Via the MC Hawking blog comes word of the irresistible, meteoric rise of nerdcore, as declared by the New York Times last Sunday:
Many nerdcore anthems — “You Got Asperger’s” by MC Frontalot, “Fett’s Vette” by MC Chris, “View Source,” by Ytcracker (“Eagerly awaiting my macro advances/running with my beta cuz I’m taking chances”) — are as much efforts at comedy as they are attempts at sincere hip-hop.
From its early days, hip-hop has been an art form born from oppression and marginalization, where performers sought to turn limitations into strengths, and the harshest circumstances yielded the best material. While no one is going to compare life in the high-school computer lab to the streets of the South Bronx — or certainly, wedgies to racism — suburban dweebs have their beefs with society, too.
And hip-hop has always been malleable enough to be modified by performers from any niche. If the category can make room for “hick hop” of Kid Rock, the jazzbo musings of Us3, and the neo-psychedelia of De La Soul, it can presumably squeeze in a few nerds, too — as long as they keep to their side of the cafeteria.
OK, so maybe I overstate things. But still.