An icy spin to nerdcore hip-hop

Nerdcore is defined by urban dictionary as “any form of music that is made by nerds, for nerds, or about nerdy things.” It is generally seen as a very niche genre within hip-hop. Most people assume that it is only about talking about a popular show or game, however, Ice by DizzyEight ft. Sl!ck completely avoids this stigma while staying true to its original source–a character from Bleach named Toshiro.

To be clear, I don’t know anything about Bleach and I enjoyed the song all the same. By just listening to the first verse I knew that it was different from other nerdcore songs.

DizzyEight is an artist who has been on the “grind” for a very long time. Over time he has been crafting song after song trying to reach higher peaks and improve even more. It is within the first verse that he said, “Listen I feel like a prodigy look at these feats I’m accomplishing.” This perfectly sets the tone for what the song is about.

Through the character Toshiro, DizzyEight talks about how he feels as an artist. The first verse beginning to end is about him working harder and harder to reach a higher level. It is about him growing and it also resonates with the listener as a motivational tool as well. The theme of working harder regardless of how others look at you helps establish even more of who DizzyEight is as an artist. 

After verse one, the chorus starts and it is one of the strongest parts of the track. Making it even stronger is that it keeps an informal tone without using any over the top inappropriate language. DizzyEight is unique in the way that he has the ability to express this tone in a strong way without using offensive language.

After the chorus comes Sl!ck’s verse and he begins to reference the show Bleach and it’s characters. This may seem bad on paper however it is actually genius when it comes to complementing the first verse. The point of DizzyEight’s verse was to establish a tone and theme that could be understood without any prior knowledge of the original source (in this case, Bleach). This hooks the listener and keeps them listening to the rest of the song. This verse also hits harder to the actual Bleach fans because they can understand the references that go unnoticed to the average listener.

The wraps up with the chorus. This simple detail helps complete the track by giving the listener something catchy to remember and come back to every time the song finishes.

This song proves that nerdcore isn’t just about detecting references and entertaining a very limited audience. It is music that should be respected. DizzyEight and Sl!ck’s writing proves this without a shadow of a doubt.