Exclusive Premiere: MC Lars Raps About ‘Roger Rabbit’ on ‘The Dip’ (ft. Kool Keith)

Even 15 years ago, at the dawn of his career when he self-recorded and handed out his first album to classmates at Stanford University, MC Lars (aka Andrew Nielsen) was packing his quick-witted verses with pop culture references. Since then, he's racked up songs about everything from Game of Thrones to Kurt Cobain – and the list goes on and on.

While his nerdcore allusions to movies, TV, music, comics and video games are certainly a way to get listeners in the door, Lars has a secret weapon: his extensive knowledge of English literature, Shakespeare and other elements of academia. In fact, he's started taking his act to stages far from Warped Tour. He's spoken about "lit-hop" at two TEDx conferences and he's had a visiting teacher residency at USC and other colleges on both sides of the Atlantic. Watch him connect Tyler, the Creator to Edgar Allan Poe here.

But for his upcoming fourth full-length, The Zombie Dinosaur LP, Lars made a conscious return to the uptempo style of his 1999 debut, Nothing to Fear. Diffuser is proud to premiere one of the tracks from the album, "The Dip," which Lars told us was inspired by his favorite movie: Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

"I love it because of its timelessness," he said. "It takes place in the ‘40s, so it never looks dated since it’s a noir period film. And the fact that Disney and Spielberg used traditional animation with practical effects instead of CGI makes it punk rock as hell. 'The Dip' is one of my favorite tracks I’ve ever done and anyone who’s seen the movie will get the many references to this classic piece of cinema."

Beyond the subject matter, the song also features Kool Keith (who Lars says is one of his favorite rappers) and Madonna guitarist Monte Pittman. "[Pittman] laid down some heavy riffs over a trap beat I made  because we wanted to channel the metal vibe of one of my favorite Disney villains: Judge Doom (played by Christopher Lloyd). I even reference the Marvel comic sequel and reveal his real name: Baron Von Rotten. My verse is based on A$AP Ferg’s grimy flow on ‘Shabba’ from Trap Lord.”

The Zombie Dinosaur is due out Nov. 6 (pre-order a digital or physical copy). Right now, Lars is on his Joyful Smiles Tour, which continues tomorrow (Oct. 21) in Phoenix. Check out a complete list of upcoming stops below the video.

MC Lars Tour Dates
Oct. 21: Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge
Oct. 22: Fullerton, CA – Slidebar
Oct. 25: San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge – Small Room
Oct. 27: Portland, OR – Howathorne Theatre – Lounge
Oct. 28: Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Oct. 29: Missoula, MT – Stage 112
Oct. 31: St. Paul, MN – Amsterdam Hall
Nov. 2: Des Moines, IA – Wooly’s
Nov. 3: Denver, CO – Marquis Theater
Nov. 4: Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court
Nov. 6: Hampton, VA – Hampton Roads Convention Center