MC Chris - Live Review

MC Chris
The Picador
3/23/07

Here’s an example of when it pays to be an opening act instead of a headlining one. In a strange situation that placed Aqua Teen/Sealab 2021 voice-over character/nerd rapper MC Chris in front of Capitol recording artist Street To Nowhere and in back of Piebald, the audience was clearly there to see the man in the middle.
What this meant was that Street To Nowhere received the benefit of the attendance while Piebald played to a nearly empty house as soon as MC Chris’ set ended. And it was painfully evident that this would happen after a quick scan of the line waiting for the doors to open outside of The Picador; MC Chris tends to draw his clientele away from their comic books and video games, so very few of those in attendance qualified as rock club regulars.
Regardless of how often they get out to rock shows, there’s no denying that Chris understands his fan base and both his raps and stage banter cater to the hip Toby Radloffs of the world. He expressed anger at the recent decision to kill off Captain America, claimed that he wasn’t getting any trim on the recent tour which forces him to masturbate to comics, and continually conveyed his love for weed (“I got a one-hitter/By the name of Margot Kidder”) or “Wiid” (get it?) as the case may be.
As a rapper, MC Chris has tremendous skills and some very clever rhymes that resonate with most late twentieth century white boys who hold their pop culture references close to the bone. The same is true for his beats; pulling from some unlikely sources (“Steady As She Goes” from The Raconteurs, old Atari video games) Chris’ beats work the crowd because they’re comfortable with them. There’s an obvious sense that if he would have pulled from rap’s typical sources, the fans wouldn’t be able to identify so readily with him.
He allotted plenty of opportunity to connect with the crowd on a personal level, dutifully chatting with them, allowing pictures with him and signing autographs for anyone who’d approach. Small in stature, Chris (wearing his obligatory Cubs hat) is the epitome of his fans yet he grows several inches when he’s on stage. He’s not afraid to poke fun at his nerd image and he welcomed followers to come smoke pot with him after the show to rejoice in their nerd solidarity. I’m sure the members of Piebald were excited to hear this too, as the crowd performed a mass exodus outside the club immediately after the MC Chris performance.
Which provided the biggest complaint: lasting a mere 45 minutes, MC Chris worked the crowd into such frenzy that you could actually see the discontent in many fans at how short his set was. Apparently, this was Chris’ first full-fledged tour which may explain the reason why it was so abridged, but there should have been some foresight in knowing that he would be the three-band line-up’s main draw.
Besides: if Chris’ knowledge of pop culture is as good as it appears to be in his songs, he should know how “Revenge Of The Nerds” ended.