Introducing ‘Notes from Mr. Sandman‘ – a column slapping a spotlight on lyricists overlooked, under appreciated, or just plain criminally slept on. Or like a man named Nas once said, “I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death.” Enter Mr. Sandman with what y’all missed while chasing the REM dragon.
MC Frontalot is a self-proclaimed nerd, a dweeb who finds sanctuary in digital confines. He’s the tape that holds together a pair of broken spectacles, the guy who wears a Nintendo shirt to a wedding, a champion who is just as comfortable in a game room as he is in a recording booth.
Frontalot grew up in San Francisco, but made a name for himself working the online battle circuit. A distinct community who can be just as ruthless as the cypher circle, maybe even more, so he’s earned his keep.
He’s the type of lyricist who thrives in the moment, taking the banal and the everyday, and flipping it into a hilarious, often insightful narrative. His sense of humor and self-deprecating nature is the foundation of his style and it’s what gives him an upper hand on his contemporaries. A Larry David approach that matches up well against the hyper aggressiveness of most rappers.
On “Stoop Sale” Frontalot describes a seemingly innocuous exchange between him and a merchant who is trying to peddle a magic belt buckle, one that can grant wishes. He uses it as an opportunity to discuss life’s most vexing questions. But as he’s pondering the possibilities someone swoops in and takes it, a wilting flower moment we all can identify with: [LISTEN]
As an advocate for the nerdcore genre, Frontalot seizes every opportunity to flex his intellect. But rest assured he’s not trying to bog people down with new-age philosophy or fleeting revolution’s. Instead he embraces his inner kid, spending hours mulling over video games and comics, which is a welcome departure from the mind-numbing tropes hammering rap.
While Fronalot may not be the first lyricist to embrace nerd culture he is one of the best at weaving it into his rhymes. On “Charisma Potion” (for the Final Fantasy fans out there) he incorporates just the right amount of crass humor and lyrical tomfoolery to make something as gimmicky as an obscure item in a video game pop with vibrancy: [LISTEN]
Lyricists like Frontlaot are important because they change the expectations of what a rapper should or should not be. But he doesn’t rely solely on one gimmick or novelty to define him, he’s deeper than that. At his core he holds all the fundamentals that go with being a solid rapper; dope punchlines, off-the-cuff themes, and a dynamic sense of humor. Hip-hop has changed drastically over the years and MCs like Frontalot are ushering in a new movement, one that embraces all the things that people love but are too self-conscious to acknowledge.
