Creative Mind Frame (1-UP)

What I love about the geek and nerd community is that there are many ways we can express our fandom. Whether it’s drawing, painting, sewing, blogging or vlogging, expressing our love of fandoms are unique to us. Today’s artist spotlight shines bright on the music and rapping side of nerdy as we get to know the man behind the master mic, nerdcore rapper, 1-UP.

I met Manny a few years ago at Retropalooza, (an event that focuses on all things retro) and have remained a huge fan since. 1-UP (as he goes by) is a nerdcore rapper out of Texas who travels all over rhyming and reeling about his favorite video games, movies and nostalgic memories.
TD: Tell Aggressive Comix readers about yourself, and whatcha do?
1UP: Hiya! The name is 1-UP Creative Mind Frame and I’m a business process engineer by day. At night I transform into the oh so hilarious 1-UP. A musician aimed at bringing a combination of the laughs and the feels to alllllll!
TD: What is nerdcore, and how’d you’d get into?
1UP: Nerdcore is a genre of music where the subject matter is focused primarily on what would be considered “traditionally nerdy” which I suppose at this point is everything now that nerdy is pretty main stream haha. But I primarily focus on retro games, anime and anything math and physics. I actually got into nerdcore when I was practicing some video editing skills. I had been listening to nerdcore just a little bit at this point (excluding mega ran because I didn’t realize he was nerdcore for the longest time) and I made this parody video of Gangsta’s Paradise called “Nerdcore Paradise” and put it on YouTube. A few weeks later I got a random 500 hits which I traced to an article that was posted on the Jace Hall website about said video. At that point I said to myself “Well I guess I’m doing nerdcore now” you know, to put that music minor I paid for to good use.

TD: What memorable responses have you had to your songs/ albums?
1UP:I would have to say my favorite responses I get are the ones i get for the Corny Pick Up Lines series of videos. It ranges from the LOL to OMFG to SMH if I had to describe it only with IM acronyms. Like I said… I like spreading joy, and sometimes disbelief haha.

TD:How has your practice of writing songs and beats changed over time?
1up:Well when I first started, I had never rapped really so I was basically on an adventure to find my flow / what fit my voice. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is the wonderful use of silence in lines, in beats and in delivery. It’s similar understanding the importance of using white space in painting and drawing. I’ve come to really understand that sometimes less is more and you don’t always have to be spitting one million miles a minute for multiple minutes to make your song sound great.

TD:Favorite or most inspirational artist?
1UP:Lupe Fiasco and Mega Ran by far for hip hop, Miles Davis an Joshua Redman for jazz and Richard Wagner for the classics . As a person let’s focus on Mega Ran, since that’s the only one I actually know personally lol. You know how you meet someone you’ve been listening to or looked up to and you’re like, “wow that person is kind of a tool…” Complete opposite scenario here. I met him and he ended up being one of the most awesome, super nice dudes I have ever met who has given me countless words of wisdom and pieces of advice for music and just life in general. I try to surround myself with kind individuals to help keep me in that mindset.
TD:What couldn’t you live without?
1up: Peanut butter and bacon have come to a brutal tie here for me. I can’t choose! Without Pb how would I make a Pb&J?!
And without bacon… Breakfast would obviously cease to exist. Obviously.

TD:What is a dream “team up” you’d like to have with a fellow rapper?
1UP: MF doom 100% – I would also request if we team up he reveal himself without his mask to me but beggars can’t be choosers ha.

Thanks to 1-UP for spreading fandom fun in a positive and friendly way. To hear original tunes by 1-UP, check out his Soundcloud and follow him on Facebook for all his adventures. -Taffeta - Aggressive Comix

The acts brought in were South Bend, Indiana-based duo Soup or Villianz, consisting of Remi-son and Viet Vu, and Dallas, Texas-based 1-UP Creative Mind Frame who, despite being a solo performer, brought with him a dedicated posse that played, a great deal into his show.

The event that evening was preceded by the first installment of Union Board’s weekly dance performance/class “All The Riite Moves,” that week featuring an epic and belly dancing performance given by three dancers. In the course of the show, the dancers invited some of the audience members up to the stage, one of them being none other than Remison, who—being a showman himself—was a natural.


Another novelty of the night was the group of people who arrived about a half an hour or so before the actual beginning of the show, 20 to 30 minutes after 9 p.m., with their own set of sound and recording equipment for, what we later found out, was for a sort of reality show or documentary about Soup or Villainz. The duo also left the venue several times throughout the night when they were not on stage, seemingly to shoot more and with the crew, including what seemed to be a false exit.


“Nerdcore @ The Bog” saw a large crowd turnout and some great performances, and was deemed by WIIT and those in attendance as success and a fun night all-around. After some trouble finding the first act when it was time for them to go up, Soup or Villianz went up first with a wild and fantastic show. Some memorable songs of their set included “Why You Akin’ So Cray Cray” and “Keyz,” the later of which, may it be noted, became an instant favorite due to its repeated use of the phrase, “Where my keys at?” and the line “I promise when I get home I’ll give you orgasm.” Although there was a blatant and unattractive semicircle at the front of the stage towards the beginning of the show, the less timid of the bunch succeeded in bringing the crowd closer as the night grew longer.


The crowd, having dispersed after the first act had finished, was lighter for 1-UP’s show, but those who stuck in found an equality great, and evidently much nerdier show than the prior. Sadly, 1-UP’s relationship with the projector put him at a disadvantage because the videos and pictures were so tied into his set. Still, 1-UP was able to get the crowd on their feet and dancing with songs like “Corny Pickup Lines” and “8-Bit Hero.”
Let “Nerdcore @ The Bog” be the first of demonstration of 2016 of WIIT’s continual goal to host events in and out of The Bog to establish IIT as a hub of great, novel, and interesting music and art based shows, as well as of the station's commitment to representing all genres and forms of expression. For those interested in hearing more nerdcore, WIIT’s weekly show “Nerdy Nonsense: Remixed,” broadcasted every Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., gives you a weekly dose of both nerdcore and chiptune music, listen to it on radio.iit.edu. - Illinois Institute Of Technology

"This is my first time really digging deep into a 1-UP Creative Mind Frame project. It’s really ironic because normally, I don’t listen to anything until weeks after I purchase it. When I got the notification that NES 3 was out, I was just sitting at my computer finishing a logo. So, I ventured over to Bandcamp and downloaded it (already had it pre-ordered). The irony lay in the fact that I was having a debate with a friend of mine about Nerdy Hip-Hop. My friend’s argument was that Nerdcore Hip-Hop is all about nerds being nerdy, not hip-hop. My argument was that Nerdcore contains all of the elements of a Hip-Hop song. It’s all about perspective.
That was when I got the notification. I don’t know 1-UP personally, but I know the work of him and his affiliates, the Nerdy People of Color (NPC) Collective. From the perspective of a geek who is deeply rooted in rap music, NES 3 is definitely Hip-Hop. If you don’t believe me, ask the samples. NES 3 shows off the use of Dreamcast samples in its production in the same way SP-1200 and MPC-60 heads were searching for old records that no one had sampled yet.
I’ll be doing this review from a listener’s perspective, mainly because I haven’t listened to NES or NES 2yet. I don’t want to be an unfair, just in case there are elements to the story that I don’t understand yet. To be honest, I’m ashamed that I haven’t followed this backstory. I’m a sucker for a good hip-hop tale. Reading the lyrics, I can tell that this is a lot more intricate than I thought at first glance."

It is a long review so I cut it a bit short. - Ambush Vin