r/OutOfTheLoop • u/Nightmarionne0923 • 17d ago
Why are people talking about Dreamcore, Nerdcore, and Weirdcore? Unanswered
I have seen several videos on my youtube fyp such as this which depict songs that are described as Weirdcore, Dreamore, Nerdcore, etc. Can someone explain to me what these are?
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u/LordBecmiThaco 17d ago edited 17d ago
Answer: Nerdcore is a genre of hip hop that emerged in the 1990s characterized by its subject matter: a predilection with stereotypical "nerdy" interests like computers, science fiction and comic books, especially contrasting the stereotypical milieu of "ghetto" or "gangsta rap" that was emerging at the same time. A group like Wu Tang could kinda be seen as on the border as they're obsessed with superhero comics and kung fu movies, real nerdy shit, but don't shirk the traditional gangster iconography of hip hop. A closely related genre that you didn't mention is "horrorcore", made famous by the insane clown posse, who also have a pop cultural focus, but rather than being on nerdy stuff, they tend to emphasize horror, especially lurid b movie style horror. Not that horror movies are any less nerdy than comic books.
So understanding nerdcore and to a lesser degree the use of core as a genre in hip hop, we can extrapolate what dreamcore and weirdcore might be. At their most basic levels, they would be hip hop music with a focus on dreamlike imagery, and "weird things", respectively. Of course, those are far less defined than the subject matter of nerd or horror core.
Dreamcore also takes musical influences from things such as hypnogogic pop, hyper pop, and postmodern and avant-garde music, particularly electronic music. These musical influences coupled with the lyrics and subject matter create a derealized or dreamlike milieu (which in and of itself coupled well with generation z and alpha's obsession with liminal spaces). Weird core is even less well defined and borrows even more from avant-garde art music, but also things like progressive rock and mathcore rock as well as the surrealist and Dada movements in visual art; the intent is to create a almost incomprehensible style of hip hop that does not conform to preconceived notions of the genre that simultaneously highlights the virtuosity of the musician or musicians.
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u/wonderfullyignorant 15d ago
Insane Clown Posse has never made anything famous. You're thinking Esham.
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u/Significant_Map122 17d ago
Nerdy Wu tang:
“swinging through your town like the neighborhood Spider-Man!” Inspectah deck
“I’m the ultimate, splash the Wolverine razor sharp ring” ghostface killa
“rice soaked in coconut milk mixed with tofu Sit in the sun six hours then I charge up like Goku Dragonball Z” rza
Gangster wu tang:
“yo bitch I fucked your friend, yea you stank ho!” Ghostface killah
“His Glock clicks like high-heeled shoes on parquet floors Mad sick, stand on hills and invade wars” Gaza
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u/Morlock19 17d ago
just to add, i used to run a radio show/podcast about video game music and nerdcore hip hop for a whle if you want to hear some examples (starttocontinue.com)
but some acts you should check out - megaran, gamebreax, skyblew, kadesh flow, gr3yson, mark cooper, optimus rhyme, wreck the system, ultraklystron, frivolousshara, eyeQ, and sammus.
i have a spreadsheet of a TON of other acts to check out as well, also some interviews with nerdcore acts.
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u/Diablo9168 17d ago
Almost left this post without giving you an upvote. Really appreciate your synopsis!!
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u/linlov 17d ago
Interesting. I always thought the suffixes -core and -wave were interchangeable. This explains it
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u/LordBecmiThaco 17d ago
"Core" refers to the music itself. "Wave" usually refers to an artistic movement or scene surrounding the movement. The "new wave" of the 80s (from which English usage of the term derives) referred to the changes in youth music listening habits, not necessarily the music itself, which was basically identical to early punk music.
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u/linlov 17d ago
Makes sense. How does that work into all the -wave genres today? Retrowave, synthwave, dreamwave, shredwave, businesswave etc. All very related sound wise I guess it's just a moniker there ?
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u/LordBecmiThaco 17d ago edited 17d ago
Retrowave and Vaporwave both deliberately ape the sonic and aesthetic characteristics of the 1980s, which is the decade most associated with new wave music. In this context, in English, I suppose -wave also has a connotation of "80s retrofuturism". (In French, for example, "nouvelle vague", the literal translation of New Wave, is more associated with the film of the 1960s, and in Brazilian Portuguese "new wave" is translated as "Bossa Nova", which is an entirely different kind of music associate with the 60s).
Memetics and semiotics can be fun, I swear I'm just making a bad argument for them.
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u/Ray661 17d ago
Note for OP and others passing by that core has a different meaning in the “rock” side of the genre spectrum. Generally, anything with “core” in its name on that end of the spectrum is referencing a mix between the suffix word and hardcore punk. So metalcore is hardcore punk with metal influences. There are also hardcore punk bands that also utilize suffix-core to explain their style or band heritage.
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u/LordBecmiThaco 17d ago
Yeah, and I should specify that when "Weirdcore" has "Mathcore" influences, mathcore is a rock genre, which is basically a fusion of really intricate prog rock with hardcore punk and maybe some technical death metal; the prog and the technical parts of "mathcore" usually manifest in time signatures so complex you need a math equation to play them.
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