He Fronts The Most...

I don't think I'm inside my own mind today... I have always been on the fence with MC Frontalot. Ever since I discovered him after he made the Penny Arcade Theme Song he's been on the radar as a champion of geekdom and a pretty solid rapper in his own right. He's pretty underground and I think that it worked for him. He would rap about things from D&D to Magic: The Gathering to Goth Girls to why your blog sucks and you know what, it's all pretty good. Something though, wasn't grabbing me. Maybe it was a lack of production value, maybe it was just inconsistencies. I like many of his songs but he never really hit that 'next' level where I could feel comfortable calling him a 'favorite'.

After the release of his newest album, Zero Day. I can say with certainty that MC Frontalot is one of my favorite rappers.

Since Penny Arcade effectively threw him a bone his popularity has skyrocketed, and with that his income most likely has as well. Resulting in the last two albums he's made being produced with much, much stronger production quality.

At first though, he didn't have that. He just had some pretty catchy lyrics and a very solid flow. Songs like Pr0n Song, Bizzaro Genius Baby, Mountain Kind and It Is Pitch Dark jumped out to me among his song library at the time. My plus one had always had a fondness for the MC Front but for some reason I just couldn't find myself embracing him with the same life.

He released "Final Boss" In 2008. It had some solid songs, it started out strong with "Wallflower and "Tongue-Clucking Grammarian". There is a song about Canada called "Canadia" which created an interesting beat off the tune of O'Canada. Socks On was a cool song as well but overall the album was a miss. There wasn't much about it that I enjoyed and I thought maybe Front was going to outlive his welcome. I worried about him. Final Boss had kind of stumped my favor of the Front like a difficult boss would thwart my desire to play a video game.

I didn't fret, I just gave Front a rest. I re-established my vigor for other musicians of the genre like the Beastie Boys and Outkast. Front sat on the sidelines but he wasn't forgotten. Upon learning of his new album I was hesitant but got it anyway. What happened was I was overjoyed.

Zero Day was like a countdown to Frontalot establishing his legitimacy. The album starts of hot with the title track and then moves on to a D&D themed song called "Charisma Potion." which further establishes Front's credability as a gamer (If you were ever in doubt to begin with). "Your Friend Wil" is a great track where our friend Wil Wheaton proclaims "Don't be a dick" (A reference to a recent PAX [Penny Arcade eXpo] where Wil said "When you're playing [games] online, don't be a dick." during a speech he gave about gaming culture) "First World Problems" pokes fun at a lack of priorities in our culture today and "Disaster" is a great track with a catchy chorus and beat that features fellow Nerdcore rappers Schaffer The Darklord and Beefy

"Spoiler Alert" spills the beans on way too much for it not to be funny, while "Better at Rapping" Front may truly confess his feelings or just poke fun at hypothetical inadequacies, I love the result regardless. He also re-makes an old classic, reminding us why he's called MC Frontalot with "Front The Most". Hilarious skits like "The Tribulations of Muffy and Pervival" which services as the precursor to "First World Problems" and "Question and Answer Time" which features the hilarious John Hodgman help keep the album fresh and keep the humor level of the album high.

After listening to this album, I have to say, I would love to hear a "Weird Al" Yankovic / MC Frontalot collaboration! What kind of song would they make? I don't know but I bet it would be hilarious and awesome.

Overall, Zero Day is high quality from beginning to end and it's not only my favorite Frontalot album but really one of my favorite rap albums and music albums of recent memory. It combines an excellent variety of instruments as well as some classic old school NES era video game sounds in the various tracks. It sets the tone for 2010 to be a great decade for MC Front and Nerdcore Hip Hop. I highly recommend Frontalot to gamers, to rap fans, to music fans, to anybody that's looking for something a little different and fresh.