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Octoberpus Tour 2022 at The Garden Ft. Mega Ran & MC Frontalot

The Garden Alexandria

5380 Eisenhower Ave Suite C, Alexandria, VA 22304, USA Virginia

38.80010089999999 -77.1264465

Description

Mega Ran and MC Frontalot are bringing their Fall 2022 Octoberpus Tour through Alexandria Virginia for a FIRST OF ITS KIND EVENT at The Garden sponsored by Athena Rapid Response Innovation Lab. The show will also feature a performance by Alexandria resident Substantial. Mega Ran Random, aka Mega Ran, aka RandomBeats... Teacher, Rapper, Hero. Guinness World Record Holder. When LA Weekly said that Ran’s “fanbase and niche audiences are growing at a rate not seen since Tech N9ne,” they meant it. A former middle school teacher, Mega Ran (formerly Random) blends education, hip-hop and gaming in amazing new ways, penetrating the farthest reaches of the galaxy with his unique rhyme style and electric performances. Ran cut his teeth in the city of Philadelphia as a moonlighting emcee and producer, performing, freestyle rapping, producing and later engineering at a studio. After relocating to Phoenix, competing in the Scribble Jam emcee battle championships and taking an early exit, Ran almost quit before he was even started, when a creative lightning bolt struck, and a fire was lit. Video games, comic books and pop culture, all such huge factors in Ran’s upbringing, would begin to seep their way into his musical output, and the results were stunning. Ran’s music and story have been shared on stages across the world, on television (ABC/NBC News, ESPN, Portlandia, Tosh.O, WWE Wrestling) and on Billboard, where four of his albums have placed on the Top 200 list, including 2021's "Live 95" debuting at #6 on the Hip-Hop Charts. His musical resume boasts collaborations with legends like Del The Funky Homosapien, MURS, Kool Keith, and Young RJ of the group Slum Village. Today, Mega Ran is no longer a teacher by title, but maintains a rigorous touring and recording schedule, traveling the world to entertain and educate through the gift of rhyme. MC Frontalot MC Frontalot (née Damian Hess) is the original mastermind of Nerdcore Hip-Hop and still its Final Boss. Front was born in San Francisco and grew up in Berkeley. He was tall and scrawny, had trouble breathing, and could not see well. A special teacher was called in to help him attain basic competence on the monkey bars, another to give him standardized tests meant for older children. Thusly, he was the most popular kid in his elementary school. Just kidding! He got pushed down a lot and called “nerd.” Did he maybe even deserve it? I mean, really – who strikes out at kickball? He spent the next twenty years or so trying to get over it. And kind of succeeded! Flash forward to 1999: the dotcom bubble is maximally inflated; nerds everywhere imagine themselves to be popular and/or hip. Damian is getting overpaid to code web pages, which leaves him free in the evenings to play with audio software. A longtime idolizer of rappers, he has been committing his own esoteric hip-hop compositions to four-track tape since high school, revealing them to nobody. But, suddenly! Multi-track desktop studios, cheap pro-grade recording hardware, skyrocketing bandwidth, semi-anonymous web publishing: these factors converge on Damian’s rap hobby like a flock of winged monkeys. He posts an MC Frontalot web page, dubbing his output “Nerdcore Hip-Hop” because his audience is composed of several Star Wars figurines who live on his desk (and also random internet people who click on his MP3s by mistake). Now it is 2022. Nerdcore has metastasized into an internet phenomenon and underground touring powerhouse, with dozens of well-established live acts and hundreds of home-studio rhymers self-identifying within the subgenre. MC Frontalot, called alternately the movement’s godfather or grandfather (thanks, kids), leads the charge, performing for thousands around the country and at prominent geek gatherings such as Comic-Con, DEF CON, the Penny Arcade Expo and BlizzCon. He’s been featured in The New York Times, Spin, Wired, XXL, Newsweek, CNN, Blender, XLR8R, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, The London Daily Telegraph, NPR, G4TV, Esquire, Playboy, CMJ, The Guardian (UK), The Wall Street Journal, and scores of city papers nationally and internationally. He has released seven studio albums, Nerdcore Rising (Sept 2005), Secrets From The Future (Apr 2007), Final Boss (Nov 2008), Zero Day (Apr 2010), Solved (Aug 2011), Question Bedtime (Aug 2014), and Net Split, or the Fathomless Heartbreak of Online Itself (March 2019). The documentary feature, Nerdcore Rising: The Movie, which focuses on Front’s live band and exposes the Nerdcore phenomenon in general, debuted at the South By Southwest Film Festival in 2008. Front lives in Berkeley, CA, and still spends most of his time rapping into a computer. Substantial Prince George's County, MD-born, International Hip-Hop recording artist, Substantial is a Jazz Rap/Lo-Fi Hip-Hop veteran known for his collaborations with the late Nujabes, Oddisee, and others. Legendary rapper and activist, Chuck D of Public Enemy referred to Substantial as “One of the great MCs of our time.” His music has reached over 50 million plays on Spotify and #6 on the Billboard "World Digital Sales" charts while his videos have been featured on MTV, BET, and VH1. He’s created music for video games including PUBG Mobile and Arknights, films, and TV shows including Kevin Hart's Laugh at My Pain and he’s a two-time Hollywood Music in Media Award nominee. Substantial has also performed in nearly 20 countries worldwide and as a Hip-Hop educator, he currently serves as an ambassador of Hip-Hop for the US State Department and Next Level Program. BlackLiq Richmond, VA emcee BlackLiq is unafraid to stare point-blank into the deepest, most reflective sectors of the abyss while holding his head high and rearranging his reflection into whatever form the future demands – he remains true to self while never allowing that allegiance to stunt growth. A long-time independent force, BlackLiq has filled the roles of radio host on WRIR 97.3FM & WDCE 90.1FM, promoter, journalist, author, mentor, teacher in public and private schools as well as juvenile detention facilities and universities, TEDtalk speaker, and more. During the Civil Unrest of 2020 he was interviewed and quoted by Washington Post, NPR, and TIME Magazine, and wrote an editorial for University Of Richmond's The Collegian as well as University of Illinois Press Journal of American Folk Lore (JAF). Respected as an MC throughout the underground and above, he most recently appeared on indie rap juggernaut Atmosphere’s latest album, “WORD?” is the latest addition to Strange Famous Records, and the vocalist of D-beat Punk band Armagideon Time on Anti-Corp Music. Relentlessly kinetic and persistently willing to impart the life lessons that have led him to his hard-won place in the industry, he places all facets on display: “I’m not your enemy – I’m your worst best friend.” Twill Distilled Washington, D.C. musician Twill Distilled is a singer, rapper, and producer. Infamous in nerd spaces and convention scenes, Twill has created a vibrant splash with her music, performances, fashion choices, and artwork. Beloved by many, she has been called a nerd fashion icon as well as “Nerdcore’s version of Lady Gaga.” Get ready to turn the POWER ON, dance, and sing your heart out with Twill Distilled! Retro Gaming Lounge Sponsored by Super Bit Video Games

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Start: 2022-10-13T19:00:00-04:00

End: 2022-10-13T23:00:00-04:00

Tickets

General Admission 15.0 USD 200