Nerdcore Watch: July
This month’s hottest Nerdcore Hiphop releases:
Already Out:
- Childish Gambino – Royalty
Just in time to celebrate the anniversary of America’s independence, Community’s Donald Glover dropped a brand new mixtape under his rap alter-ego, Childish Gambino. Between a solid chart showing for his commercial debut, Camp, and long overdue recognition from HipHop aficionados thanks to advance leaks from this very mixtape, one might wonder if the slightly geeky tones that have endeared Gambino to many Nerdcore fans (to Glover’s chagrin at points) are buried and over. However, it’s clear between track titles like “1up”, references to Adventure Time, and guest appearances from people like Tina Fey and Kristen Schaal that there is still a geek streak that runs through Gambino’s work. At the same time, guest verses from Rap luminaries including ScHoolBoy Q, Ab-Soul, RZA and Ghostface Killah underline that Childish Gambino is anything but a novelty act at this point as well. - Various Artists – The Nerdcore Now VPC 2011 Compilation
On a more strictly nerdy tip is this year’s vocalist/producer challenge compilation from the Nerdcore Now forums. From countless tracks, the best jams have all been rounded up and given extra polish. The participant list is a veritable who’s who of underground Nerdcore HipHop and includes members of Death*Star, Betty Rebel, Billy The Fridge, Kabuto the Python, Klopfenpop, Schaffer the Darklord, XoC and many, many more. If you’ve ever been curious to see what lies beyond MC Frontalot and mc chris, this is a great shortcut to discovering more Nerdcore.
Upcoming:
- July 10th: Richie Branson – The Nerd EP
Fresh off his Otaku Tuesdays vol.1 EP and his wildly successful Toonami tribute tracks, Branson is returning with another dose of anime-centric HipHop. Already, he’s released a joint track, “Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis” featuring Nerdcore HipHop veteran Random that deftly spins a sample from the Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” over the top of “I Want You Back” by the Jackson Five. If the rest of The Nerd EP is half as charming that track, it’ll be a release for the ages. It’ll easily be worth the money to pick up the CD from Branson as he tours this month MC Chris. - July 27th: Kabuto The Python – The Almighty
Also up this month is a new release from Kabuto The Python. While Kabuto has been gleefully kicking around EPs and competition tracks, a lot of time has passed since his last full album, and technically speaking, he’s never really done release where he’s handled the production from start to finish. As such, this makes The Almighty an effective debut in some regards. Underlining that fact is that it will be a pay release on Bandcamp, a first for Kabuto. However, this is a debut from an MC/Producer with a sterling track record so far, and while nothing’s been released in advance of the album, I’d be shocked if it were anything less than funny and brilliant. - July 31th: Mikal kHill – The Walking Dead
From one the deft minds behind The Browncoats Mixtape and The Slythrin House Mixtape comes The Walking Dead, which, as you can probably guess, is themed around the popular comic and television series of the same name. Given kHill’s track record to date, there isn’t a reason in the world to expect anything less than another awesome theme release. If you dig The Walking Dead, you’ll probably love the mixtape too.
Think we missed something? Hit us up in the comments and tell us about the hot Nerdcore HipHop you’re looking forward to this month!