The hip-hop genre is epitomized by poets and thugged-out simpletons. In a sea of gangstas and hos, a pasty white boy is producing ballads of robots and data encryption. MC Frontalot, pioneer of the "nerdcore" hip-hop subgenre, has released a new album titled Secrets from the Future. This is a follow-up to his Nerdcore Rising album, which was released in 2005.
This brand of music is certainly a unique concept, and the album features song titles such as "You Got Asperger's" and "I Hate Your Blog." Could this be somewhat interesting and carry the potential to entertain? If you think so, you might be as imbecilic as I was for taking this review.
I can only assume that Frontalot was going for laughs, and his drivel induced none from me. Drawing any parallels between his work and that of clever laugh rappers like Eminem would be a mistake. Frontalot's attempts at musical wit are absent of inspiration and writing quality while his delivery is flat. Simply put, the man's singing bores me to a greater extent than his flavorless lyrics.
"Bizarro Genius Baby?" That's correct. This song--which claimed the longest four minutes of my life--describes an alleged dream of the artist's in which he fathered an infant prodigy. A dream denied, I'm certain. The best line of this song was a lame ending to a sorry performance. As for "You Got Asperger's," Frontalot has clearly confused the symptoms of this syndrome with those of high-functioning autism.
Then again, song titles are irrelevant when every song on the CD sounds identical to the previous waste of cerebral activity. The instrumentation and vocal performances are equally bland. This album is not jarringly piss poor; it's just a worthless, insipid 52 minutes of "who cares" with a side of "shut the Hell up."
This is a man whiter than Al Gore feigning a rapper's voice in the clumsiest, most transparent way possible as a means for joking of pseudointellectual subjects in an asinine manner. Perhaps Frontalot should adopt a better front, as his lack of style and attitude is glaringly reflected in his work. Good music is not born of nonsense, which appears to be the strong point of his rhymes.
You hate my blog, Frontalot? It's divine in comparison to your album and that's not saying much. Frontalot's ideas could very well become something decent in more capable hands. Without actual talent and creativity to back up his concepts, they are merely pathetic and annoying. Secrets from the Future is an all-around loser.
Article comments
1 - Church
Why the heck were you tapped to review the Front? You obviously prefer the same ol' same ol' that nobody's buying anymore. That's fine, but if you don't know what you're talking about you should graciously decline. (Here's a start, don't step to the nerd over Asperger's.)
2 - Mark
Joe,
Did you listen to the same "Secrets From the Future" album that I did?
3 - Mark
This also may be worth a read.
4 - Joe Harris
Church, I volunteered to review Frontalot after his clever ideas and witty song titles piqued my interest. Unfortunately, cute concepts without talent are useless. I don't always listen to the same old, but I always eschew the sound of suck.
Guess what, y'all; the Rain Man is not Asperger's.
5 - Church
Sorry, Joe, but I can't take seriously anyone who writes "This is a man whiter than Al Gore feigning a rapper's voice..." Yes, Front is white (a fact which he freely acknowledges, incidently.) He can also rap the pants off of anyone you can put in front of him (possibly excepting Wheelie Cyberman. Possibly.) Saying he can't is just bizarre. It's like saying Spellah can't smith a beat. Oh right, you said that too.
I've seen some interesting crtitiques of SotF, but this isn't one of them. I'm quite puzzled as to what it is, exactly. Someone who wants their rap to sound 'black and ghetto?' Hey, that's fine (not really, but whatever) just don't do any nerdcore reviews, M'kay?
Mark, this also may be worth a read.
6 - Tetsuo
While I enjoyed this album - granted, not as much as Nerdcore Rising, but still - I respect your right to have a different opinion. That's the joy of music, it's all about taste and variety. I'm just curious why you sound so personally aggrieved by an album you didn't like.
7 - Filipe
"You obviously prefer the same ol' same ol' that nobody's buying anymore."
Oh, so nobody buys Eminem anymore? I guess the more than 1 million copies that the multi-platinum sample album Eminem Presents the Re-Up sold in the US is your definition of "nothing".
8 - Church
Filipe, good for Eminem, but Hip-Hop sales have taken a nose-dive overall.
I would think that a sub-genre that's bucking that trend, however modestly, would get enough respect for an actual review.
9 - Kip
You are truly a fool, for dissing this album.
You may listen to Eminem, but you shouldn't compare the two, considering Eminem is a corperate sell out, sold to the masses, thus you, feeding the corperation, MC Frontalot on the other hand has put alot of effort into his album, which amazingly he crafted himself, unlike Eminem.
10 - Beefy
This album is a step in a far more original and far more creative form of hip-hop that is apparently way over the head of the reviewer.
11 - thisidalreadyinuse
It's simple... if you're not a geek you wouldn't understand. Nerdcore is about being a bit off from the percieved norm of a healthy social life because you're a bit more obsessive or smarter than the rest of the pack. Eminem's work isn't about being a geek, it's about a guy trying to be hardcore in a business that, traditionally, was a minority dominated market.
12 - High-C
I'd kill 1,000,000 Eminems to hear one MC Frontalot song.
13 - spmat
Um, yeah, so... ad hominem much? Did the Front bang your girlfriend or something?
14 - Reverend Stevo
No, I'm pretty sure Front banged his mom.
And she liked it.
A lot.
Er, I mean, me-too to the rest of the posters. For me, both of his albums were like a breath of fresh air. His live show was also amazing. I still laugh my ass off at a lot of his songs, even after hearing them for the hundredth time.
Did I get a version of the CD that had extra magic smoke or something?
stevo, rev
15 - Tempo
Eminem actually has had a large hand in creating his work. In fact, almost all of The Eminem Show was self-produced.
That said, he's fallen off the wagon as an artist. His last record, Encore, was abysmal (The Re-Up was a mix-tape style CD), while Front's is awesome, and another breath of fresh air in a failing and repetitious genre.
Here's hoping that King Mathers (his upcoming record) doesn't suck.
/Front rules.
16 - Mojo
Well that was astoundingly retarded...
Loved the album and a huge fan of the genre.
I enjoy going to a show and buying a CD afterwards by handing the artist himself 15 bucks and having an intelligent conversation.
17 - Nerdcore Mephistopheles
My first emotion upon reading this review was anger. I mean seriously, how could anyone miss the mark so much. I'm willing to admit that his Frontiness may not be your bag, but c'mon, your dissing Frontalot as though he had just been caught lighting a box of newborn puppies on fire.
Even if Nerdcore isnt your particular genre, you can't deny the solid beat and great vocals...oh wait....you did.....Oh well, I'm just going to chalk this up to some, as-of-yet unexplained tumor you have blocking the reason centers of your brain.
18 - Mary K. Williams
first of all, Aspergers IS high funtioning autism.
second, though I've not heard of this artist - I will say that the review was quite vicious.
There are a lot nicer and constructive (and I might add, professional)ways of saying that you don't care for something.
19 - DJS
At the risk of repeating the comments above...you might not think it's funny, you might think it's boring, fine, whatever, but to say that Frontalot cannot rap is ridiculous and really undermines your credibility.
MC Frontalot is a very competent rapper. Maybe you don't know how rapping works or something? I don't know.
20 - Jordan
the only problem I really have with this review is that Joe here basically refuses to give a reasoning or solid reason that he doesn't like it.
Seriously I'm ok with the guy not liking the album but a review should have an intelligent criticism, not just a guy crying in the corner about how he dislikes it.
21 - Tyson
I have owned this album since it was released. While I do not feel it is Frontalot's best work, it does not deserve such misdirected anger. This review does not provide any kind of accurate impression of what it is like to listen to the album.
If you have read the review and have not heard the album, my suggestion is that you visit the artist's website Frontalot, go to the mp3 section, download some songs for free, and decide for yourself.