To give context on what the biopic is about it is essentially a long production that started 10 years ago with comedy company Funny or Die on YouTube. They released a video as a way to parody the biopics that were out at the time. The original cast for that short parody trailer of the biopic was Aaron Paul, of Breaking Bad fame as Weird Al and actress Olivia Wilde as Madonna. When it released, Eric Appel mentioned in his interview with SCAD Radio, that he had to work back to that trailer and find ways to make those bits longer and adapt it to the biopic format. The basis of the concept was to make a biopic of an artist that is still alive.

Now, if you don’t know much about Weird Al Yankovic essentially, Weird Al Yankovic is a musician, parody artist. He was essentially one of the first to have this comedy musical career which really created a foundation for parodies. It was a predecessor to YouTube videos and Minecraft parodies, I think once YouTube came out, I was the perfect demographic where I had the ability to access YouTube, a new generation to view his videos of parody songs. Weird Al made Eat It, a parody of Beat It, White and Nerdy a parody of Ridin Dirty. He did a parody of Nirvana. Weird Al is sort of a milestone to a musician in the sense that Nirvana stated Weird Al asked if he could do a parody on Smells Like Teen Spirit, that was them knowing that they’ve made it in the industry, that they’ve been recognized by pop culture. I think Weird Al Yankovic is like a transcript. He’s tuned into pop culture. He started that career in the late 70s, early 80s and is still going strong today.

This particular biopic brings the idea that if you want to leave a legacy, you can make that story your own and with Weird Al he’s obviously gonna make a parody and commentary of it. The biopic genre has advantages and disadvantages. Many artists have passed and therefore in a way do not have a say in what should be shown or not shown. Queen at least had Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon to voice on behalf of Freddie Mercury. The film is about showing a little bit of himself, reflecting who he is, and bringing in new generation again. It’s also to recognize his work or to appreciate his love for music because the biopic includes several of his songs: Amish paradise, Eat it and Like a Surgeon. He took a biopic genre, and how it’s usually produced and he flips it on its head. For those who don’t really know his life story, you can’t quite tell, is this true? Is this not true? but then it’s also very blatant. With the fact that it’s not true he brings a sort of hero arc to himself. He wants to make himself a bigger legend. He’s a humble guy in real life, so within the movie, he really takes on these heroic acts or he really falls. He has a really hard character fall with alcoholism, and dealing with relationships in the biopic that, may not have happened in real life. Weird Al himself does not drink or do not drink to that level that was depicted. So he really did kind of get the nuance of the biopic, the harsh upbringing, the the need to explore in life and the college years you know, the the story arc of a biopic, but he makes it so great and comedic. It’s just a great light hearted film, especially watching it in a crowd with reactions or I’d recommend watching this with family. Definitely something that will just get the conversation going.

After the movie, Eric Appel did a QnA session. Appel mentioned that he was planning on only staying a few minutes of the screening during Film Fest, but stayed for the whole movie just because of our reactions. He could hear it and I think he was very much appreciative of the Scad and Savannah crowd because of it

This movie is a reminder that we can make our own legacies if we want to and to recognize what’s real and what’s not. Another factor I enjoyed was his, his awareness of the time era that he came up in the in, the 80s by parodying The Knicks My Sharona with his take of My Bologna. If you enjoy the 80s era and pop culture or you grew up around then, you get a laugh about what is parodied. I think that’s why Madonna is so integral to the film, because Yankovic was becoming a star in the same era as her. The fact that he just incorporated Madonna into his story, legacy and interaction with fame is something that gets a kick. The cast that goes along with it is just simply amazing. This wasn’t just a parody, but a passion project and it shows the effect that Al Yankovic has left in a comedic career and the impact he has had for others. We wouldn’t have lonely island without weird Al, or Tenacious D be as popular if it weren’t for Yankovics hold in integral foundations for that musical genre. I’m hoping more more awareness of Weird Al Yankovic comes because I was shocked that when I asked people are you going to see weird owl and many people were like, No, I don’t really know him. And I think that just shows at least for people my age, the side of YouTube that they were introduced with or even you know, parents, maybe not also showing his legacy and I think he has a refresh and restart or even just not quite a comeback because he’s been here, but I think, this movie opens up to a larger audience. It’s a reminder to do some self reflections about ourselves and the legacies that we are currently making and we would like to take it, maybe we’d like our legacies to go. I highly recommend it. It is currently out on Roku. That if you do have a Roku account to go out and support it ,So I highly recommend it. I think it’s, it’s a great watch for sure

The post A Review of ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story’ a Love Letter To His Career, Comedy, and Making of a Legacy appeared first on SCAD Radio.

How would you describe the nerdcore style?

MC Frontalot- Nerdcore is very much like all of the rest of hip-hop, which we’re all so familiar with at this point, except there’s much less pressure on you to be cool. You don’t have to be cool at all, you could be a huge dork and it would still be okay that you’re rapping.

Well, we’re all in art school, so I think we’re all a bunch of weirdos over here, too. I was looking into your music videos, and they have a lot of interesting themes. Do you have one that stands out as your favorite?

There’s one for “Stoop Sale” off of my 5th album. It was directed by Max Isaacson and it’s all puppets. I don’t know whether it’s really the best. It seems like [it is] when I watch it, or whether I’m just attached to the long week spent in that freezing Brooklyn warehouse building a ⅓ scale neighborhood out of plywood and paint.

You were at SXSW (South by Southwest) this past March. How was that for you?

It was a really good year. It’s my 12th one in a row I think? It was all so overwhelming at first, but now I love it there. I didn’t think when I was little that Texas would be one of the places I liked going to every year, but I really do look forward to visiting Austin.

Your popularity skyrocketed once the webcomic Penny Arcade dropped your name. Would you consider this your ‘big break’, and what did that moment feel like?

It was 2000 or 2001 when Penny Arcade linked up one of my songs, “Yellow Lasers”. That was definitely a big explosion from having a couple downloads for each track to having thousands of people curious about it. It’s so funny to think of some link on a blog being a big break, but it kinda was. I’d say a larger thing was after that when Negin Farsad made a documentary feature about my band’s first tour, and that was on Netflix for a few years… She named it after the first album, it’s called Nerdcore Rising.

My next question is actually about that! You were featured in that film, I believe Weird Al Yankovic was in that as well?

Weird Al’s in there, [director Negin Farsad] got a lot of interesting people for the movie… I love the movie. I think it’s a great introduction to nerdcore, and more selfishly, it’s a fantastic advertisement for my band… I feel like I’m better at rapping now, it’s a little embarrassing to watch all the song parts of the documentary, but it’s still a funny and heartwarming time.

Your new album seems to deal with a lot of issues and opinions on technology. What is your opinion on the current technological state of our environment?

It’s called Net Split, or the Fathomless Heartbreak of Online Itself and it’s a breakup record about Internet. I’m a grumpy old man and I used to love Internet, and I still love Internet, of course, but I’m also terrified and horrified every time I go online. It’s just this cesspool of misery and hatred. But what are you gonna do? Humanity has got some conflicts to work out and now we have this gigantic new playground where everyone can hurt each other’s feelings anonymously… I think there’s hope, hope for the future. There has to be. If there’s none, then why log on at all?

MC Frontalot will be performing at Smith’s Olde Bar in Atlanta, GA on Monday, May 13th.

The post Interview With MC Frontalot, the Face of the Nerdcore Rap Movement appeared first on SCAD Radio.