Saucetown Interview: MC Lars

Saucetown recently caught up with MC Lars, an established rapper who has appeared on multiple festival lineups, released countless albums and is the only person on YouTube to provide his audience with music videos about Edgar Allen Poe.

Saucetown: What’s New With You?

MC Lars: I am releasing an EP about Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in honor of the 30th anniversary. It’s called Notes From Toontown and it will most likely be out when this goes to press.

Saucetown: how close are we To A.I. becoming self-aware and do you have any tips for dealing with gigantic, killer robots (that you have not yet addressed in your music)?

MC Lars: Befriend them now! Speak nicely when discussing their powers, because they are listening. Once we reach the singularity, it will be curtains and we most likely won’t have a ska soundtrack.

Saucetown: Aside from the greats, like Poe, who are some of the lesser-known inspirations of the "lit hop" genre?

MC Lars: I want to thank Baba Brinkman for coining that term. I'm working on some Mark Twain and Jack Kerouac raps, stay tuned! I release most of them through my Patreon right now, but eventually hope to drop more albums.

Saucetown: Most rappers are surrounded by drama. You seem to be surrounded by love and rainbows. How do you avoid negativity while making a non-conventional creative product with a comments section? On that note, did you ever perform "Signing Emo" or "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock" at Warped Tour? If so, did they get the joke(s)?

MC Lars: The Warped Tour audience has a good sense of humor. My first year was 2011, so "Signing Emo" was a bit dated by then, but 2015’s "Signing Dubstep" was about the DJs that played the stage I was on. I don’t have time for drama—who am I going to diss? If I did rap about a famous YouTuber, it is unlikely that they would ever see it. Social media can ruin your day if you start beefing with fools, so I try to keep it positive.

Saucetown: You recently toured with the Insane Clown Posse, possibly the only rappers to ever reference Edgar Allen Poe for the entirety of a song, so it's a good fit. But, as a rapper who does not rap about explicit material, how were you initially received? Did the crowd know you were down with the clown?

MC Lars: I love them and their Poe song. I opened for them at their Denver gaming convention, I talked about how they inspired me to rap. A lot of Juggalos have been watching my Hatchet Chat YouTube series, where I talk about each ICP album and its history, so I got a surprisingly good reaction. We just worked together again at the Gathering Of The Juggalos...

Saucetown: Speaking of which, you have a song, Schrodinger's Cat (My Sympathy To Violent J), which addresses oddly specific hip hop beef. Do you think that rap drama is both dead and alive until observed, or am I taking that song too literally?

MC Lars: I was at a Twiztid show when my fiancé called me to say that a package had been stolen from our lobby, which had been there an hour before. She saw it, went out for an errand, came back and it had been stolen. The song is about the surprising dichotomy of situations like this, how things can surprise you by being two things at once. Twiztid built their career rapping for Juggalos, then made a point of distancing themselves from that world. I thought it was similarly intriguing.

Saucetown: Also, when searching for "MC Lars Sch..." on YouTube, the search bar suggested "MC Lars shirtless." is this a common query?

MC Lars: You must have stumbled on my new side project. Stay tuned!

Saucetown: Considering the current divisive climate on both ends of the sociopolitical spectrum, what is your favorite type of pizza?

MC Lars: I live in New york, but Chicago deep dish is my all-time favorite!