MC Lars 
Laptop EP

Side Cho Records
Release Date:  July 27, 2004

Hip-hop, or post-rap laptop rock, is so the new emo.  When I first discovered MC Lars, no one had ever heard of him.  MC Lars is a white college student rocking some jams on his laptop, using Lite Brites for stage effects.  But, I soon learned that punk rock kids have taken a liking to his fresh beats. 

So, why am I covering this CD?  Cause MC Lars is all rock.  With DMX blaring in cars at shows, and acts like Atmosphere and Wiscompton attracting hordes of bobbing heads and hands at the Warped Tour, why the hell shouldn't I cover it?  A few things make MC Lars different.  He's funny for starters.  In the track "Hurricaine Fresh" he tells the story of Lars Ulrich accosting him for downloading Public Enemy MP3's.  Lars retaliates with "I kicked him with my Converse shoe/All the way to Timbuktu."

My favorite line on the whole disc is on the satirical "Signing Emo."  OK.  There are two actually.  The first one is "Sign more emo/How about screamo?/If it sells, sign Nemo."  The whole song is good shit.  "Sees a girl in a Simple Plan shirt/With her Senses Fail boy/ha, that'll never work."  It's so true.  All of the behavior of music execs and emo kids are laid out on this track.

Also, he is smart.  The kids that listen to his stuff don't want to hear about bitches, hoes, and crack.  They want Dashboard jokes and songs about passing class.  MC Lars delivers.  The sweetest part of the disc is all of the sampling.  "I Generation" samples Pieblad, "Signing Emo" samples Hearts That Hate, and "Mr. Raven" samples Brand New.  Edgar Allan Poe over "I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't," that is so genius.

MC Lars is catch and real.  "England Vice Versa" is not awesome, but makes some valid points about the English/American cross cultures.  I think the reason I keep this album in the player is that I can relate to 93% of what he is talking about.  Give it a spin, you'll at least like the Taking Back Sunday reference.

XROXX ALBUM RATING: XXXX (4 of a possible 5 X's)

Jayne*Star
jayne.star@XROXX.com