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Nerdcore artist Beefy is living the good life -- putting out his first official album, traveling overseas for concerts and dating a game store clerk.
His one resolution for 2009?
To release another album before the end of the year.
"I just put out my last album, and people are asking when the next one is going to be released," said the 23-year-old Richland rapper. "Can't I just have a little break? But I'm definitely going to make fun of rap some more."
It's rap that has gotten him where he is, so why is Beefy picking on the genre that made him a self-described Internet celebrity?
"T.I. remixed the Numa Numa song," he said of the song originally called Dragostea din tei as performed by the Romanian pop group O-Zone. "I just get so riled up about that. It should have been ours."
And by "ours" he means those who want more of this subgenre of hip-hop characterized by themes appealing to nerds.
But music in 2008 wasn't all bad for Beefy.
"I recently did a show with MC Chris," he said. "He's the reason I started rapping nerdy."
Beefy's music about classic video games and references to comic books landed him in the independent documentary Nerdcore For Life, directed by Dan Lamoureux. The film gained the attention of promoters, who then put together Glitched, a Dutch nerdcore event in the Netherlands on Feb. 26.
"A guy saw Nerdcore For Life and called Dan," Beefy explained. "(The promoters) wanted to screen it and have a concert. They're paying for MC Lars, MC Router, YTCracker and me to come over for four days and perform."
Beefy hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow Nerdcore artist and friend YTCracker, whose music is featured on G4TV, a TV station with programs tailored around the latest must-have tech gadgets, Web culture and video games. He doesn't want to tour, but he would like to make music from home and sell CDs online.
For now, though, he enjoys being the only artist to have two songs on an upcoming nerdcore compilation CD.
The album is being produced with the help of the creators of Penny-Arcade, one of the most popular online comics. For the past five years, Penny-Arcade has staged Child's Play, a fundraiser to collect toys, games, books and cash for sick kids in children's hospitals across North America.
The event has raised more than $3.5 million, and proceeds from The Child's Play CD 2008: Music For Charity compilation album will go to it as well.
Beefy's song, Game Store Girl, will appear on the album, along with Underbeard, a song by his band The Grammar Club.
The Grammar Club consists of four other nerdcore musicians from around the nation who collaborate online, sending soundbites back and forth. Their second album, No Bueno, also is slowly coming together and will be made available to download free on their website http://thegrammarclub.com.
Another side project is Beefy's free LP,The Adventures of Beef Thompson in Space, which will be available to download for free in mid-January on his Web site www.beefyness.com.
Fans can look forward to his work on the song Gasping For Air with the now-defunct Kennewick rock group From the Dust.
Beefy's album Rolling Doubles is his first that doesn't use copyrighted music samples. Fans can purchase Doubles on Amazon or iTunes for $9.99 in MP3 form, but in the meantime, he's not selling actual CDs over the Internet.
* On the Net: www.beefyness.com; www.nerdcoreforlife.com
* Bethany Lee: 509-582-1465; blee@tricityherald.com.
