Week 6 Blog

"Geeksta Rap Rising" by Brain Braiker
Summary: White rappers have been getting a bad.. rap (ha.. ha) since rap's original inception into popular culture, and this article gives the skinny on nerdcore and how the genre is standing on its own legs by keepin' it real. The article claims that, nowadays, the only white rappers taken seriously are the Beastie Boys and Eminem, thanks to people like Vanilla Ice who did not "keep it real," and thus plummeted downward into a hole that scared off any other would be white rappers. Nerdcore is different because the creators are true to themselves.
Analysis / Reflection: Nerdcore rap is a genre that I encourage because of its bashing down of stereotypes with the creation of arguably good rap by the kind of people who are the complete opposite of typical rappers. While I'm not a huge fan of nerdcore rap by any means (MC Chris is the only artist I listen to often), I think it's amazing that such a movement is occurring and I can only express my hope that the genre continues to progress. That said, I agree with the article in that it will be a while before such a genre dips into the mainstream. There are some notable artists in the genre, but none that are truly amazing. When I expose people to MC Chris, a common response is "Why is this guy rapping about candy," because they have come to expect rap music to comprise of traditional rap lyrics, and thus they don't take the genre even remotely seriously. Originally, I too would not consider myself a fan of MC Chris, but after some time the catchiness of the rhymes and the relatablility of the lyrics won me over and I am in love.