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MC Lars
Posted by Editorial Intern on 31-May-06 @ 01:12 PM|
HQ: Brooklyn, NY
NOW PLAYING: The Graduate (HORRIS/NETTWERK; nettwerk.com) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM:: As quite possibly the only rapper ever to sample both Piebald and Brand New, MC Lars became a huge hit with Generation MySpace. Eminem don't know squat about emo. YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: Tim Fite / Bloodhound Gang / Cex "Honestly," says MC Lars while picking at a plate of fries, "I didn't know how much I could trust it." The 22-year-old rapper is sitting in a diner under the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn where he's spent the last half-hour talking about how screwed up the music industry is. He would know. Following the minor success of his 2004 underground hit "Signing Emo," Lars was courted by a string of major labels but surprised most of them when he decided to create his own imprint, Horris Records. "People don't take it with a grain of salt," he says of such attention. "You have to." With his smarmy voice and hilarious rhymes, MC Lars (real name: Andrew Nielsen) often uses the music biz as a target on The Graduate, his full-length debut; on the new-wave-meets-reggae track "Download This Song" he takes to task the out-of-touch record labels who have "overcharged us for years." But with its scene-heavy samples and lyrical nods to Hot Topic, chances are it won't be the industry execs that are listening to The Graduate. In fact, it's doubtful any other rap record will impact the mainstream punk scene in a similar way this year. Now living in New York after recording the majority of The Graduate in his dorm at Stanford, Lars isn't about to complain if his songs continue to affect more emo kids than legitimate hip-hop heads. "I used to worry about what kind of people my music appealed to," he admits. "But I stopped worrying. There is a fear that I'll be some pop guy that only 13-year-old girls in the Midwest like because it samples bands they know. I definitely don't want to be that. But if that's part of my appeal, I'm not going to be ashamed of it, either." -Trevor Kelley |
