WEDNESDAY MAR 08, 2017
MC Lars
Northern California rapper, MC Lars, is set to release his 4th full-length studio album, the Zombie Dinosaur LP, at the end of this coming summer. He has returned home to the Bay Area after living in Los Angeles these past three years, and is self-producing his new album with help from friends in Berkeley and San Francisco. The Zombie Dinosaur LP revisits the satirical, funny, uptempo style of Lars’ 2004 debut album, the Laptop EP. It features guest appearances by Watsky, Kool Keith, and Less than Jake’s Roger Lima. Zombie Dinosaur tackles such topics as postfeminism, in a nod to Game of Thrones (“Dragon Blood”); disappointing reunion bands with very few of their original members (“Sublime with Rome is Not the Same thing as Sublime”); hipster parenting (“Hipster Mom”); and the current state of EDM (“Signing Dubstep”). The project was funded entirely by Lars’s third highly successful Kickstarter campaign, through which he raised over $42k to create and release Zombie Dinosaur under his own label, Horris Records. In the ten years that have followed his debut release, the Laptop EP, Lars has independently produced and released three other solo full-length albums, four EPs, and a number of mixtapes. He has collaborated with KRS-One, mentored and helped develop the career of fellow Stanford alum K.Flay (with whom he collaborated on the 2009 Single and Famous EP), opened for Nas and Snoop Dogg, and played multiple summers on the Vans Warped Tour. He has also headlined club shows across the US and in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Lars has spoken and presented at two different TEDx conferences, performed at Carnegie Hall with a live string section (at Scholastic’s 2012 Art and Writing Awards – where he debuted the video for his song, “Flow Like Poe,” which is the lead single on his 2012 Edgar Allan Poe EP). Lars has developed and grown Horris Records in this past decade, signing the label’s first artist, Weerd Science (the solo hip-hop project of Coheed & Cambria’s drummer, Josh Eppard). Lars has continued to produce music videos for himself and his friends, including a cameo credit on past musical collaborator “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2014 “Lame Claim to Fame” (for which Lars was given a special shout out in the liner notes to Al’s Grammy Award winning album, Mandatory Fun). Having been labeled as one of the pioneers of the underground “nerdcore hip-hop” subgenre, Lars has recently expanded from the studio to the classroom. With visiting scholar/teacher residencies at USC, and in the UK, and across the US in Nantucket, Florida, California, Alaska, and Kansas, Lars has found joy in educating young people about “lit-hop,” a subject term he coined to highlight the connections between literature, classical poetry, and the cultural history of rap. Lars has continued to work closely with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, teaching workshops on preventing self- harm, and positive ways to use music as creative therapy for depression. He has also worked with the American Heart Association, promoting youth heart health.
It’s been quite a decade.
Northern California rapper, MC Lars, is set to release his 4th full-length studio album, the Zombie Dinosaur LP, at the end of this coming summer. He has returned home to the Bay Area after living in Los Angeles these past three years, and is self-producing his new album with help from friends in Berkeley and San Francisco. The Zombie Dinosaur LP revisits the satirical, funny, uptempo style of Lars’ 2004 debut album, the Laptop EP. It features guest appearances by Watsky, Kool Keith, and Less than Jake’s Roger Lima. Zombie Dinosaur tackles such topics as postfeminism, in a nod to Game of Thrones (“Dragon Blood”); disappointing reunion bands with very few of their original members (“Sublime with Rome is Not the Same thing as Sublime”); hipster parenting (“Hipster Mom”); and the current state of EDM (“Signing Dubstep”). The project was funded entirely by Lars’s third highly successful Kickstarter campaign, through which he raised over $42k to create and release Zombie Dinosaur under his own label, Horris Records. In the ten years that have followed his debut release, the Laptop EP, Lars has independently produced and released three other solo full-length albums, four EPs, and a number of mixtapes. He has collaborated with KRS-One, mentored and helped develop the career of fellow Stanford alum K.Flay (with whom he collaborated on the 2009 Single and Famous EP), opened for Nas and Snoop Dogg, and played multiple summers on the Vans Warped Tour. He has also headlined club shows across the US and in Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Lars has spoken and presented at two different TEDx conferences, performed at Carnegie Hall with a live string section (at Scholastic’s 2012 Art and Writing Awards – where he debuted the video for his song, “Flow Like Poe,” which is the lead single on his 2012 Edgar Allan Poe EP). Lars has developed and grown Horris Records in this past decade, signing the label’s first artist, Weerd Science (the solo hip-hop project of Coheed & Cambria’s drummer, Josh Eppard). Lars has continued to produce music videos for himself and his friends, including a cameo credit on past musical collaborator “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 2014 “Lame Claim to Fame” (for which Lars was given a special shout out in the liner notes to Al’s Grammy Award winning album, Mandatory Fun). Having been labeled as one of the pioneers of the underground “nerdcore hip-hop” subgenre, Lars has recently expanded from the studio to the classroom. With visiting scholar/teacher residencies at USC, and in the UK, and across the US in Nantucket, Florida, California, Alaska, and Kansas, Lars has found joy in educating young people about “lit-hop,” a subject term he coined to highlight the connections between literature, classical poetry, and the cultural history of rap. Lars has continued to work closely with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, teaching workshops on preventing self- harm, and positive ways to use music as creative therapy for depression. He has also worked with the American Heart Association, promoting youth heart health.
It’s been quite a decade.
Mega Ran
Random, aka Mega Ran, or Random Beats. Teacher, Rapper, Hero. When LA Weekly said that Ran’s “fanbase and niche audiences are growing at a rate not seen since Tech N9ne,” they meant it. A former middle school teacher, Mega Ran (formerly Random) blends education, hip-hop and gaming in amazing new ways, penetrating the farthest reaches of the galaxy with his unique rhyme style and electric performances. Ran cut his teeth in the city of Philadelphia as a moonlighting emcee and producer, performing, freestyle rapping, producing and later engineering at a studio. After relocating to Phoenix, competing in the Scribble Jam emcee battle championships and taking an early exit, Ran almost quit before he was even started, when a creative lightning bolt struck, and a fire was lit. Retro video games were the catalyst. Random began the transformation into Mega Ran, his alter-ego, an ode to the classic video game character Mega Man. After creating a tribute album and receiving an unprecedented level of support and blessing from Capcom to continue, Ran was reborn and became a trailblazer in the budding “nerdcore” and chiptune subgenres, while coining his own term to describe what he had done, “Chip-Hop.” Various video game developer co-signs and admiration from the genre’s toughest critics have led to placements in TV, movies, university coursework, and of course, games. Random’s music and story have been shared on stages across the world, on television (ABC/NBC News, ESPN, Portlandia, Tosh.O, WWE Wrestling) and in leading music, gaming and tech publications, print and online. Today, Random is no longer a teacher by title, but maintains a rigorous touring and recording schedule, traveling the world to entertain and educate through the gift of rhyme. With over 3 million YouTube views and a legion of smart art fans he calls “Team Mega” beside him, the future looks brighter than ever.
Now that’s Random.
Random, aka Mega Ran, or Random Beats. Teacher, Rapper, Hero. When LA Weekly said that Ran’s “fanbase and niche audiences are growing at a rate not seen since Tech N9ne,” they meant it. A former middle school teacher, Mega Ran (formerly Random) blends education, hip-hop and gaming in amazing new ways, penetrating the farthest reaches of the galaxy with his unique rhyme style and electric performances. Ran cut his teeth in the city of Philadelphia as a moonlighting emcee and producer, performing, freestyle rapping, producing and later engineering at a studio. After relocating to Phoenix, competing in the Scribble Jam emcee battle championships and taking an early exit, Ran almost quit before he was even started, when a creative lightning bolt struck, and a fire was lit. Retro video games were the catalyst. Random began the transformation into Mega Ran, his alter-ego, an ode to the classic video game character Mega Man. After creating a tribute album and receiving an unprecedented level of support and blessing from Capcom to continue, Ran was reborn and became a trailblazer in the budding “nerdcore” and chiptune subgenres, while coining his own term to describe what he had done, “Chip-Hop.” Various video game developer co-signs and admiration from the genre’s toughest critics have led to placements in TV, movies, university coursework, and of course, games. Random’s music and story have been shared on stages across the world, on television (ABC/NBC News, ESPN, Portlandia, Tosh.O, WWE Wrestling) and in leading music, gaming and tech publications, print and online. Today, Random is no longer a teacher by title, but maintains a rigorous touring and recording schedule, traveling the world to entertain and educate through the gift of rhyme. With over 3 million YouTube views and a legion of smart art fans he calls “Team Mega” beside him, the future looks brighter than ever.
Now that’s Random.
Matthew Silver
Matthew Silver - Viral video star "Accept yourself, love yourself" and performance artist has made appearances on MTV Ridiculousness, and Adult Swim. Currently on Netflix in Karl Pilkington's Moaning of Life second season. His work promotes love with an added flavor of farts on the street and stage.
Matthew Silver - Viral video star "Accept yourself, love yourself" and performance artist has made appearances on MTV Ridiculousness, and Adult Swim. Currently on Netflix in Karl Pilkington's Moaning of Life second season. His work promotes love with an added flavor of farts on the street and stage.