First Degree LARSon: Totally Crushed Out chats with MC Lars
by Ryan Pangilinan

When it came to talking to MC Lars, it was going to be an awkward situation – at least in my head. I have publicly written posts slamming “nerdcore,” but his appearance on a Frontalot song changed my opinion and I went back and listened to Lars’s other output.

From someone like me, a dude who grew up on both hip-hop and punk rock, anything that mixes the two or seems the least bit manufactured (see: Childish Gambino, The Strokes, Bring Me the Horizon) is automatically on my shitlist. However, MC Lars is the exception where I’ve had to eat crow and the fact that he’s a cool ass dude helps a little. I had the chance to stand outside El Corazon with Lars and talk about dropping “nerdcore” and owning the title of “legit emcee,” as well as talking to KRS-One and rapping with Sage Francis on his latest record, “Lars Attacks,” which is out on his own imprint, Horris.

Totally Crushed Out: How did you get started rapping?

MC Lars: I grew up playing in punk rock bands and I always kind of liked hip-hop. In college, I got deep into hip-hop; my school had a great vinyl collection, so I had a hip-hop show and it really spoke to me when I was 18, 19. I really realized that hip-hop had a deeper underground history that I didn’t really understand.

I got into guys like Atmosphere and Sage Francis and Aesop Rock in 2001, 2002, all that stuff was crossing over and I got deep into it. In 2003, I was still doing punk, but I went to England for my Shakespeare class – which was part of my undergraduate requirement – and I networked with a bunch of British indie and punk bands and made friends with them and I convinced them to let me open for them in the pubs around Oxford. I just had my laptop and I was doing my rap stuff and it just kind of caught on. I got signed to an indie label and got a push in the US and now eight years deep, I’ve been touring, doing rap. I feel, for me, rap is the divine truth and things coming together for a purpose. Hip-hop is everything to me.

You put out The Laptop EP and it was the first thing I heard and I thought “This is kinda shitty.” I grew up on hip-hop and it was weird to hear something with a polarizing lyrical content. Then a few months ago, I was hanging out with one of my friends, and he put on this Frontalot song that you were on and I thought, “Oh shit, this kid’s dope.” I went back and listened to your other records with a new set of ears and it’s amazing what a few years and not thinking you suck will do.

Thanks man, I think I was ahead of the curve and that album was ahead of its time. That EP did a lot for me and opened a lot of doors, but I think it pissed a lot of people off. It was before Asher Roth, 3oh3, before all that shit where doing hip-hop differently was very commercial. The timing of it was cool.

When I think about the timing of it now, it was around the time that a lot of the Anticon stuff was coming to end – they were doing 13 & God and Why? and Sole had morphed into experimental indie rock projects. All those guys are so removed from hip-hop, but “The Laptop EP” bridges that gap.

Thanks, man.

I listened to “Lars Attacks” and I thought it was cool that you got KRS-One and Sage Francis on that record. How did that happen?

Well, Sage I met in 2007 at SXSW and I interviewed him for CurrentTV and we kept in touch. And he gets what I do and we kept in touch and I said, “Let’s do a song about two people who are addicted to their art.” And he’s a great guy and to have him respect what I do and be down is crazy; it’s beautiful. KRS, that was the big coup. We were both on Universal Publishing – I left them – but for a minute we were both with the publishing company. I asked who I could write with and they gave me a list of co-writers, and he was one of them. So I got in touch with him, I read his book, “The Gospel of Hip-Hop….” We talked on the phone a lot and he’s the man.

Was there any moment where you were bugging out? Like if it were me, I would’ve been like “Whoa, I’m talking to KRS.”

Yeah, and the fact that he gives me props on his verse. It’s still really surreal. I think what helped me is that I read his book and took notes and stuff. When I was on the phone with him, I was picking his brain about all these concepts [in the book]. He respected that I digested his spiritual treaties on post-modern Christianity in the 21st Century as hip-hop. It’s still weird to me, still very surreal. And I feel blessed that he took the time out to do that.

Are there any people that you want to record with for future songs?

I’d love to do sit down and do an EP with the RZA. I know he’s really busy, but I think we could do something bugged out and dope. I think he’d be down.

Is there a particular era of RZA that you would want to focus on? Like he did the Bobby Digital thing and on the last proper Wu record, there was a lot of live instrumentation.

I think “Liquid Swords” is amazing. And I was listening to “36 Chambers” as we were driving through traffic and the production on it is crazy. It’s not perfect and that’s the beautiful thing about it. MC Chris has a lyric that goes, “What is hip-hop? Non-stop mistakes.” It’s about doing things imperfectly in your own way.

I like that you’re able to recognize that hip-hop is built on error. Have you heard that song by Audio Two, “Top Billin’”?

Definitely.

That Honeydippers drum loop is a mistake. They didn’t have enough memory to capture the entire sample, but it’s this weird syncopated beat that’s a classic.

And that’s what’s so weird about rap now – it’s all so Pro-Tooled and auto-tuned and it’s also perfect-perfect. There’s a charm to old school rap.

There’s this whole scene behind nerdcore, but I feel it’s kind of an unfair genre attached to you all the time because, especially going back and listening to your past recordings different, there’s so much going on in terms of concepts and how lyrics are structured. The production on “Lars Attack” is above and beyond what the norm is. Do you feel, at this point, shouldn’t you just be a hip-hop artist?

I agree. And that’s the funny thing. I’m at this crossroads. You knew my EP and that was years ahead…. And in 2007, the movie [Nerdcore Rising] came out. At first, I rejected it, then I was receptive to it, then I rejected it again. And now I feel like people understand that it’s not going away, it’s something that has fans. Whatever what people want to call our genre is cool, but I don’t think I’m a joke. I have funny songs, but I’m not a joke.

The trick is to have longevity and you can do that by not JUST having songs about Nintendo. Frontalot is an interesting guy because he came up with the term and he owns it and he’s so consistent and he draws still and he always will.

But at the same time, you want to grow as an artist.

For me, you can’t be afraid. “Lars Attacks” is a dark album. It doesn’t have the pop culture references and it’s not a pop album and it’s not a fun album. It’s a serious album and it’s what I was going through. Writing about rebirth, death, and addiction, when you write about it and get it out of your system, you can be happy. 

MC Lars’ latest album, “Lars Attacks,” is out now on Horris Records. You can check out some of his other material on his Bandcamp page.