For all of my readers, you’ve been around for Spose Saturdays so I wanted to start a new series that is similar to Spose Saturday, MC Lars Monday.
Andrew Neilson, also known as MC Lars is a jack of all trades. He’s a rapper, producer, teacher, cartoonist, and podcaster. He’s hosted his own TED Talk and is the founder and CEO of the Horris Records which is an independent record label.
The first song that I’ll be highlighting for MC Lars Monday is Ahab off of his 2006 album, The Graduate. Lars raps from the perspective of Captain Ahab and his journey to look for the famous sperm whale, Moby Dick.
Lars starts the three minute and twenty one second song off with “Call me Ahab, what, monomaniac, Obsessed with success unlike Steve Wozniak, On the hunt for this mammal that once took my leg” He’s comparing himself to one of Apples cofounders, Steve Wozniak on how he’s obsessed with success and wants to hunt down Moby Dick.
The next few lines is Lars as Ahab talking to his crew about how insane it is to hunt down Moby Dick. “With my warn down crew and my man Queequeg, "You're never going to find him!" He's a big sperm whale, "The ocean is enormous!" Shut up, we're setting sail” He does not care what his crew says, Captain Ahab is hell bent on finding the whale that scarred him and took his leg.
“Mental sickness has got me on the run, Full speed ahead! This is American fun” Lars as Ahab admits that he has gone insane from his incident with Moby Dick but he does not care. It goes hand in hand with the previous lines and how all he wants to do is kill the whale.
Lars ends the verse rapping “Towards thee I sail, thou unconquering whale ,To stab my spear into your white tail, The first one to stop him gets this gold doubloon” He’s bribing his crew into changing their attitude and become optimistic about their trip to find the whale that Ahab had prior encountered.
The chorus plays and then the second verse starts with "We're never going to find this white whale, Are we captain?”, Hey Ishmael... can I call you annoying?” Lars as Ahab is unhappy with his crew that is bitching about the journey to find Moby Dick.
It becomes a recurring theme that Ahab is having issues with his crew who doesn’t seem to be all in on finding Moby Dick. “My main tragic flaw: "But what about us?", It's your battle too, crew, man vs. beast, At least have respect as we sail south and east, And north and west, look I'm doing my best” He tries to sell his crew on the journey to find Moby as not just being his but as THEIR journey.
“Pip went insane when he almost drowned, So profound when he shrieks like a little sailor clown” Through the song, the crew begins to lose their mind. Pip is one of them due to his near death experience in the deep seas.
In the last four lines of the second verse, the plot thickens. Ships warn them of their danger but, Moby Dick has been spotted. “Random ships we met warned us of our doom, They said our boat would be our tomb, Near the Mariana Trench, deep and oceanic, We spotted Moby Dick so white and titanic”
The chorus plays again and then the third verse plays, a very short one. “I said, "You took my leg, and for that you must die!", I threw my spear and hit Moby in the eye” The peg legged captain makes his throw at Moby Dick and it looks as if there will be a triumphant ending for Captain Ahab. That would not be the case.
“He charged the boat, it began to sink, I said, "How about that? Hubris really stinks!", I didn't think that it would end like this, Pride met fate, this captain got dissed, Let it be a lesson, revenge is never sweet, So I stomp my peg to this Supergrass beat!” As Ahab and his crew are meeting their unfortunate fate, he recognizes that his rage and madness to find Moby Dick was the reason that they won’t be sailing home.
The chorus plays the song out to end the banger. The music video is pretty hilarious because while it looks somewhat cheesy at first, the production for it is awesome. A great song to bump in the car, just awesome.
Next time we do MC Lars Monday, we’ll be covering the first song off of his 2012 album The Edgar Allan Poe EP, Flow Like Poe where he once again puts himself in the shoes of a historic figure.