MC Chris - MC Chris Goes to Hell

Your ability to enjoy MC Chris Goes to Hell depends on two things besides whether you like MC Chris. The first is whether you already heard the "Part Six" EPs that led up to this album's release, and if you have, the second is whether you appreciate remixes as a way of releasing music. The album comes with 15 tracks, two of which are skits, four of which are new songs, and the rest of which are remixed versions of tracks from the EPs. Chris did a good job of selecting the best songs to keep, and as far as keeping things fresh I can't say I was really displeased with the job they did. A few of the tracks are hardly distinguishable from their original versions, which makes you wonder what the point was, but of the ones that are noticeably different, I felt evenly split on ones that were improved with the new production and ones that definitely weren't. I will never like what they did to "Awesome Fucker", but the new twist on "Neville" is fun and fits the content better. It goes back and forth like this for a lot of the album, and for the most part it's hard to be disappointed. Some songs even have new lyrical content to go with the new version, although most of it didn't thrill me. The two skits aren't amazing but still pretty solidly hilarious, with the first being yet another meeting between Chris and his manager and the second a (real?) preview for his next album, making it sound like an action movie featuring every movie trailer cliché ever. It's all not quite what I've come to expect from a full album by Chris, but it's still pretty fun to listen to.

MC Chris - Part Six Part Three

I pretty much knew what to expect at this point from Chris' third release this year. Funny skits that wrap up the story started four releases ago, a few catchy songs with clever, nerd-related lyrics, a more sentimental song for the ladies I guess, and a brief running time. I'd put it closer to Part Six Part Two in terms of quality, but the entire suite is pretty entertaining overall. The skits this time show an increase in the trend of allowing less than perfect takes to make it onto the final recording. When Chris and his friends start breaking out in laughter at the absurdity of what they're saying it can be as funny as if they played it straight, and they're giggling pretty often this time. Actual song-wise, "Hipster Hunter" and "Emo Party" go after a couple different groups in pop culture, and I'm not sure how tongue-in-cheek they really are. "Dengar's Dumptruck" might be my favorite of the new bounty hunter songs, and it might just be nostalgia that keeps "Fett's Vette" on top. "Distant Lands" has a chiptuned beat and is a cute little track to wrap up the new music here. I'm interested to see how MC Chris Goes to Hell shapes up, but until then this drip-feed of new music has been pretty enjoyable.

MC Chris - Part Six Part Two

The second part of this slightly absurd project wasn't quite as enjoyable as the first, but still a solid, funny release. While I didn't like the songs quite as much, the album does flow a bit better, as actual music is only interrupted by skits once instead of three times. The first two tracks are incredibly nerdy. "Zuckuss' Prius" is another in the series of Star Wars bounty hunters and their rides, though not as catchy as the one on the last album. "Neville" is about Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter series, and has a nice ska groove as Chris spits about one of fantasy's most important total dorks. The last two songs change focus a bit. They feature some auto-tuned singing in the choruses, and focus on the fairer sex. Though "Japanese Maid" has its own geeky flair, putting Chris in the shoes of the protagonist of some trite anime. The skits continue the story of Chris' tour through hell, and while they're not as gut-busting as Part One's bits, you have to like something that features references to Guts and six minutes of wacky names for bad guys. I'm not sure when the third part is supposed to come out, but I'm looking forward to it.

MC Chris - Part Six Part One

So, I think this is Chris' last music project for a while, as he's getting back into animation soon. Not content to just release an album, he's starting it off with a string of three EPs, before eventually putting out the final full length called MC Chris Goes to Hell, which may or may not include different skits and remixed versions of all the songs. In any case, I'll probably end up gladly supporting whatever it ends up being. The first EP, Part Six Part One, is only a brief seven tracks long, with four songs and three skits. What it lacks in length it makes up for in persistent humor and quality. The skits are as funny as they've ever been, maybe narrower in scope than before thanks to the episodic nature of the release, but still hilarious. The songs are solid, and pretty darn sexual in nature, the most since he put out Eating's Not Cheating. The opening track is as explicit as you could ever ask for, and has some cool vocal effects and an asynchronous beat backing it up. "006" is another catchy song with a good chorus, and a funny little story going on about Chris being some sort of secret agent. "Gauges" is the requisite softer, more sentimental track, and "IG-88's '57 Chevy" is a humorous, auto-tuned reaction to his fake manager's suggestion from two albums ago that he follow up "Fett's Vette" with more songs about the cars of bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back. As a callback to the style and length of his earliest releases, I liked it quite a bit.

Fat Guy Stuck In Internet

I know John from his frequent work on skits for MC Chris albums, and he got his own show on Adult Swim playing a bunch of different characters, including the star and villain. He's not as funny as he is in the skits, partially because he's not cussing so much, but the show is still an entertaining farce of epic action shows. Like Saul of the Mole Men, it lampoons those old series with deliberately horrible special effects, bad acting, and cheap props (the hero's weapon is pretty much a broom handle). It's not the kind of show that sets the world on fire, but I wonder how much of its lame dialogue and trite plots are intentional and how much is just lazy.

The premise is a computer programmer gets sucked into the web and has to save it to get out, and a large part of the humor I enjoy is how hackneyed the references are to the fact that they're online. They'll just randomly insert words like "digital" or "silicone" into object references to remind you of the setting, but really it's mostly irrelevant except to explain the obviously green-screened backgrounds and silver jumpsuits. It's far from the funniest show on Adult Swim, but it's usually solid enough, and there's a cute little storyline that runs through these ten episodes, leading to a teaser for a second season (which will not occur). Gemberling's friend and fellow Chris-contributor Curtis Gwinn plays Chains, the bounty hunter-turned-ally who follows him around everywhere, and the two have a fun chemistry that keeps it watchable even when the episode's subject matter might be getting boring. You probably know whether you'd like this kind of show already.

MC Chris - MC Chris Is Dead

MC Chris Is Dead is Chris' most entertaining album yet. He's always been funny and had a pretty good flow, but his songs were never as consistently catchy as they are on this record. It's hard to find a bad song by him, but on earlier albums there were usually only a few tracks that were pure joy to listen to, while there are many on this. Overall, it's not significantly better than his earlier work, just a little more pleasing. His beats have always been a bit more creative than most mainstream rap I've heard, but they really stepped up for this one. Really good bass throughout, and quite a bit of computerized hooks to grab your ears. There's even some vocoder use here and there to mix it up a bit. Chris songs have rarely been describable as "cool" before, but a couple like the opening title track and a song about an incident in his youth are as bad as it gets.

A significant part of Chris' appeal to me has always been his lyrics and sense of humor. He doesn't quite reach the heights of the cleverness in some earlier songs like "Tractor Beam" and "Wiid" but he still busts out a ton of great rhymes when needed. One thing that's noticeable is the effort to clean up a bit, as noted in one of the skits, with a distinct lack of F-bombs getting dropped. But as can be heard from the opening lines of "On*", he hasn't completely ditched the dirty thoughts. He has the nerd rap label, but he's almost always limited the geekiness to occasional lyrical nods and a song or two per record, and the topics here range from favorite foods to girls to being an outcast, but not video games or anything. He's still true to his self though, with the still-hilarious skits focusing on a zombie apocalypse brought about by his death on the last album, and dropping references to things like Animal Crossing and Ender's Game. The high voice has never bothered me, and I see Chris as one of the most entertaining rappers working today.

MC Chris - Dungeon Master of Ceremonies

Dungeon Master of Ceremonies is a bit of a return to form for Chris. The skits are back and funny as ever, especially "The Package", about Chris arriving in Heaven and meeting Jesus. He continues to rap about whatever he wants; video games, drugs, himself, with geek references thrown all over the place. The album seems a bit more poppy and chorus-centric, but he never strays too far from his roots.

My favorite song is "Wiid", which has great rhyme scheme, lyrics, and beats. The preceding track, "Check the Ring, Yo" is a bit addicting too. "FTW" is a good opener, although it sounds better with the real music in the background, and that version isn't on the album. "Blastic" is a more pure hip-hop track with a nice sound. "OMC" features the return of Hallie Bullit, who does a lot of chorus vocals for Chris, and is a good song for shows. "Arulpragasam" is the next iteration of the more serious, wishful song that seems to appear on each record. It is one of many tracks that feature more actual music recorded specifically for the album instead of just beats made with Pro Tools. It's interesting to see him branch out a bit and I'm looking forward to his next album which might be out by the end of the year.

MC Chris - Knowing Is Half the Hassle

I didn't really think much about the guy voicing MC Pee Pants and Hesh on Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2021 for a while. He was funny, and was capable of rapping, but I wasn't paying much attention. That changed when I watched him perform for After Hours at Gamespot last year (See the performance here). I then downloaded the EP he has for free on his website, Life's a Bitch and I'm Her Pimp. The songs were catchy with good beats, he really can rap, and the skits were funny. It wasn't until he announced he was ceasing sale of his albums on his website that I actually decided to get ahold of his other work before it was too late.

His next album was a little longer, still only eight tracks but only three skits instead of four. It starts out strong with "Ten Year Old", with nice bass and funny self-promoting lyrics about how he's great despite his ultra-high voice. "Cookie Breath" is a little cuter and poppier, and it's a nice love song that doesn't take itself too seriously. He performed "Hijack" (poorly, by his own admission) on G4's Attack of the Show, and it's a really good song, another one about himself. "White Kids Love Hip Hop" and "Geek" are both humorous, entertaining tracks making fun of his own white boy culture. My version of Knowing doesn't have the older version of "White Kids" featuring Andy Merrill, known for playing Brak on Adult Swim shows, but you can probably find it if you look. The three skits are about a nerd's revenge on a bully, and they're well acted and written, not to mention hilarious. You might have some trouble finding a copy, but if you don't, Chris himself has said that he's okay with his fans sharing his old music as he moves on in his life with increasing success.