MC Frontalot
Damien Hess (born December 3, 1973 in San Francisco , California ), better known by his stage name MC Frontalot , is an American rapper. He is the founder of nerdcore and at the same time one of its most important representatives. MC Frontalot describes itself ironically as "number 579 on the list of the best rappers".
childhood
Hess was born in San Francisco, but grew up in Berkeley , where he had his first experience with rapping.
Career
Early years
Hess began to publish music under his pseudonym MC Frontalot in 1999. He started uploading his songs on his own website and cataloging them under the nerdcore hip-hop category . This was the first time he mentioned the term nerdcore , which today stands for a whole sub-genre of rap music. He got his first attention through Song Fight! , an internet songwriting contest that he always won.
Nerdcore
In 2000 he published the song Nerdcore Hiphop , which quickly achieved cult status among the so-called geeks and nerds . This song also coined the term nerdcore for that sub-genre of hip-hop, which mainly deals with topics such as mathematics, biology or technology, which are widely regarded as "uncool" among young people. Frontalot extended the texts with a typical appearance. At concerts, for example, he often appears in horn-rimmed glasses and a tie and thus forms a counterpoint to US gangsta rap . Hess released his first studio album Nerdcore Rising on August 27, 2005. In 2002 MC Frontalot became known to a large audience when the authors of the Penny Arcade Webcomics named him one of their favorite rappers, which led many fans of the webcomics to Frontalot's homepage. In gratitude for this spontaneous mention, he wrote the Penny Arcade theme a few months later as a tribute to the webcomic that gave him his breakthrough. Since 2004, Hess has been represented as a musician at every Penny Arcade Expo , a major computer game fair in the USA. His songs have already been integrated into several commercials or computer games. The comic artist Tony Morre made Frontalot the actor in a comic series.
Live performances
Although the majority of its fan base is active on the Internet, Frontalot has already given a few live appearances in San Francisco and New York . He was also on tour in the USA for some time.
Movie
MC Frontalot is often mentioned in the documentary Nerdcore Rising , which explores the roots and current currents of nerdcore. Many other nerdcore rappers like MC Lars or mc chris also have their say there.
Discography
Albums
- Nerdcore Rising (2005)
- Secrets from the Future (2007)
- Final Boss (2008)
- Zero Day (2010)
- Solved (2011)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | MC Frontalot |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hess, Damien (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American rapper |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 3rd December 1973 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | San Francisco , California, USA |