Feature Wednesday - MC Lars

Today I would like to introduce one MC Lars.

In an ideal world, this man would need no introduction, but chances are, you've never even heard of lit-hop. That's right, lit(erary)-(hip)hop.
MC Lars' latest album blends funky hip-hop beats and romantic (albeit questionably healthy) poetry of Edgar Allan Poe. As the first track of the album ("Flow Like Poe") tells us, "The mechanics of rap are the mechanics of rhyming," proceeding to show us just how much fun poetry can be when it's set to a funky beat, garnished with a classical melody and flavored with clever modern pop-culture references.

The beauty of this track is in that you can listen to it for days, discovering new references each time. It took me a week to finally get the Hunger Game reference and I had to ask someone about something that turned out to be a Jersey Shore reference.


 One of my favorite songs on the album is "Mr. Raven" which, as you may guess, is a lit-hop version of Nevermore. It is definitely a lot more enjoyable than the original, in my opinion.

The other song that I absolutely cannot get enough of is (Rock) The Bells, and it's pretty much one of Poe's poems rapped to a lovely dramatic loop. It's amazing how updated and fresh it sounds.

By the way, the cover of this album that you're seeing up top? The one that looks like it was done in Microsoft Paint? It was.

In my opinion, this EP is head and shoulders above the rest of MC Lars' older music, although there are some nuggets of awesomeness to be found in his vintage tracks, as well.

He is also credited with coining a term "I Generation" and his awesomeness level shoots into stratosphere for his track "Male Feminist". In the noxious misogynistic atmosphere that is the modern rap culture, it takes some balls to proclaim loud and clear one's position on gender equality.
So - lots of respect to MC Lars.