on NBC's Just Shoot Me!, a cast member and writer on HBO's Mr. Show, and most recently as Brian Spukowski on Comedy Central's The Sarah Silverman Program.-Early life:Posehn...

. The film, directed and produced by Negin Farsad

Negin Farsad

Negin Farsad is an Iranian-American comedian, writer and actor based in New York City. She has also produced and directed feature films and television programming, most notably the documentary Nerdcore Rising, which follows around Damian Hess a.k.a. MC Frontalot, on his 2006 Nerdcore Rising...

, was premiered at the 2008 South by Southwest

South by Southwest

South by Southwest is an Austin, Texas based company dedicated to planning conferences, trade shows, festivals and other events. Their current roster of annual events include: SXSW Music, SXSW Film, SXSW Interactive, SXSWedu, and SXSWeco and take place every spring in Austin, Texas, United States...

 festival in Austin, Texas. It combines interviews about nerdcore and its origins with footage of MC Frontalot's 2006 Nerdcore Rising national tour.

Film content

The film investigates the newest wave of hip hop, nerdcore, as it follows the godfather of the genre, MC Frontalot, on his first national tour. Beginning in South Carolina and culminating at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, masses of fans across the country come out to hear Frontalot's music as he strives to achieve mainstream success.

Behind the scenes, relationships among Frontalot and his band are challenged by their experiences on the road. Frontalot and keyboard player Gaby Alter, a.k.a. G Minor 7, are childhood friends, and both met bass guitarist Brandon Patton, a.k.a. Blak Lotus, in college. Strugis, the drummer, tries to fit in as the new member and Brandon, the so-called flirt of the band, is a taskmaster in Sturgis.

Throughout the film, music industry notables provide insight into Nerdcore. Old school trailblazers like Prince Paul and contemporary hip hop aficionados like J-Live

J-Live

J-Live is an MC, DJ, and producer from New York.-Early career and The Best Part:...

 examine the legitimacy of nerdcore as a subgenre of hip hop. Celebrities like "Weird Al" Yankovic discuss the origins of nerdcore while Penny Arcade

Penny Arcade (webcomic)

Penny Arcade is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website loonygames.com. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have established their own site, which is typically updated with a new comic...

creators Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins expound on the digital revolution that is enabling the nerdcore movement.

MC Frontalot strives to live in a world where nerdcore is a real genre of hip-hop and where other MCs take him seriously.

DVD release

The DVD of Nerdcore Rising was sold in limited release in August 2008. It was sold for the first time at the 2008 Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. It was released widely on 15 September 2009.

External links

• Teaser Trailer on YouTube