Nerdcore in the NYT

The New York Times has a spiffy article on Nerdcore Hip-Hop:

It could have been any other hip-hop show, but little details seemed off, like the songs that sampled the epically cheesy rock band REO Speedwagon, or that name-checked detritus from 1980s-era pop culture, like Boba Fett, “The Goonies” and Dungeons & Dragons. Or the fan in the back wearing a full-body foam armor suit modeled after the cybernetic commando from the video game Halo.

And when MC Chris invited the audience to join him in a campy singalong of the saccharine Sean Kingston hit “Beautiful Girls,” the boisterous crowd suddenly grew uncertain, devolving into an awkward mumble that sounded like a few hundred high school wallflowers simultaneously being turned down for a slow dance.

“We nerds,” MC Chris clucked in mock-disapproval. “We got no rhythm. We can’t do nothing right.” But maybe they can. There was a time that brainy, pimple-cheeked misfits could only work out their frustrations alone, in action-figure-filled bedrooms, blasting through level after level in “shooter” video games likes Wolfenstein 3D.

Then nerdcore came along.

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