I'm a bit of a nerd about some things, although I prefer the term "geek" myself. I'm a film geek, of course. I've worked as a technical writer and editor, and I know my blogger slang. I'm married to a Linux developer, which would make anyone a geek. So I felt right at home with the documentary Nerdcore Rising, even though I had never heard about the hip-hop subgenre "nerdcore" before or the primary subject of the film, MC Frontalot. I can't resist a guy who rhymes "braggadocio" and "Ralph Macchio" in a song.

Nerdcore Rising uses the standard "road trip around America" structure to show us MC Frontalot's first nationwide tour in 2006. The nerdcore rapper is more used to recording his music than performing it live, but gathers a band to tour from the small college-town bars in South Carolina to the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. We get to see the usual trials and tribulations of a band on tour -- missing or damaged equipment (an opening act spills fake blood all over the drum set at one gig), MC Frontalot's chronic back injury (I loved the scene where he tries to explain what he does to a medical professional), and the lone groupie who follows them for several states. None of this is especially new, but the band members are funny enough to keep you interested, especially if you like group Wookie imitations.

If you've never stumbled across the musical genre "nerdcore" (or "geeksta rap," something of a subgenre), you're in for a treat. As soon as you are finished reading this post, I want you to look up Optimus Rhyme, MC Frontalot, or YTCracker, and listen to some of their music. Just within those three performers, you'll find entire albums dedicated to Transformers (Generation One, of course) and the NES. Essentially, this is hip-hop music created by a generation of internet geeks with a set of hobbies you're used to finding at comic conventions. And holy cow, is it pure money. You're initial reaction is probably to consider it a one trick pony -- and it's funny because it smashes together two cultures which are typically seen to be very different -- but it will likely stay a niche genre, because the lyrics and content serve a very specific culture, albeit a culture which has reasonably wide appeal these days.

So why am I telling you about an odd subculture of hip-hop music on a movie website? You guessed it -- here comes the documentary! Admittedly, I'm a bit of a documentary sucker, and will watch them on nearly any subject, but this is one I'm really jazzed about. The official trailer for Nerdcore Rising, a documentary which follows genre star MC Frontalot on a national tour, is now live on the web. Go watch it -- it has the Penny Arcade guys and Weird Al -- how can you go wrong? And stay tuned to Cinematical, because I plan to follow this documentary.