Nerdcore

So you all do not think I am a snob and only go to classical music concerts (I am seeing the Royal Philharmonic tonight...) the following is my review of the show last night at Record Bar, a nightclub here in Kansas City.

I read with interest in the last Pitch that "Bacon Shoe" was playing on Friday. Bacon Shoe is a leader in the new genre of Nerd Rap or Nerdcore. Nerdcore hip hop, or geeksta rap, is a subgenre of hip hop music that is performed by nerds, and is characterized by themes and subject matter considered to be of general interest to nerds. Now, Bacon Shoe is probably a little too raunchy for most nerds, but the guys on stage "Toine" and "Lethal-D" certainly act like nerds. Actually I saw "Toine" in the crowd before their show and he looked and acted like any youngish 20 something fellow.

Toine begins his show by doing calisthenics, you know stretches, jumping jacks, leg lifts and such dressed in a hooded Nike sweatshirt. Lethal-D wears an indescribable head band and a large medallion of the Lexus automobile logo.

On the bacon is the star of the show, Mr Ruggles. Mr Ruggles is a kind of fucked-up dog-like thing. A huge monster headed fellow with perpetual underbite fangs, he stands quietly in the back and cooks bacon. Yes, he does. And when it is done, he takes it and distributes it to the crowd. Sometimes he stands and shakes his head, sometimes he gets beat up by Toine and Lethal-D. He always gets his furry head scratched and petted.

It's easily the weirdest group in town. Bacon Shoe is supremely entertaining. Lethal-D's rhymes are grotesquely and raunchily clever, Toine's improvised shout-outs and dance-floor breakdowns are hysterically half-witted, and Mr. Ruggles' bacon is greasy and hot. What more could you ask for?