MC Lars is one of the founders of “lit-hop,” a genre that fuses classic literature with hip-hop to spark curiosity, critical thinking, and cultural dialogue. For over twenty years, he has built a global audience across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia… performing at venues like Carnegie Hall and festivals including SXSW, Slam Dunk, and the Vans Warped Tour.
A pioneer of educational hip-hop, Lars has worked with Nas, “Weird Al” Yankovic, KRS-One, Snoop Dogg, T-Pain, Bowling for Soup, Insane Clown Posse, Mega Ran, K.Flay, and others. His discography bridges indie, ska, punk, rap, and nerdcore, including a Top 30 ARIA-charting single and critically acclaimed releases featured by Rolling Stone, MTV, SPIN, NPR, and CNN.
Lars holds a B.A. in English from Stanford and an M.S. in Instructional Science & Technology from CSUMB. He’s delivered TEDx talks on Shakespeare and hip-hop, guest lectured at Stanford, USC, and UCLA, and developed media literacy and songwriting workshops for schools across New York City, Los Angeles, and beyond. His academic and artistic work is cited in The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop.
In the Web3 realm, Lars serves as Creative Director and Community Strategist for AR.IO and ArDrive, where he helped drive early content and community growth that contributed to the network’s successful $17M funding round. He leads creative strategy across educational explainers, campaign videos, live events, and decentralized publishing tools, using music, storytelling, and direct engagement to make blockchain concepts accessible and human.
Whether on stage, in a classroom, or across the permaweb, MC Lars continues to remix culture, education, and emerging tech… one verse at a time.
