Derrick Comedy vet DC Pierson knows how to cross-promote a book. His new YA novel Crap Kingdom comes out March 7, and to get the word out, he’s been writing “customrapsongs” featuring the names of people who pre-order the book. He released a 30-minute standup set on YouTube to get the word out. He even conducted a massive, two-hour I Made You A Mixtape interview with The A.V. Club, scheduled to post next week. And he got Jean Grae, The Rosebuds, Free Energy, and other artists to write songs about his book, for a soundtrack he’ll post for free download on his website on Thursday the 7th. Here’s an exclusive preview from that soundtrack: Ted Leo’s contribution.
Crap Kingdom is about fantasy fan Tom Parking, who’s thrilled to discover he’s the Chosen One for a magical kingdom in another world, until he actually travels there and realizes the place consists of depressed, mundane people living in trash heaps. Once he rejects Crap Kingdom, though, a friend of his takes up the Chosen One mantle, and Tom starts regretting his decision. Like Derrick Comedy’s film debut, Mystery Team, starring Pierson and Community’s Donald Glover, it picks up on familiar kid-lit tropes, then takes them in a ridiculous direction.
Assuming you need more incentive to take something free, here’s a reminder that Ted Leo was behind a couple of our readers’ favorite, highest-voted past Undercover tracks, one as the performer, and the other as the performee:
