“I built this as a lit-hop record in the truest sense: a nineteenth-century author reinterpreted through modern music, made for English teachers and mosh pits alike.” — MC Lars
Edgar Allan Poe was paid just nine dollars for “The Raven.” Across his entire career, according to the Poe Society of Baltimore, he earned roughly $6,200.
In 2025, MC Lars raised $29,917 from 385 supporters to create an album dedicated to Poe’s life and work.
On October 16, 2026, Oglio Records will release the One Year Anniversary Edition of The Edgar Allan Poe LP, arriving one year after MC Lars delivered the project to Kickstarter backers on Halloween 2025. The crowdfunding campaign ultimately reached nearly 600% of its original $5,000 goal.
The album was executive produced by Adam F. Goldberg, creator of the long-running television series The Goldbergs.
The One Year Anniversary Edition expands the original 12-song album into a 19-track collection, adding:
Additional guest appearances include:
The album also features underground prank-call legends Longmont Potion Castle and Brad Carter of Phone Losers of America on the track “$3.47.”
The album’s lead and only single is a newly recorded 2026 version of “Amontillado” featuring longtime collaborator Watt White. The track arrives on October 2, 2026, ahead of the full album release.
For more than two decades, MC Lars has occupied a unique space where literature, education, and underground music intersect.
In December 2023, he completed a master’s degree in Instructional Science and Technology, developing a curriculum module that taught poetry through rap music. The project included a formal educational study that demonstrated statistically significant improvements in both student engagement and retention.
While MC Lars did not invent the term “lit-hop,” he has become one of its best-known ambassadors. His work has helped introduce classic literature to new audiences through hip-hop, bringing literary themes from classrooms to concert stages.
His history with Edgar Allan Poe stretches back nearly two decades. Highlights include:
A graduate of both Stanford University and Oxford University, MC Lars is also credited with helping popularize the term “iGeneration” through a 2003 song. His anti-RIAA track “Download This Song” reached the Australian Top 30, while his independent label Horris Records released early recordings by future major-label artist K.Flay.
Over the years he has toured alongside artists including Nas, Snoop Dogg, Bowling for Soup, Simple Plan, and on the Vans Warped Tour.
He is also widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the nerdcore movement.
The release also marks a reunion between MC Lars and Oglio Records, the label founded by Carl Caprioglio in 1993.
Oglio previously released MC Lars albums including:
The label’s diverse catalog has also included artists such as:
For MC Lars, the album represents a full-circle moment, returning to one of the labels that helped launch his career more than two decades ago.
“I’ve been rapping about Poe since before I had any business doing it. The EP was a sketch. This is the actual building. A year ago I sent it to 385 people who paid for it before it existed, which is the most Poe thing imaginable, except he never got the money.”
“I went and got a master’s degree to prove that teaching poetry through rap actually works, because I got tired of people calling it a gimmick. It turns out you can just measure it.”
“I want a kid to hear this record, get obsessed with ‘The Raven,’ and not realize until later that they did their homework.”
MC Lars is scheduled to appear at:
Tickets available here.
He will also present a lit-hop project in collaboration with Stanford University’s English Department and the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA).
The Edgar Allan Poe LP (One Year Anniversary Deluxe Expanded Edition) arrives digitally and on two-disc CD October 16, 2026 via Oglio Records.
Follow MC Lars:
Website | Facebook | X/Twitter | Instagram | Spotify | Youtube
About Oglio Records
Celebrating over 33 years in the music industry, Oglio Records has built a reputation as a top independent label, with releases spanning rock, hip-hop, and comedy. The label has worked with icons such as Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys), Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek (The Doors), Cyndi Lauper, Smash Mouth, Kool Keith, and many more.
Oglio’s success has even landed them a spot on Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in America.
Follow Oglio Records:
Facebook | X/Twitter | Instagram | Youtube
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