“Why make an album about books, in an era where no one reads them?” one might ask. “This is precisely why,” responded Mega Ran and MC Lars in unison, proudly holding up their new CD.
After respective success in the indie rap genre, “nerdcore” legends Mega Ran and MC Lars joined forces for an album entirely about books. Rapping about everyone from Edgar Allan Poe to William Shakespeare to Ta-Nehisi Coates, Mega Ran and MC Lars collaborate with Bowling for Soup’s Jaret Reddick, YouTube legend Dan Bull, nerdcore pioneer MC Frontalot, Mello Music’s Quelle Chris, A$AP Rocky producer Charlie Mumbles, and Akon producer Matt Weiss, amongst others, to deliver a fourteen track album that combines an appreciation of literacy, education and fun for The Dewey Decibel System (Horris Records / Random Beats, street date 6/7/19).
Mega Ran and MC Lars are no strangers to the rap game. Both hosts of respective podcasts, Mega Ran is a 2019 Guinness World Record holder, and has found success playing huge festivals, conventions, professional wrestling events and has toured the world alongside Lars, across the UK, Europe and Japan (where Mega Ran has built a decade following in the “chip-hop” community, merging 8-bit beats with unparalleled lyricism). MC Lars has hosted two TEDx talks, premiered a song at Carnegie Hall, survived three complete Warped Tours, and collaborated with “Weird Al” Yankovic and KRS-One. Together, Mega Ran and MC Lars have played over 15 years at SXSW, opened for Snoop Dogg and received, together, millions of views on their popular YouTube videos.
Funded entirely through Kickstarter, the Dewey Decibel System will feature five music videos, “Walden,” “1984,” “Ozymandias,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and the title track “the Dewey Decibel System.” With a social medium campaign focusing on promotion via Twitch, targeted singles via Spotify and a two-month world-tour, Dewey Decibel is guaranteed to get both librarians and disenfranchised millennials streaming and rocking out to the literary flavor.
What’s next for Mega Ran and MC Lars? Continuing to build their grassroots support, of course, making challenging music, and a continuation of the growth of their lyrical and story-telling skills. Catch them this spring in the UK or US, and be sure to follow their social media channels for updates on their solo projects and their first ever official collab.
Finally, to paraphrase the late great Nate Dogg, “hey, hey, hey, hey! Just read every day!"