The JALP site has been down for quite some time, but McFly, McQueen, and I recorded a BRAND NEW EPISODE! OMG!!!! We recorded it a while ago, but for over a week Comcast wasn’t allowing me to upload anything at all. It was madness. So sit back and enjoy listening to three idiots tell you how to live your life! It’ll be like a Fox News morning show! Also happy birthday to MC Lars who’s song we continue to steal for the intro!
09.27Progress
It’s been a long time since With Sprinkles came out. I remember uploading it late one night and annoying my girlfriend with every e-mail I received notifying that someone new had downloaded it. I miss that feeling and want it back! What’s stopping me? Me. Let’s go more into detail.
It seems that when I return to the computer in a “let’s make some musica!” mindset, I don’t just focus on one project. I dabble in many. So allow me to give you a lowdown of all the stuff I’ve got in the works. I’m not trying to convince you of my prolific capabilities mind you, but when projects are actually announced, it’s more likely that I will hold myself accountable. I used to do it all the time when I was younger and I thought I was a big fucking deal with my 30 fans. Good ol’ days. Now I have 40! Woo!
The Adventures of Beef Thompson: Vampire Hunter
This project is all but complete. It’s mostly just a collection of all the tracks I’ve put online in one form or another since With Sprinkles. Stuff like PAXXX, God Hates Fangs, Outlaw, and others. There are a couple new tracks as well, but production on one has been slow due to the swamped schedule of my friend and the other new track will require me to not suck as I attempt to finalize the track myself. As much as I like the title of “artist”, I hardly am one and have to finally, ya know, learn stuff. This project will be free for all and I keep hoping I’ll have it within the month. I’ve been saying it for months.
Untitled Project with Mustin
This project does in fact have a title, but it’s still under wraps. I tend to be a busy guy. I try to make nerd rhymes, I go to school, I have a job, and we have a kid. That can be time consuming. Mustin is in the exact same boat as I am (sans the school part I believe) so it’s understandable at this point why there hasn’t been more done on this. I have written a majority of the tracks and have done demos of a few of them, but nothing is set in stone. We’ve also been working within a concept, which has become rather challenging for me. I won’t come up with anything for weeks and months, then all of a sudden come up with something stellar (as far as I’m concerned). So the creative process on this one has been more annoying than usual. I can confirm though that the album is set to feature Zealous1, Adam Warrock, Random, and others that are awesome and that I love. It’s just a matter of getting all the pieces in motion.
New Grammar Club Album
It’s that time of year again, wherein Shael comes up with crazy wonderful ideas for tracks and I attempt to write raps to them. I want to say we already have about 4 or 5 demos in the works, with my words having been written fully for two of them so far. Our focus this go-round is to find a nice middle ground between the styles of our first album and our second. Less esoteric with more substance. Also we wanna get laid. And paid. Not necessarily in that order. As always, this project will be free for the masses unless I forget what Shael and I had talked about, which is entirely possible. If we do charge it’ll be super cheap and totally affordable. By then Obama should have given everyone a job and healthcare.
Too Big To Fail
This album is all me. I’ve “made” the beats and when I say “made” I mean I found the samples and mixed em all together. No relying on tanner or c64 or Doc Pop or Mustin to make a hot track for me to ruin with dumb raps. It’s all on me. Four tracks are completely written with roughly three more tracks on their way. With completely new production it should have a different feel from Sprinkles or Rolling Doubles, but it will still be good fun. It will cost dollars, but no more than $5. The proceeds of which go towards my rent and to people I owe money to. This makes me seem less like a charity case and more like a business man. In the event that it does well the money will go to finally making up some decent merch and maybe even some gas money to do some more shows and be able to finance it. Wouldn’t you love to see me on the road with Warrock or Lars or something like that next summer? I know I would. If nothing else I can get some better shirts to cover your midsection with. This album will discuss many things, including America, V-Cards, sleep, and the struggles of being a nerdcore rapper while still wanting Kabuto to like you. This album will also not feature other people’s raps*. I might steal people for choruses (I’m looking your way Klop. I’ll hit you up) but otherwise it’s all me. Awwww yeah!
So that’s the long and short of it. In personal news I started a new job. Due to the nature of the gig I can’t give out a whole shit-ton of details, but I’m working a graveyard shift a few nights a week which is going to allow me to get a lot of writing time in that would normally be used for sleeping. The hard part remains recording time, but maybe I’ll launch some kind of kickstarter to gain funds for studio time. I don’t know. Either way now you know music is coming. Also a podcast will be coming shortly once I can spend more than 15 minutes in front of my desktop. I’ve been playing a lot of Hanging with Friends on my phone, so if you’re playing too, hit me up. Also my Tiny Tower is no longer tiny. That’s just how I roll. I was on the west side the other weekend for VanFest 2011. The show was awesome as hell and the dudes and ladies who were there were a fantastic group of pros. The sound people were my favorite. You guys were crazy awesome and I look forward to VanFest 2012! While there I met up with Ultraklystron and we’re finally going to collab together on a couple tracks that have sick beats. I want to wish safe travels to mc chris, MC Lars, Adam Warrock, and Random as they continue their tour (I hear they’re in LA now) and I hope you all do the same and to also go to their shows and buy hella t-shirts. Thanks for your time. It’s 5am and I literally had nothing better to do than to write about myself. It’s like 2006 all over again, but with less forum drama and drunk Texans.
Love Beefy
*Unless I get lazy towards the end and ask Warrock to drop 16. I freakin’ love that guy.
Hey internet, long time no blog. How ya been? Still got porn and stuff? Cool. Me? What have I been up to? Well let’s see…
A while back I was asked if I wanted to take part in a cover album for the 10 year anniversary release of They Might Be Giant’s Mink Car. The project is called Mink Car Cover and it is available now for purchase. All the dollars made go to the FDNY Foundation so, ya know, don’t just pirate it. Don’t. Do not do it. Don’t be that guy. For my part, I teamed up with the mighty Mustin to cover “Yeh Yeh”, which is a cover in itself, so it’s like the Inception of music. Mustin doesn’t usually throw down on the vocal side of musics, but he did here and we clearly work well together. So go check it out if you could be so kind.
That MC Frontalot bloke has released his new album SOLVED today and it is a keeper. The cool kids, such as myself, have been a enjoying it for a while now and, as always, Front puts forth a tremendous effort we as fans do not deserve. The album can be purchased on iTunes, AmazonMP3, and on Frontalot.com. I am happy so many of you donated to his kickstarter because that means we’ll get an animated video for “I’ll Form The Head” featuring Zealous1 and Dr. Awkward. If you liked “Disaster” then you’ll really enjoy this track. Each rapper plays a role and together they tell of adventure and dysfunction in 3 and a half parts, and getting a video for it will surely be a treat. But hands down my favorite track on SOLVED is without a doubt “Just Once.” It has been in my head since the second I heard it. It will be in your brainspace too. Also! Guest stars! From shows like The Daily Show and Bob’s Burgers! Go pick it up. You will do the opposite of regret it.
Internet gentleman and fellow Street Fighter rapper Jace Hall of The Jace Hall Show blogged about me. It made me feel tingly. It is Mr. Halls’s opinion that I need to come out with more stuff for lack of a better word. Unless someone else blogs on his site. Then that person thinks those things. I am happy to report that my new EP The Adventures of Beef Thompson: Vampire Hunter should be done within the next month or so. I’m just waiting on a mix or two. The following full length album produced by Mustin will be a bit more down the road. If you’re interested in what I’ve been doing instead of making hip-hops, you can check out these youtube links. ASL and Daddy-Beefyness is busy work my friends.
Last, but surely not least, my track “Geek Out” from With Sprinkles was featured on the latest episode of The Guild! Astonishing! It clearly goes without saying (though I will say it anyway) that Mustin is a powerful man with powerful allies and somehow managed to make this happen. I am such a big fan of the series and to now be a part of it in some small way has made my e-penis the length of a midsize sedan. I’m honored is what I’m trying to say. And the manner which it is used can only be described as EPIC. It is available for download right this instant on X-Box Live and the Zune marketplace and will be online to view on Thursday. I will try hard to make sure you are all linked to that. Below is my video for “Join My Guild” with music again by Mustin and moving pictures by Joe Quigley inspired by Felicia Day’s creation. All joking aside, I’m beaming with pride!
Also, many of you will be headed to PAX Prime this weekend. I won’t be there for the first time in 5 years (if I remember correctly) and instead will be in the Tri-Cities helping to conduct a wedding. I’ll be dressed as a king. I made the right choice. I will however leave you with the track I made last year that will be on my free EP. It’s about that orgy that was advertised on craigslist last year and the track is called “PAXXX.” Tanner4105 on the beat (who also produced a BRAND NEW ALBUM you should check out as well!) so if you’re offended you should probably blame him. I would.
Loooove Beefy
Hey there internets! What a weird, wacky couple of weeks it’s been. The world would have been destroyed if not for the last minute heroics of one “Macho Man” Randy Savage. I continue to go to school, work, and do the daddy thing, and somehow manage not to ruin all of that. Plus, this past Sunday, it’s was my girlfriend Chandra’s birthday! Hooray Chandra!
A couple weeks ago I felt the need to write rhymes over Gnarls Barkley’s “Smiley Faces” until I got to roughly the halfway point and decided I’d run out of rhymes. It was at this point that I took to the Twitters for a partner in crime: A role Adam Warrock was born to play. I first heard Senior Warrock back in October, and since then he’s become one of my very favorite rappers. So we rapped, and then sent it to Seattle’s very own Klopfenpop for mixing, which he did quite skillfully. And, just because we know way too many ultra-talented people who are kind on top of being awesome, Rusty Shackles was kind enough to do a bit of art for the track. Throw in all those ingredients, and you get this delicious music soup in the form of a YouTube video that sadly contains no soup.
Did I mention that Adam Warrock recently came out with his new album titled This Man… This Emcee!? I didn’t?!? You disappoint me, Beefy. His new album is 100% awesome and features the free-on-free-comic-book-day track Marvel vs. DC, a remix of Fantomex, and a track featuring myself and our good friend int80 of Dual Core. You should totally buy his album and check him out when he’s in a city near you (I don’t know his schedual at the moment, but I’m fairly certain it involves being in a city near you.) Adam worked hard on this album, but I don’t see the proof. Below is a video of exactly how hard I worked on this album. The proof is in the YouTube. (I don’t store anything inside my pudding. Not for anyone.)
Miss JALP? Well you’re going to continue to. However, Shael Riley and myself (collectively known as Fatty & Beadsley… as well as The Grammar Club) have started a limited series podcast titled Captain Podcast. You can check out the first episode, “Earth”, right now if you’re so inclined. We play music you may enjoy and discuss topics such as being fat and having beards… we’re still testing the waters. We record our next show tomorrow and it will include discussions regarding ways to improve economic growth in Latin America and the best poop we’ve ever had. It’s a mixed bag, but we try to have more cashews.
That’s it. I’m out. Buh-bye.
After writing a 1100 word follow up to Tuesday’s post, I’ve decided instead not to fan the flames of controversy and instead do what I usually do: Post music stuff!
Download “Outlaw” Here
I haven’t posted a lot of new music lately, and I didn’t want you guys to think I didn’t love you all. I’ve been sitting on this track for a long time because me and my buddy and producer of this demo Al Craddock don’t have good work ethic. But I like the demo, so I wanted to share. If you haven’t played Red Dead Redemption, go play it right now, and then come back and listen to the track. Al plays guitar on the track and it’s gangsta. I think the final version will have a banjo on it, so stay tuned for that shit. It’ll be ill. I hope you guys dig it and I hope we get this polished and finished up soon.
A few years ago I made a track called Table Top. You might have heard it, since I’ve performed it live a million times and I’ve plastered it all over my social network sites. However, it wasn’t on YouTube. Now it is!
How good is the video above? If you answered anything other than some form of “epic” then you answered incorrectly. We already knew the song was dope, but the quality of this video is far higher than I had expected. Bravo to the MC Frontalot, int80 of Dual Core, and ytcracker for their involvement and performances and double-bravo to the director for all the work that obviously went into filming and editing. It is really really good.
That’s all for now. I’m off to take naps.
-beef
A thought occurred to me today, and as much as I try to avoid such activities, I was forced to think about it for a while as I perused the aisles of my local grocer. The debate about the branding of “nerdcore” is hardly new, but for the longest time I was a blind supporter of what I considered to be a movement. Mind you, I was only 18 years old when I made my first track and just 19 or 20 when two groups of people said, “we want to put you in a documentary about the kind of music you make!” So it’s possible that I’ve been naive, but it’s just as possible that I’m a forward thinking man of the future! A future where I kick it with my homie J. Biebs in our palatial Hollywood estate as we watch Doc Pop win a Grammy for “iPad Album of the Year.” Yes. In my future, not only does Justin Bieber change his name to J. Biebs, but we also share a home in California. Also by this point he would have gone through a rough puberty phase, but he’s able to bounce back as a producer, Rico Suave style. Also there are a bunch of albums being made entirely on mobile devices and Doc has been deemed their most cherished.
Anywho, back to my main point. The question I posed to myself was this: Is nerdcore more like Heavy Metal or Christian Rock? Metalheads and atheists, please relax. I’m not speaking in regards to style or content, but more in terms as how they relate to the overall field of rock music. Metal is a legit genre of music. I know this because iTunes has a whole metal section. Christian & Gospel show up on iTunes as well, but that banner collects all forms of Christian music including rap, rock, gospel, r&b, pop, ect. So is nerdcore like Metal? A form of music influenced but its predecessor, then taken in a different direction? Unified by not only content, but by themes, motifs, tone, mood, and other words that roughly mean, “what it sounds like”? Or is nerdcore like Christian rock? Questionably influenced by music, but more so by the need to connect with like minded listeners who appreciate references? Supported by a loyal fanbase prone to value lyrical content above song quality and originality? Forever to be considered a niche “genre”?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are a lot of Christian rock bands that put quality above all else. I’m sure there are bands that would fill my iPod if I wasn’t put off by the content of their lyrics. But then I remember P.O.D used to be a Christian band, but once they stopped rocking out about the Lord, they reached mainstream success. I’m also positive that there are Metal bands that suck ass. But my issue isn’t with the merits of two forms of rock, but rather with one weird version of hip-hop.
Nerdcore’s relevance has been on my mind a lot recently. Donald Glover aka Community’s Troy Barnes, aka the gay inner-city high school graduate from 30 Rock, aka the dude with a bag full of black dildos bathed in Axe body spray from this Derrick video, aka rapper Childish Gambino recently came out with a free EP elegantly titled The EP, wherein he makes the following rhyme:
“I’m rapping about everything I go through
Everything I’m sayin, I’m super sayin (Saiyan) like Goku”
Pretty nerdy rhyme right? It’s not like Jay-Z spouting out rhymes about Spider-Man or the Batcave. You’d be hard pressed to find a rapper outside of my genre that would ever think to reference Dragon Ball Z, let alone so creatively. Mr. Gambino then immediately follows up this line with two words that make me hurt a little inside.
“Fuck Nerdcore.”
He then goes onto say..
“Fuck backpack
Fuck rap cool
I make cool rap.”
What I hate most is how well he delivers these lines. They stand out in such a way that if you have no frame of reference as to what nerdcore or backpack are, you still pay attention and appreciate the breakdown. You feel what he feels. Nerdcore, backpack, and “rap cool” are all things that we the listeners should disapprove of.
If you couldn’t tell, I’m a fan of Donald Glover. As a fan, I’ve watched his career climb from the vids he (and the Derrick group) put up on YouTube before the days of partnerships and ads, to becoming a writer on the best comedy show made in the past ten years, to co-starring in one of my favorite TV shows ever. I understand why he doesn’t like the label associated with people like me, most likely because it is associated with people of like me. Personally, it’s getting harder and harder to defend nerdcore against people I’ve looked up to and admired for years. mc chris. MC Lars. Jesse Dangerously. And now Childish Gambino. CG even did a track with mc chris, which gave me hope for just a small while until I realized the only thing it means is that two talented people who might have bumped into each other at the UCB Theatre decided one night that they needed to hook up for a track. Maybe they talked about their thoughts on music. Maybe they discussed nerdcore’s merits against its faults. Or maybe they simply agreed that, “nerdcore is so dumb.” Then they probably laughed and high fived and moved on with their lives.
I’ve been having a musical identity crisis to say the least. I don’t know who’s wrong. I don’t know who’s right. There’s a reason you look up to certain people. When those people publicly disapprove of, and in some cases attack an idea or concept or even something tangible that you value, how do you not question your own beliefs? For as long as I’m writing songs about my feelings towards girls as they relate to pinball machines, I will rep the banner of nerdcore. But it’s hard right now to say I will represent proudly, when the artists you strive to emulate call what you do and the people you work with a joke. An embarrassment. A gimmick. Exploitive. Nothing more than a niche offering for people who know nothing about “true hip-hop”. If Frontalot rhymed less like an English professor and more like Nelly would we be closer to the mainstream? If I could rap circles around Talib Kweli, would nerdcore gain cred? If ytcracker rapped exactly the same but ditched all computer references would we as fans of nerdcore even embrace him? If Biggie had rapped a few more bars about his Nintendo and Sega Genesis, would we have more than just the Beastie Boys to point to as our geeky forefathers?
Or should we just say fuck it and just like what we like without worrying about labels?
I’ve been told that is impossible.
However, there are more important things happening in the world right now. The Middle East is somehow worse than when Bush was in office, Japan is in ruins, our country is run by the same corporations that run Nascar, Airport security needs to feel you up before you are allowed to fly, my country is actually making it more difficult for me and mine to get a higher education, and there are still tons and tons of oil just sitting in our water. So I guess we’ll just live with this whole nerdcore issue for now, but as soon as we fix all of those other problems, we’re going to get to the bottom of this whole nerdcore thing. That’s my campaign promise.
Beefy
Your Nerdcore Superhero
2012
-love beef
02.23words go here
There was a time when all I ever wanted to do was update my blog. I blame Twitter. And Facebook. And all the other web bullshit that made me even lazier.
A lot of stuff has gone down in the little nerd music internet world since last I decided to comment on it, but none bigger, it seems, than the release of Nerdcore Now vol. 1. The release got some good press for sure. I had been told all of this before, so maybe I was jaded. The last time I took part in a nerdcore compilation we ended up in Wired, only to be relegated to the “lol stupid internet” section of the music world. Then I guess a lot of stuff changed and now we have something in the press that I can be legit proud of. Sure, I don’t love every track on the album, but my track is cool, as are new tracks by Supercommuter, Adam Warrock, MegaRan & Dale Chase, Illbotz, Klopfenpop, MC 117, and The Thought Criminals.
I say Nerdcore Now was big news, but that was until the internet realized MegaRan had dropped his new album Black Materia. It’s a concept project in collaboration with Lost Perception all about Final Fantasy VI. I have not heard the entire album yet. I assume my promo code was lost in the shuffle (*wink*) but based on tracks like the one below, there’s no doubt I may ask the gf if she’s down to replay FF7 soon. It’s currently the top rap album on bandcamp and in the top 40 at AmazonMP3. Do yourself a favor and check it out.
My fellow Northwest rhymer and large gentlemen Billy The Fridge also came out with a new album recently called The Lunchbox Soldiers EP. I am on a track called Fat Camp and it is dope! The album also features the work of Timm Konn and Kabuto. Billy was recently featured in a dope article and I saw he was marketing his latest project by sending people snack bags. The man is a genius. Reward such brilliance by picking up his album pretty please.
In other, more personal news, I got a job and I’m going to be going to school in Spokane soon. I mention this only because I’ve been going through the headache of registering for classes and now my brain is in a state of constant throbbing. It’s not as sexy as it sounds. I’m in the process of recording new tracks with Adam Warrock, Shael Riley, and Mustin, and I should have some stuff coming out sometime soon with Thought Criminals, MegaRan, and MC Lars. I miss podcasting. I miss it a lot. Without my co-hosts, don’t be surprised if I start doing little vidcasts to replace the hole in my heart left by the end of JALP. Also, did I mention before that JALP died? You may have noticed by the lack of updates and the page not being around anymore, but then I realized that’s just par for the course normally. It is a lazy podcast after all. But as I feel a need to share with the internet my thoughts and feeling, and as previously mentioned I’m not a giant fan of blogging, I will likely make my youtube house my ongoing chronicles.
I’d say that’s good for now. Peace.
01.30Projects
Let me help you contextualize that sentence. There’s this creature who’s title of MC signifies that he is a captivator of audiences. There was a time when he rode. Then, possibly tragically, he was no longer able to fulfill the requirements needed to be able to ride. But hope is not lost dear reader. For that creature, like the phoenix and Mike Vick before him, has risen from squaller to once again fulfill his/her destiny: To Ride.
I’m in an internet band called The Grammar Club. It also features the talents of Shael Riley, Ailsean, Mustin, Jon Titterington, C64, Adam!, Ricky Henry, Ty Guenley, and several varieties of Dan Wilkes. Together, after several years, we have released (FOR FREE) our new album titled “MC Horse Rides Again.”
I’m very proud of this album. Sure, artistically I feel like we’ve pushed ourselves into new territory and, along with Shael, I’ve approached my songwriting in a completely different way in creating an identity of pure id while still drawing from my own experiences as an outcast. But what I’m really proud of is how many times I use the f-word on most of these 10 tracks. For real, this isn’t really safe for work. This is an album for grown ups. Nugget can listen to this album when she’s 18 (wouldn’t it be nice if an 18 year old girl wanted to listen to her fake-father’s old rap albums? ah, to dream). Sometimes stuff gets a little dark, but it’s all for the sake of art. For real I just don’t want someone to think I’m really 10 feet tall with 8lb balls…. or do I?
Go to www.thegrammarclub.com to download the whole album for free. There are also liner notes and info on all of the members of the band. Also, if you do a podcast or a series of youtube videos or you write reviews, we would love to help in any way. I will do interviews. I will skype with you. We can cuddle. I can pick up your dry cleaning from that place across town, next to that Burger King where we thought we saw Michael Cera but it turned out to be some weird lady. I’m in it to win it, boys and girls!
love, beef
11.15Beeps and Smudges
My very good friend Doc Pop (you know, the guy who made the beat to my most popular song ever, Tub of Tabasco) has put out a brand new album created completely using only iPhone and iPad apps called Beeps and Smudges. Doc has sultry vocals and a signature glitch sound which make for wonderful listening. The $1 also makes for wonderfuler savings. And as if that wasn’t enough, the PhD in Popularity also released a truly great video for the single “Spider.” I think it’s beautiful. Give it a watch and if you dig it (you will) give the man a dollar. He can use the money to master yet another cool craft/skill/hobby.