Mc Lars
MC Lars (real name: Andrew Nielsen) began making hip-hop-based tapes while still a kid, but was sidetracked from rap by such traditionally important issues to teenagers as playing guitar in a punk band and getting accepted to a college. Nielsen went to Stanford, and then did an exchange stint at Oxford, but all the while he was fiddling with desktop productions and developing his quirky, pop culture-savvy style. Boisterous live gigs and word of mouth built buzz for Lars' home studio raps (influences: everything from Atom & His Package and Weird Al Yankovic to KRS-One and the Beastie Boys).