WEBVTT - The Other N Word (Nerd, Of Course) 0:00:02.920 --> 0:00:06.399 You're listening to waiting on Reparations A production. I heartt 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.760 um Lingua franca. I'm dope nice and we are waiting 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.479 on reparations. So this week, I mean, I feel like 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:20.480 things still feel pretty bleak. Yeah, getting a new president, 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:28.040 uh president that uh told you know, billionaire hedge fund 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:30.440 assholes of nothing fun of them menally going to change 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.680 enders presidency. Uh So I mean like that doesn't give 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.559 me a ton of hope. Um, Fascism doesn't just go 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:40.760 away when Donald Trump leaves the White House, And still 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:46.280 we have to confront those thress you know, both to 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:49.919 the body politics into our literal bodies in the streets 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:54.360 and in our homes. Um, until we figure out as 0:00:54.400 --> 0:00:59.240 we spoke of in previous episodes of Recent that you know, 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:02.400 a suite of Paul seems to like heal the nation 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:06.240 more so than rhetoric can. And so I personally feel 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.760 like it'll be nice this week to take a lighthearted 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:15.720 turn from the usual gloom and doomersion that I think 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:19.280 comes with the reality of grappling with public policy in 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.440 America the way it has inflected hip hop. Am I 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:26.600 talking about stuff that it brings us to joy? Um? 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:30.880 I know you Mac just are really into comic books 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:33.520 in cinema and things like that. And so today we're 0:01:33.520 --> 0:01:37.640 going to take a swirl, take a to world. I 0:01:37.640 --> 0:01:42.039 think it's world around the world of after futurism, UM, 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:47.960 both in its embodiments through comic books, through video games. 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:59.360 We're going to speak with in the video game con world, UM, 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:02.720 how we got into that and sort of what brings 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:05.440 him joy in those regards, as well as kind of 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:08.720 unpack what after futurism is and speak briefly about how 0:02:08.720 --> 0:02:11.440 it can inflect our politics um in the way that 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:14.480 it's represented in the music genre of hip hop as 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:19.440 well from artists like Lutin Clin, M F. Doom, Missy Elliott, 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:27.760 and Alminet people like that. The term after futurism was 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.200 coined by cultural critic Mark Dairy in a forty four 0:02:31.240 --> 0:02:35.920 page essay from RIETEENEE entitled Black to the Future, in 0:02:35.960 --> 0:02:40.480 which Darry who Admitaly, is a white author, interviews to 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:44.800 have a prominent black voices from musician and former Village 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:48.280 Voice writer Greg Tay to Tricia Rose, director of the 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.760 Center for Study of Race and Ethnicity in America. Brown 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:56.120 is also written extensively on hip hop um sci fi 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:02.160 writer uh Samuel Delaney, and drawn from these interviews, Dairy 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.080 came up with the idea of speculative fiction that treats 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.360 African American themes and addresses African American concerns in the 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:16.200 context of the twentieth century technoculture as afro futurism. More 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:22.640 generally beyond um are you know basic sensive, speculative fiction 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:27.480 is like science fiction like oh dystopia, dreaming of a future, 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:33.720 but it's also signification that appropriates images of technology um 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:40.360 so um. Within hip hop. As an example, you've got beatboxing, 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:45.560 making these computer computerized sounds with your mouth, or replicating 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:48.440 the sounds of a drum the scene physically with your 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.520 tongue and your cheeks and your throat, or you know, 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.840 doing the robot dance to like make your physical corporal, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:01.760 corporeal form mimic that of like of like um of 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:07.920 a mechanized creature. Um. Even in the scratching and sampling 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.640 methods of hip hop, it's like the specific misuse and 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:17.560 conscientious desecration, Delaney UM said of after futures of hip hop, 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:23.640 it's um the specific misuse of consciousness desecration of the 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:29.279 artifacts of technology and entertainment media. So this blending of afrodias, 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:34.640 boric aesthetics and perspectives UM through the use of technology. 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.200 And so that's why I mean some might say that 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:41.160 it's a stretch to include, like graphic novels broadly, but 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.279 particularly with regards to video games, to like place the 0:04:45.360 --> 0:04:51.000 black body, the you know, black character within a technologically 0:04:51.080 --> 0:04:55.200 created world um on the screen makes control with your 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:58.640 own controller, etcetera. Like I think it's an extension to 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:04.080 that some degree UM, as well as in graphic novels 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:09.640 like Black Panther um, where you've got this technological advanced 0:05:09.680 --> 0:05:15.600 society UM. You know, like the way that those less 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:19.479 than literary forms like comic books can also be used 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:23.200 to imagine a different present, you know, a different twenty 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:27.279 one century, as well as a different future um enhanced 0:05:27.279 --> 0:05:32.320 by technology. UM. And then you know, if you want 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:36.960 to just think just general, like after futuristic works, of course, uh, 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:41.839 people like O. G. Octavia Butler novels come to mind, 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.920 as well as you know, literary trends that wrote main 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:47.840 alive and well today with the likes of Nettie or 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:53.000 Kora fors BNTI series and novellas art of John Michelle Baski, 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:58.080 Yacht within music, You've got like the funky extra terrestrial 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:03.120 mythos of like Parliament, Cathelic, Delton thirty thirty, col Keith 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:08.599 thro in jazz. You've got Son raw Um Son Raw especially, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:11.960 you know, he's got space age Egyptian alien thing going on. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.440 You've got the incorporation of digital synthesizers, so you have 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:18.640 the literal technology as like a medium through which these 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:23.279 sounds are being created. Um. And then you know, I 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:28.359 think the most modern popular block busting incarnation of after futurism, 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:32.000 and I think what brought it into like contemporary conversation 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:36.560 was of course Black Panther um. I. You know, I 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:41.200 feel like I would be remiss musically not to mention 0:06:41.880 --> 0:06:45.120 groundbreaking work of people like Missy Elliott, particularly in our 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.719 music videos from the nineties that like felt very you 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:52.360 know today feel very retrofuturistic, but at the time had 0:06:52.400 --> 0:06:56.480 a very like space ag ahead of its time vibe. 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.720 And then today people like Janelle Monet um with her 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:06.400 like weird obsession androids things like that afro futurists or 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:15.040 reimagining public policy through um that afro diasporic blended with 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:20.360 technology technology lens um. In two thousand sixteen, afro futurists 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.760 and art curator Ngland the Fleur through a hat in 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:29.679 the ring for the Detroit Mayor's race, collectingdition signatures needed 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.080 to get her name on the ballot to challenge Mayor mcduggan, 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:36.800 the first white mayor in the majority black city since 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:41.440 nineteen seventy three. And akin to some of the splitting 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.200 images guests we've had on this show, people like Sean 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:49.960 Patar and paper Boy Prints, the Fleur credited her unconventional 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:54.760 background as an art curator and someone that identifies mostly 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:59.320 with afro futurism UM to reimagine you know what that 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.120 meant for her reality, to reimagine their role with politicians. 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:05.640 She said, as a curator and artists have learned how 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:12.040 to bring people together to solve problems creatively UM and 0:08:12.320 --> 0:08:16.560 to be a good organizer and a good researcher. Her 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:22.040 platform included plans to focus on UM ending water shut off, 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:26.680 stopping city foreclosures, are vitalizing and beautifying neighborhoods, and in 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:31.600 eradicating poverty. As a native detroitter, La Fleur also co 0:08:31.680 --> 0:08:36.160 facilitates the Detroit Culture Council, which organized the strategies for 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:38.800 artists to be better representative at the city government. And 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.280 what I really love about Lafleur's campaign is that she 0:08:41.400 --> 0:08:44.640 launched her campaign the dance party called Detroit at the 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:48.400 feature at the headquarters of creative activist collective One Mile, 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:53.040 and it featured after a futurist space capsule created by 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:59.000 Detroit Architecture and Design form firm, a cookie like what 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:00.679 a way to fun. And I mean, That's what I'm 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:04.240 all about. It's just like making politics, making politics fun, 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.400 making them at a party somehow, um and so I 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.359 just really love that. But I hope in UM subsequent 0:09:11.360 --> 0:09:15.480 episodes is an afro futurist collective in Atlanta that has 0:09:15.520 --> 0:09:20.400 been really uh central to things like the push to 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.280 close the Atlanta Jail and re imagine that space as 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.079 like a wellness center and like a community building space. 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:30.160 UM and I really really love to talk to them 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:34.280 about their work. So we'll dive more into the political 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.320 implications of afro futurism, hopefully in an episode to come. 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:40.680 But today we're going to focus on the fun ship 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:43.959 the Nurstion, and we're gonna speak with rapper Mega Ran 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:59.640 along the way. So we're here with rapper, producer Master 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:03.920 Show oh Man and now author of a brand new memoir, 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:08.640 dream Master. I wanna give a welcome to Raheim jarbo 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:14.839 a k A Mega Ran. I always I always joked that, 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:16.880 like I wish this was live so there would be 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.480 like an audience for when I like introduced people, plus 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:26.800 like the you know, the gun shots or whatever. So 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.680 how are you? How are you doing? Man? I'm good man. 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:33.680 You know, made it limp through a crazy year. You 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:38.240 know that goes. But you know, just I've been I 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:41.439 learned a lot throughout this past year. So just been 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:44.520 learning to apply it and uh and making the most 0:10:44.520 --> 0:10:49.520 of the situation. You know, the reinvention and you just 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:53.680 finding new you know, sources of inspiration and creativity have 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:56.680 been a challenge, but but you know it's something that 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.880 I welcome. So it's just making the most of it. 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:01.880 You know, I feel you. So how long have you 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.640 been working on the memoir? Man? This has been like 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.120 five six years of me just you know, I read 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.839 a chapter here, a paragraph there. You know, um up 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:18.720 until literally November, I was still writing because um me, 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.240 you know, as as a writer, like it's never really perfect, 0:11:22.679 --> 0:11:25.439 you know, until it's you know, even when it comes out, 0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:27.079 you're like, oh, man, I could have said this way 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.880 and did this, you know. So I was like in 0:11:30.920 --> 0:11:34.440 an over editing phase that everything time I read it, 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.240 I was like, oh yeah, I could add a little more. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:38.360 Oh yeah, I can see this. So I forgot about that. 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:42.600 So even now that it's done, I'm like, man, I 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:46.960 forgot to talk about scribblege or this this this particular 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.640 moment that was really big to my life. But my 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:53.000 editor gave me a lot of great advice. She was like, 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.000 save it for the next book, you know, like think 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.320 about it that way like anything. Definitely, you definitely think 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:00.240 you're gonna do the next book. This guy to be 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:03.040 the next book, I guess. You know, there's you know 0:12:03.080 --> 0:12:05.360 that there's always the next album, you know, like when 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.160 you make movies, you're thinking about sequels and stuff. So 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.320 you know, so it helped me to think differently about it, 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:14.559 like this doesn't have to be the final peace, you know, 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.800 like did anything about the like you know, anything about 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:23.720 kind of Light of Fire of Urgency to at least 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.320 get this first part of it done. Absolutely, I was 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:30.000 like man, the world is up in smoke. I've had 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.800 a harry up. We may not have a world left. 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.800 And also like, um, you know, in a serious note, 0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:40.760 my father passed this past year and that really got 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.280 my button gear too, because um, the book ends at 0:12:44.320 --> 0:12:47.640 two thousand eighteen. It was like at a very particularly 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.320 great moment, like a high to end the book AT's 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:57.000 me getting againness world record and so oh it's four 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:58.920 let me see it's right here, let me read it. 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.360 Uh since for the most songs to reference reference video 0:13:03.400 --> 0:13:10.559 game franchises. Yeah, so it's one of those like number 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.360 of doing a thing a lot of times, so like 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.320 it's yeah, it's a little weird and funny, like basically 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.679 just puts a target on my back, like as a 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:23.080 hundred and thirty of these now, so if anybody like 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.960 wants to aim for something, yeah, one and you know 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.480 it's like oh the guy who jumped broke the most 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:32.920 times or somebody just has to do it one more time. 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:35.600 You just gotta want to do it a little bit 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:39.120 more than that other person. And uh yeah, so the 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:44.120 guy kiss me up in uh just a weird random 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:48.160 email like hey man, I'm with Guinness and we know 0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.960 you make a lot of music about video games. Just curious, 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:53.320 how many songs do you have? And I was like, uh, 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.760 you got a minute. So I started going through accounting 0:13:57.280 --> 0:13:59.880 and U and I'm like, yeah, I have a hundred thirty, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:02.959 like about Mega Man particularly. He was like, oh, well 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:05.959 this is definitely the most songs I't want particular. He 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.280 just knew it off the bat, like, yeah, this is 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:10.200 this is by a long shot, this is a record. 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.680 He's like, so, you know, if you're ever in London, 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:14.920 It's one of those things that people always do to us, 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:17.679 you know, independent artists. Yo, if you're ever in my town, 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.560 I got you. And it's like London, Like how often 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:26.120 am I in London? So I decided, Yo, what how 0:14:26.120 --> 0:14:28.000 many times am I ever going to get this type 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.520 of opportunity. So I was like, well, actually I'll be 0:14:30.560 --> 0:14:33.280 in London next month. Was I going to be in 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.200 London next month? No? But I con sure make plans too, 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.920 So I called on my homies, I'll put up you 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:42.960 set up a little mini tour in London and just 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.160 made it happen and like because I was like, I 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.400 gotta take advantage of this opportunity, like you know, you 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.560 might not work there, you know next year when I 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.280 want to do this. So uh so yeah, I just 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.520 went out there for that. But we based a tour 0:14:56.560 --> 0:15:00.240 around it and had a really good time. And I'm 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:03.040 glad you you we went on that tangent about the 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:06.600 Guinness Big Or Records because this particular episode we're talking 0:15:06.640 --> 0:15:12.040 about just like black nerd um and hip hop's relationship 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.720 with things that people consider to be part of nerd culture, 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.600 like hip hop's relationship with comic books and anime and 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.360 vice versa and the cross between them and stuff like that. 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:27.720 So what to you, what does nerd them mean? Like 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.080 if somebody, if somebody says nerd you into that nerd ship, like, 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.560 what do you imagine? What do you imagine that they're 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:36.160 talking about? Man, I've heard that. I'm sorry. Let me 0:15:36.240 --> 0:15:38.320 let me let me say another thing to our audience 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.000 is um and this is this is according to wick 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:45.280 to uh your your wiki page. But but Mega Ran 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.680 is one of like the forefront um artists in the 0:15:49.720 --> 0:15:52.320 sub genre of nerd core. Is that what be a 0:15:52.320 --> 0:15:54.120 fair thing to say? That would be a fair thing 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.480 to say? Yes, So okay, so can you can you 0:15:56.840 --> 0:16:00.840 explain to heads what nerd core is and how you 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.840 found yourself in that space in hip hop. Okay, So 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:08.600 nerdcore is, at least to me when I first heard it, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:12.240 it's a subgenre of of whatever you attached to it. 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.560 So it could become nerdcore hip hop, it could become 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:19.480 nerd core rock, nerd coore, whatever um gets attached to that. 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:23.320 It's usually people who have a deep interest in things 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:26.280 that people who may consider nerdy are a little French. 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:37.360 So you got he sorry are the coast? Mariah is here? Mariah? 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:42.280 What up? Good? We were only six minutes in, but 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:46.880 I was. He was just telling us about what he 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.200 was explaining what nerd core hip hop is and his 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.920 journey into it. He just just started, So where go on? 0:16:56.080 --> 0:17:01.560 Go on? Mr Rand Okay, Uh so yeah, nerd core, 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:03.360 as I learned later, at first I just thought it 0:17:03.400 --> 0:17:05.760 was nerd core hip but then I learned that nerd 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:08.200 cork can attach to any other genre and anything that's 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:12.760 about nerdiness. You know. I think the term came from 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:16.040 m c front a lot who just came up, was 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:18.720 coming up with a word to defind what he was 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:21.760 doing because it was so different um, and then people 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:23.680 kind of lashed onto that and thought it was interesting 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:28.159 like news uh you know, outlets and CNN and some 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.439 other people started wind up talking to them about it, 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.040 like this is some novel news thing that smart kids 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.920 are doing, you know, and and it kind of like 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.640 backfired on it a little bit, you know what I mean, 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.200 because it's like when the when the mainstream gets involved 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:44.840 with those things that we really love, they kind of 0:17:44.880 --> 0:17:48.000 they're like, look at this quirky thing, you know, and 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.159 they really turn it into a joke or a parody 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.800 or something like that. So so I feel like that 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:56.080 kind of happened, and and for that reason it's maybe 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:01.000 it's remained very niche, you know. But um but yeah, 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.639 a front of Life told me that it's just music 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:08.439 from a perspective of someone who is very much into 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:11.560 and a fan of things that, you know, people considered 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:15.080 to be nerdy, whether it's video games, comic books, coding, 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.600 you know, like the Life of At least at that time, 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:21.119 it was like the Life of the I T. Guy 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.960 who also had bars, you know, So that that's kind 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:29.359 of what it was at that time. And then it's grown, 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:34.280 you know, as nerd culture has become synonymous with pop culture. Um, 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.160 you know, there's a huge segment of nerd or YouTube 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.440 rappers who are um like right on the pulse of 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.600 what's hot and like instantly making rap songs about you 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.800 know whatever, the new anime, the new show, the new 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.000 Marvel movie, you know, things like that. And so yeah, 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.400 it's become kind of pop culture rap. But I think 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.280 it began as just the the kids who were into 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.679 the things that nobody thought was cool and and trying 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.919 to either make them sound cool or at least speak 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.399 at a high level of knowledge about those things. You know. 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.159 So the initial nerd core stuff, I didn't even know 0:19:10.200 --> 0:19:12.000 what was going on in like it just I knew 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:15.160 if it sounded good at a beat, But if you're 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.720 you know, making a song about coding or whatever, like 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:21.880 in two thousand seven or whatever, for me, I was like, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:27.520 what is this? So around that time I kind of 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:30.760 took a break from hip hop and started making, uh, 0:19:31.000 --> 0:19:33.879 just making beats and playing around and playing video games again. 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:36.399 And I discovered these things on emulators, which is the 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:40.000 way to play really old Nintendo games on your PC, 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.040 you know. So I started playing Mario and Sonic and 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:44.640 all that stuff, and I was like, man, these games 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.960 are so fun. And I think I paused the game 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:51.040 on Mega Man and the music continues to play, and 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.119 I was, as I'm walking away to get a sandwich 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.159 or something, that come back and I'm like, yeah, that 0:19:56.280 --> 0:20:00.480 kind of slaps, like you know what I mean. So 0:20:00.480 --> 0:20:03.840 I'm like, I wonder if I slowed this downpped it up, 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.640 you know, flipped it, I could make something good out 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:09.280 of this. So I did. I literally did that. I stopped, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.600 I put the tracks into like Reason or something else, 0:20:12.640 --> 0:20:15.480 and started messing with them and coming up with beats 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:18.959 that were sampling video games. And uh, I had like 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:21.160 ten Mega Man beats and I was like, you know what, 0:20:21.200 --> 0:20:24.080 I'm gonna just do a Mega Man EP and just 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.760 have some fun with it. And so we did. And 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.400 I was really scared because I thought, you know, Capcom, 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.520 the company that makes this, is gonna find me and 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:37.840 like sue my black ass, you know. I was like, oh, 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.680 it's a rap. So I created. I mean, this is 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:43.240 back in the days of my Space, so that now 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:45.520 I remember I was following you back then, so I 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:49.720 remember I remember all this. Okay, you're O g O 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:56.800 O g uh Internet MC like myself, so fans, thank you. 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.640 So yeah, man, we were. Um. I was like, let 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:01.880 me make a separate MySpace page because I don't want 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.680 this to get like deleted or something with me doing 0:21:04.720 --> 0:21:07.040 all this copyright stuff. So I made another page. And 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:09.160 I was very much inspired by like what MF. Doom 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:14.600 had done prior Rest in Peace, what Dell was able 0:21:14.680 --> 0:21:19.720 to do with Deltron, like all that was so influential 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:22.439 in what I was trying to do was take you know, 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:26.240 hip hop heads who also are into nerty stuff and 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:30.640 just make it dope, you know. And and so that's 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:32.320 what I did. I was like, all right, well, I'm 0:21:32.359 --> 0:21:35.480 gonna become from random then to Mega rand and that 0:21:35.520 --> 0:21:39.440 would be like my second identity or something. And uh 0:21:39.560 --> 0:21:41.640 so then I get an email. It's from a dude 0:21:41.640 --> 0:21:44.880 that capcom was like, hey, we just heard this thing 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:53.720 you did. And I'm like, oh what meat now rap 0:21:53.880 --> 0:21:55.680 Like the dude was like, but you know what, man, 0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:58.479 this is really cool. We've let everybody hear it at 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:01.359 the company and they love it. Would you like to 0:22:02.680 --> 0:22:04.320 I think Comic Con was coming up, and he was like, 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:06.240 would you like to come to San Diego Comic Con? 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:09.200 And I was like what, Like I had only read 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.840 about comic Con my entire life. And it was such 0:22:12.840 --> 0:22:15.440 a big like, you know, it was like that that 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:19.720 that untouchable holy grail of nerd them. Yeah, I had 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.120 read about, you know, and they were like, you could 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:25.040 come and be our guests, you know, because this thing 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:26.600 is kind of blowing up on the Internet and we 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.440 want you to kinda sit here and you know, sign autographs. 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:32.480 And I was like what, you know. So that was 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.359 the beginning of my my relationship with them. And uh 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:40.199 and through that someone, I think someone maybe interviewed me 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:41.879 and was like, oh, you make nerd core and I 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:45.239 was like, what's that? And that nerd coor? And I 0:22:45.240 --> 0:22:48.120 realized that I was kind of operating parallel with this 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:51.399 thing called nerd coors, you know. And I think the 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:54.000 only time I had heard it, at least a little later, 0:22:54.480 --> 0:22:57.760 was Shardish Gambino said it in a song, but he 0:22:57.800 --> 0:22:59.760 didn't say it in a very nice way. He said 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:03.399 like ef nerd car. Honestly, I think it was like 0:23:03.440 --> 0:23:05.359 a part of a line where he was just saying, like, 0:23:05.520 --> 0:23:09.000 different genres and subgenres in places, you're trying to classify 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:12.439 me and get all those you know, I just do me, 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:16.280 you know, that kind of thing, so it wasn't necessarily 0:23:16.280 --> 0:23:19.040 a shot, you know what I mean. Like so, but 0:23:19.200 --> 0:23:20.879 then I started meeting the people who were doing it 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:23.760 because they were also having concerts around San Diego, like 0:23:23.800 --> 0:23:26.119 being invited out by a lot of different companies to 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:29.680 do stuff, and and they were all really cool dudes. 0:23:29.760 --> 0:23:33.000 So just like I felt a real family atmosphere, like, oh, me, 0:23:33.119 --> 0:23:35.199 and these guys are they love hip hop? You know, 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:37.920 first first and foremost. I wanted to make sure these 0:23:37.920 --> 0:23:41.280 guys had a love and appreciation for hip hop culture, 0:23:42.240 --> 0:23:44.760 and they did, you know, and on top of that, 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:47.560 you know, bringing something new to the game, you know. 0:23:47.640 --> 0:23:50.480 So I had nothing but but love for it. And 0:23:50.520 --> 0:23:53.199 then from then on, I just we just started all 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:56.200 operating in the same circles, meeting up at shows, then 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.639 touring together, and it just created this really interesting niche 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:05.040 that I I had no idea about, you know, like, uh, 0:24:05.240 --> 0:24:09.720 but it was a lot easier than trying to impress, uh, 0:24:09.800 --> 0:24:13.240 you know, the most stoic of hip hop heads who 0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:21.600 are at a show like all right, but then like yeah, 0:24:21.680 --> 0:24:24.760 I'm sorry, I have my arms, I have a cowl 0:24:25.000 --> 0:24:29.600 on my faith and you know, but you know, it 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:31.919 was it was such a welcome difference from that, you know, 0:24:32.040 --> 0:24:34.960 and and at the same time, I still it took 0:24:34.960 --> 0:24:36.640 me a lot of courage to do this. But eventually, 0:24:36.880 --> 0:24:40.120 when I was playing those shows with the stoic arms crossed, 0:24:40.520 --> 0:24:44.440 you know, mcs, m ces UH, I'd make a reference 0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:48.919 to a game and they'd be like, yeo, I remember that. Okay, 0:24:49.000 --> 0:24:50.720 let let me talk to you about this, and then 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:52.800 you find out that we had so much in common 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:55.280 those kind of Since the beginning, it's been my goal, 0:24:55.320 --> 0:24:57.400