Nerdcore? Dementia? What’s the difference?

I have been seriously been thinking about starting another music podcast. One that would play Nerdcore music exclusively. I happen to mention this on twitter the other day, and found, much to my surprise, that a large number of my followers make no distinction between Nerdcore and Dementia Music. This is a problem. This is a big problem. And I am now here to educate you on what Nerdcore is and what makes it different from Dementia Music.

Nerdcore, or Nerdcore Hip Hop, is a sub-genre of hip hop that focuses on geek and nerd topics like video games, computers, science, science fiction, etc. Now note the key words in that last sentence “a sub-genre of hip hop”. That means that the songs in the Nerdcore genre are delivered in the form of Rap. The Rap/Hip Hop style and the topics are more or less what define a song as Nerdcore. There are Nerdcore artists that would argue that Nerdcore is a unique genre of its own, that it is not a sub-genre of hip hop, but that is up for debate. I tend to agree with calling it a sub-genre of hip hop but I am open to persuasion on this.

The music of MC Frontalot, Schaffer The Darklord (STD), and MC Lars are good examples of Nerdcore.

Here are a couple of videos of Nerdcore:

On the other hand, Dementia is basically novelty or comedy music. It is not limited to a particular style or set of topics. (I believe Doctor Demento coined the term Dementia back in the ’70s.) And Dementia has been around a lot longer than Nerdcore.

The music of Weird Al, Ray Stevens, Robert Lund, and the music played on the Dr Demento Show are an excellent example of Dementia.

Here are a couple of examples of Dementia:

Now to be sure, there is crossover between then genres. Some Dementia artists use Rap and Hip Hop for their music or talk about geek/nerd topics. Some Nerdcore artists try to be funny or use humor in there songs (or rhymes). And there are serveral artists the straddle to fence between to the genres.

Devospice and The Great Luke Ski are examples of artists that straddle the line between the two genres.

So in the end, Nerdcore does not equal Dementia and vice-versa. Now you know. And Knowing is half the battle. (The other half is usually made up of blue lasers and red lasers.) G.I. Joe.

Here are some sites where you can get more info (as well as free music):

Nerdcore

Nerdcore on Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore_hip_hop
Rhymetorrents – http://www.rhymetorrents.org
Nerdcorehiphop.com – http://nerdcorehiphop.com/

Dementia:

Dementia Radio – http://dementiaradio.org
The Dementia Wiki – http://dementiawiki.wikispaces.com
The FuMP – http://thefump.com
The Mad Music Archive – http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/

Thanks,

T