If 2011’s Lars Attacks! was a departure from MC Lars‘ usual rhyming pop cultural references, The Zombie Dinosaur LP is a return to rapping form for the well-studied Stanford University graduate known for rocking a The Legend of Zelda video game cartridge on a gold chain. With a reputation for witty references to literature, film, video games and the like (he even quotes the late “Rowdy” Roddy Piper from They Live on the Lars Attacks! title track), Lars is back to spreading knowledge about Game of Thrones (“Dragon Blood”), Star Wars (“If I Were a Jedi (That Would be Hella Awesome)”), The Legend of Zelda (“Triforce”) and his own upcoming kids’ show project Yes Yes Y’all (“Where Ya Been Lars?”) on his latest album.
“The Zombie Dinosaur LP is kind of like the metaphor of the indie artist who just keeps going because he can’t help it,” says Lars. “My last record was kind of a spiritual, introspective, more authentic hip-hop album. This one is a return to pop culture stuff. I’m really proud of it. I got to work with Kool Keith, who I’ve always loved, Watsky, who’s an incredible young rapper, Roger [Lima] from Less Than Jake, and Brian [Mazzaferri] from I Fight Dragons. It’s more of a return to the vibe of my second record, This Gigantic Robot Kills.”
Photo by Lacy Bursick/Rage Kitty.
Nerd culture loves a good sequel, and The Zombie Dinosaur LP provides plenty of clever references to previous Lars jams. The most obvious one is “Hipster Mom,” which revisits an all-grown-up “Hipster Girl” from This Gigantic Robot Kills. But it’s not just pretentious parents that are the brunt of Lars’ jokes. From his hip-hop heroes Run-DMC to his own professional shortcomings, nothing is off limits here.
“Humor is fun because I rap about how Lars Attacks! didn’t get the best reaction, but my dad thought it was good,” he says. “It’s fun to take light of painful career things. Instead of talking about all the internal stuff I’m going through, I’m talking about pop culture stuff I can relate to and use as a means of expressing how I feel about something. That’s why I love doing the literature songs because you can take an Edgar Allan Poe song or a Shakespeare poem or a Herman Melville story and express how you feel through that character. That Game of Thrones song is identifying with this character who’s trying to hold it together despite all odds. That’s kind of how I felt making this record. I always try to put a piece of myself in every pop culture record and have an emotional reason for it, not just try to name everything about a show.”
Photo by Lacy Bursick/Rage Kitty.
The literary track on The Zombie Dinosaur LP is “Forgot About Jack,” an ode to Beat writer Jack Kerouac done to the tune of Eminem‘s “Forgot About Dre”. Though much of his Warped Tour fanbase may not recognize references to Kerouac, Run-DMC, Hans Moleman and some of his other influences, Lars hopes his raps will inspire listeners to seek out the artists that inspired him.
“I loved The Simpsons, Mad magazine and Weird Al because as a kid it was funny, but it made me want to go learn about what they were referencing in a digestible way,” says Lars. “I was really inspired by Kerouac because he lived in a lot of the same places I lived. Taking the concept of microblogging and the whole social media tip, he was always writing about everything. He was kind of a prototypical Twitter guy. I have a lot of love for Kerouac. He had a lot of darkness and was a really interesting figure.”
Though wrestling isn’t often the topic of his rhymes, Lars does acknowledge its importance in today’s pop cultural landscape. He says CM Punk is his favorite wrestler because “straight edge means he better than me. He’s very handsome.”
“I thought it was dope when ICP was wrestling as part of the Oddities in the late ’90s,” he recalls. “I want to give a shout out to wrestling. It’s the modern gladiators of our era. Shout out to the whole culture and everyone keeping it alive in an economy that is fading. Shout out to Andy Kaufman for holding it down in the ring.”