MC Chris

Infobox musical artist 2
Name = mc chris


Img_capt = mc chris on 04/04/07 at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, California
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Chris Ward IV
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|1975|9|2|mf=y
Age = 33
Origin =
Instruments =
Genre = Underground hip hop Nerdcore hip hop
Occupation = Rapper, actor, comedian, writer
Years_active = 2001-present
Label = Unsigned
URL = [http://www.mcchris.com www.mcchris.com]

Chris Ward IV (born September 2, 1975), otherwise known as mc chris, is a rapper, voice actor, writer, and improvisational comedian born in Libertyville, Illinois, U.S.. He attended Art Institute of Chicago, and New York University's (NYU) Tisch School of the Arts. He self releases with no current record label. mc chris originally performed with The Lee Majors. His trademarks include the synthesis of his "geek" heritage with the "gangster" image associated with hip hop artists, and the high pitch of his voice. Chris has released five albums, one re-release, and a tenth anniversary edition of his recordings with The Lee Majors. Mc chris also just finished his tour with Reggie and the Full Effect, and has just announced his headlining fall tour with Totally Michael, starting October 14, 2008.

Work on Adult Swim

He has appeared and worked behind the scenes on many of Williams Street Studios' shows on Adult Swim, most notably "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (as a voice talent and a production assistant), "Sealab 2021" (as a writer and as the recurring character Hesh), and was a production assistant and writer for "The Brak Show" (including the episodes "Brakstreet" and "Shadows of Heat"). He was also a contributing writer for "" and made a cameo in the episode "Baffler Meal."

In October 2004, he announced his resignation from Cartoon Network to the public on his [http://www.livejournal.com/users/clixnwhistles/12052.html blog] to focus on his recording career. He has since made sporadic returns to Williams Street including a brief part in "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters" and the Playstation 2 video game, "Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am". He can also be seen very briefly as a background character in the pilot episode of the recently picked up "Fat Guy Stuck in Internet". He will make his big return to Adult Swim in the form of a red Gummi bear by the name of "Gummi" on the upcoming show "Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge". [ [http://yousoundlikearobot.com/?p=202 mc chris interview on You Sound Like A Robot] ]

On June 17, 2007, mc chris announced on his message boards that he's been working on a project for years entitled "Battle Hi", but says he doesn't quite have things in order just yet in regards to its production. [ [http://67.18.79.2/board/index.php?topic=196.msg4060#msg4060 mc chris announces new show in his FAQ] ] . He has since revealed that the show is about a runaway in a "land of music" and that the project is not yet involved with Williams Street. [ [http://yousoundlikearobot.com/?p=202 mc chris interview on You Sound Like A Robot] ]

pin Magazine

In January 2006 mc chris was a nominee for Spin Magazine's "Band of the Year" contest. The voting was shut down for maintenance after fans of a competitor, Demander, used hacks or voting bots to stack the odds overwhelmingly in their favor,Fact|date=March 2008 and when the site came back online Demander was declared the winner.

Acceptance and rejection of nerdcore hip-hop

Mc Chris is one of the artists most closely associated with the genre of Nerdcore hip-hop. However, for most of his career mc Chris eschewed the "nerdcore" label and did his best to distance himself from the scene. [ [http://www.digitalgangster.com/4um/archive/index.php/t-15801.html Digitalgangster.com] Re-post of mc chris blog. January, 29th 2007] In 2007, as Nerdcore hip-hop experienced a surge in popularity and press attention, mc chris changed his stance on the genre. Not only did he stop protesting when fans, artists or members of the media labeled his style of music as "nerdcore" he made efforts to reach out to the Nerdcore community and apologize for the way he had rejected and disrespected the genre. [ [http://www.digitalgangster.com/4um/archive/index.php/t-15801.html Digitalgangster.com] Re-post of mc chris blog. January, 29th 2007] mc chris cited his ingrained geeky tendencies as the reason he struggled to disassociate himself from nerdcore for so long:

"sorry it's taken me so long to fully recognize this genre i never thought i was above it i was just unaccustomed to being a part of anything. not really used to being included, so oddly enough it can make it difficult to join up." [ [http://www.digitalgangster.com/4um/archive/index.php/t-15801.html Digitalgangster.com] Re-post of mc chris blog. January, 29th 2007]

In that same blog post, mc chris also noted that he was impressed by the amount of press attention some nerdcore rappers were suddenly getting. Throughout 2007 mc chris positioned himself to be a representative for the genre and did interviews for the highest-profile pieces of press Nerdcore had then garnered. Still, he seemed hesitant to fully embrace the nerdcore label in this articles and often attributed his popularity to other forces as he did in an interview with the New York Times:

"In conversation, Mr. Ward was quick to point out that the term 'nerdcore' — coined by fellow rapper MC Frontalot in 2000 — may be too self-limiting, because 'nerds' are hardly the only children of the '80s who were raised on Transformers, Indiana Jones movies, and Public Enemy. 'It's so weird to talk about these as my specific influences, because they're not.'" [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/fashion/05nerdcore.html New York Times] August, 8th, 2007]

By the fall of 2007, mc chris had once again changed his opinion on Nerdcore and spoke out against the genre to the Boston Globe:

"But some are not happy with nerdcore's growing buzz. Chris Ward, 32, who performs as MC Chris, is attempting to distance himself from a genre some say he helped pioneer. He had a stint on this summer's Warped Tour, and his music is among nerdcore's most accessible, featuring his slightly high-pitched voice and Kanye-like beats.

"It's kind of one of those things that perpetuates itself where the only people in the audience are the people making the music. . . . I'm afraid of being demoted by comparison, [of being] lumped into this group that's kind of dismissible," he said recently before his sold-out show at the Roxy."" [ [http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/11/04/refrain_of_the_nerds/?page=3 Boston Globe] November, 4, 2007]

Seemingly fed up with all the nerdcore-related press he had been asked to do, mc Chris lashed out against the media in his blog:

"it's this fuckin press. and i told my booking as we ate al fresco in the shadow of the newsweek building in nyc, that i wasnt gonna do press, that this thing was gonna perpetuate itself if i kept on doing interviews about it. the stories are never about me. i'm a figurehead that signals a cultural revolution, that's their angle and they will stick to it sic|ad nauseum. and if i cant be the figure head then they'll get one of the desperate dipshits who cant wait to do what i do with the same results... i wish the press didnt turn out to be a bunch of lemmings that doesn't mind insulting their subjects, because they think in generalizations, in categories. no one wants to know about me. they want to know about my movement. my genre." [ [http://nerdcore.info/index.php/2007/10/15/colorado-springs-show-cancelled/ Nerdcore.info] Re-post of mc Chris blog. October, 15, 2007]

In that same blog post mc chris strongly came out against Nerdcore Hip-Hop and stated that the genre's recent success was due to his hard work. He also scolded the media for being "lemmings" for all showering so much attention on Nerdcore while not focusing on his own "movement:"

""the truth is i'm kicking every other [nerdcore] rapper like me's ass up and down the boardwalk. i only like one and will say his name quite happily. jesse dangerously. he's good. the rest suck. that's hard to say and i havent said it before because some of these people are my fans, some are my friends. but i cant stand the music, i hate being associated with it, it doesn't serve my career and it only makes me want to drink, die, quit or d: all of the above. because the best way i can say this is, i've built a house and it took ten years to build it and i just finished it and i want to take a picture of myself in front of it. just before the camera goes off someone steps in the frame and says, me too, i built this house too. i worked all those years. i made all those sacrifices. they didn't, they just think it's a dope house and they want to live in it too."

"people that want access to accolades they have no right to are cheaters. they don't want to do the work, they don't want to wait, they just want to win, tomorrow. there are some people that think that cant have a career unless it's tethered to mine and they're right. i wish they'd leave me alone. i wish the press didnt turn out to be a bunch of lemmings that doesn't mind insulting their subjects, because they think in generalizations, in categories. no one wants to know about me. they want to know about my movement. my genre."" [ [http://nerdcore.info/index.php/2007/10/15/colorado-springs-show-cancelled/ Nerdcore.info] Re-post of mc chris blog. October, 15, 2007]

mc chris went on to finally cut ties with Nerdcore Hip-Hop by announcing it was "a genre I do not endorse." [ [http://nerdcore.info/index.php/2007/10/15/colorado-springs-show-cancelled/ Nerdcore.info] Re-post of mc chris blog. October, 15, 2007]

In August 2008 mc Chris once again changed his mind about doing nerdcore-related press and announced on his blog that he would be participating in a "60 Minutes" story about nerd culture and nerdcore:

"i did have an ace up my sleeve all day. sixty minutes hollered at me. they're filming my september 7th show. that's right. MCCHRIS IS GONNA BE ON 60 MINUTES!!! in a piece on nerd culture and nerdcore. not something i usually want to be associated with, but im not gonna be stupid and say no to the biggest news show on tv." [ [http://nerdcore.info/index.php/2008/08/21/i%E2%80%99m-a-baby-bird/ Nerdcore.info] Re-post of mc chris' blog. August, 21, 2008]

Discography

*"Life's a Bitch and I'm Her Pimp" (2001)
*"Knowing Is Half the Hassle" (2003)
*"Eating's Not Cheating" (2004)
*"Dungeon Master of Ceremonies" (2006)
*"The New York University 8-Track Discography 10th Anniversary Edition" (2007)
*"MC Chris Is Dead" (2008)
*"The Floor Is Lava" (2009)

References

External links

* [http://www.mcchris.com/ Official site] (Requires Flash plugin)
*MySpace|id=mcchris|name=mc chris
*imdb name | id=1002355 | name=Chris Ward
* [http://www.tv.com/chris-ward-iv/person/68201/summary.html TV.com entry for Chris Ward]
* [http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/22/1418238 Slashdot Interview] "( [http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/05/03/01/1515223.shtml original announcement found here] )"
* [http://filmforce.ign.com/articles/502/502897p1.html?fromint=1 FilmForce Interview]
* [http://onetrickpony.ws/mc_chris Interview From September 2005]
* [http://www.deviantnation.com/magazine/article/Artist/MC-Chris/ Interview from April 2008 on Deviant Nation]