There was a girl standing on the second balcony of SubT dressed as a jester. Her red and black attire was striking even under the dimmest of lights. Her face was painted white, and she bounced back and forth from the bar to her spot, using her friend as a placeholder.
Another boy sported a red leather jacket, giving a nod to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and channeling his confidence throughout.
And somewhere on the first floor, there was a girl in a dog costume with long, brown droopy ears. The tip of her nose was painted black. Everyone else dressed comfortably in a hoodie, T-shirt and jeans; every now and then, a white and thin blue-striped Cubs jersey would gleam, which served as reminders that Chicagoans are still coming off of a high from a historic feat.
And if you're one of those people who are completely oblivious or indifferent about the Cubs' win or – just sports in general – you probably jumped in and joked with mc chris when he started singing "I hate sports" to the tune of "Go Cubs Go." And if you sang along – and actually meant it – no one would fault you for your lack of interest.
"This is a safe space," mc chris said.
And that was important to keep in mind, especially if you answered "yes" out loud to liking pizza, butts, masturbating, and trees.
mc chris
These unlikely pairings all led up to a conclusion that Neville Longbottom is the go-to person – "the chosen one" – when it comes to linking up with a weed dealer.
MC Lars and Random AKA Mega Ran took to the stage earlier that evening and addressed the most important issue: fans of nerdcore are not losers.
Random aka Mega Ran
Mega Ran and MC Lars
That message was inspired by a recent episode of
Jeopardy where contestant Susan Cole told host Alex Trebek she liked nerdcore, a subgenre of hip hop that marries rap with pop culture references; Trebek called her and other listeners "losers."
Mega Ran took to Twitter and called out Trebek with a rhyme:
"Alex Trebek, you lost a lot of respect / I gotta check you off the rip for coming out of your neck / Talking sideways on geeks, you're a trip / If you haven't heard, nerds make up half of your viewership / Nerdcore is home to some serious lyricists."
Mega Ran wasn't shy to reclaim those words, and he gave a proper shoutout to Cole.
mc chris', MC Lars' and Mega Ran's tongue-twisting, tongue-and-cheek wordplay is for those devoted to cosplay, comics, cartoons, and characters from famous literature. MC Lars and Mega Ran's tribute to Edgar Allan Poe proved to be a window of opportunity for reliving the tale of Mr. Raven.
Nerdcore is a language; it's a style. It could take form in Mega Ran's "rap in a rap like inception"; MC Lars' plea for fans to "Download This Song"; or mc chris' proclamation of being "the shit."
And if you are standing on the outside looking in, you would often feel like you are eavesdropping on a conversation or better yet, you walked in on an inside joke.
But that's OK. You can still laugh along.
