What I love about the geek and nerd community is that there are many ways we can express our fandom. Whether it’s drawing, painting, sewing, blogging or vlogging, expressing our love of fandoms are unique to us. Today’s artist spotlight shines bright on the music and rapping side of nerdy as we get to know the man behind the master mic, nerdcore rapper, 1-UP.
I met Manny a few years ago at Retropalooza, (an event that focuses on all things retro) and have remained a huge fan since. 1-UP (as he goes by) is a nerdcore rapper out of Texas who travels all over rhyming and reeling about his favorite video games, movies and nostalgic memories.
TD: Tell Aggressive Comix readers about yourself, and whatcha do?
1UP: Hiya! The name is 1-UP Creative Mind Frame and I’m a business process engineer by day. At night I transform into the oh so hilarious 1-UP. A musician aimed at bringing a combination of the laughs and the feels to alllllll!
TD: What is nerdcore, and how’d you’d get into?
1UP: Nerdcore is a genre of music where the subject matter is focused primarily on what would be considered “traditionally nerdy” which I suppose at this point is everything now that nerdy is pretty main stream haha. But I primarily focus on retro games, anime and anything math and physics. I actually got into nerdcore when I was practicing some video editing skills. I had been listening to nerdcore just a little bit at this point (excluding mega ran because I didn’t realize he was nerdcore for the longest time) and I made this parody video of Gangsta’s Paradise called “Nerdcore Paradise” and put it on YouTube. A few weeks later I got a random 500 hits which I traced to an article that was posted on the Jace Hall website about said video. At that point I said to myself “Well I guess I’m doing nerdcore now” you know, to put that music minor I paid for to good use.
TD: What memorable responses have you had to your songs/ albums?
1UP:I would have to say my favorite responses I get are the ones i get for the Corny Pick Up Lines series of videos. It ranges from the LOL to OMFG to SMH if I had to describe it only with IM acronyms. Like I said… I like spreading joy, and sometimes disbelief haha.
TD:How has your practice of writing songs and beats changed over time?
1up:Well when I first started, I had never rapped really so I was basically on an adventure to find my flow / what fit my voice. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is the wonderful use of silence in lines, in beats and in delivery. It’s similar understanding the importance of using white space in painting and drawing. I’ve come to really understand that sometimes less is more and you don’t always have to be spitting one million miles a minute for multiple minutes to make your song sound great.
TD:Favorite or most inspirational artist?
1UP:Lupe Fiasco and Mega Ran by far for hip hop, Miles Davis an Joshua Redman for jazz and Richard Wagner for the classics . As a person let’s focus on Mega Ran, since that’s the only one I actually know personally lol. You know how you meet someone you’ve been listening to or looked up to and you’re like, “wow that person is kind of a tool…” Complete opposite scenario here. I met him and he ended up being one of the most awesome, super nice dudes I have ever met who has given me countless words of wisdom and pieces of advice for music and just life in general. I try to surround myself with kind individuals to help keep me in that mindset.
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