“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
Photo: Sean Donnelly
LOS ANGELES, CA — October 2, 2026 — MC Lars has released “Amontillado” (ft. Watt White), a musical reimagining of Edgar Allan Poe’s chilling short story The Cask of Amontillado. Now streaming everywhere, the single offers a preview of the One Year Anniversary Edition of The Edgar Allan Poe LP, arriving October 16 via Oglio Entertainment, digitally and on two-disc CD.
With Halloween approaching, “Amontillado” brings Poe’s tale of revenge, deception and a fatal journey into the catacombs into MC Lars’s world of lit-hop, where classic literature meets contemporary hip-hop. The song continues his longstanding exploration of Poe’s work, connecting its dark humor and psychological horror with a new generation of listeners.
Executive produced by Adam F. Goldberg, creator of The Goldbergs, the expanded album collects 19 tracks, adding seven bonus recordings to the original twelve-song release. Those additions include three new 2026 versions and four songs from Lars’s 2012 Edgar Allan Poe EP.
Guests across the collection include Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup, the Dead Milkmen, Watt White, Mega Ran, Rodney Anonymous, Schäffer the Darklord, Lacey Johnson, Ash Tell Em, Christina Rotondo and Worm Quartet. Underground prank-call figures Longmont Potion Castle and Brad Carter of Phone Losers of America also appear on “$3.47.”
The anniversary edition follows the album’s initial delivery to Kickstarter supporters on Halloween 2025. The campaign raised $29,917 from 385 backers, reaching nearly six times its original $5,000 goal.
“I’ve been rapping about Poe since before I had any business doing it,” says MC Lars. “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.”
For Lars, the connection between music and literature extends beyond the recording studio. In December 2023, he completed a master’s degree in Instructional Science and Technology, developing and evaluating a curriculum that teaches poetry through rap. His capstone research found statistically significant improvements in students’ attitudes toward poetry and retention of the material.
“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.”
A Stanford alumnus who also studied at Oxford, Lars has been interpreting Poe through music since “Mr. Raven” in the mid-2000s. He released The Edgar Allan Poe EP in 2012, performed “Flow Like Poe” at Carnegie Hall with a live string ensemble for the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, and gave a TEDxUSC talk connecting Tupac’s death to the final act of Hamlet.
His career has also included touring with Nas, Snoop Dogg, Bowling for Soup and Simple Plan, appearances on the Vans Warped Tour, and the Australian Top 30 single “Download This Song.”
The new release reunites Lars with Oglio Entertainment, which previously released This Gigantic Robot Kills and 21 Concepts (But a Hit Ain’t One). His own Horris Records, founded in 2004, began as an imprint under Nettwerk and Oglio before becoming independent.
Following an August appearance at the Gathering of the Juggalos, Lars will bring his work into an academic setting on October 16, presenting a lit-hop project with Stanford University’s English Department and Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). The event will feature students from San Jose’s Indigo Middle School performing original raps inspired by “The Raven,” following a residency led by Lars.
“I want a kid to hear this record, get obsessed with ‘The Raven,’ and not realize until later that they did their homework.”
Listen to “Amontillado” (featuring Watt White):
Pre-order The Edgar Allan Poe LP: https://link.content360.io/MC_Lars
TRACK LISTING
DISC 1
- Who Killed Edgar Allan Poe? — 2:16
- Victorian Drip — 2:24
- Amontillado featuring Lacey Johnson — 3:29
- OG Gothic Poet featuring Rodney Anonymous and R2 the Specialist — 4:44
- The Devil’s in the Belfry featuring Christina Rotondo and Worm Quartet — 3:20
- Fatal Pattern featuring Schäffer the Darklord and Brad Carter/Phone Losers of America — 2:29
- Wiggle Wiggle Worm featuring Dory-Loup — 2:56
- The Black Cat Came Back featuring Ash Tell Em — 4:35
- The (Slightly Less) Abridged Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket featuring Somos Animales — 4:30
- $3.47 featuring Schäffer the Darklord, Ash Tell Em, Brad Carter/Phone Losers of America and Longmont Potion Castle — 5:34
- A Dream Within a Dream featuring Ash Tell Em, Christina Rotondo and Liliia Kysil — 5:14
- 99 Ways to Die in a Poem — 4:34
DISC 2
- Amontillado (2026) featuring Watt White — 3:37
- Wiggle Wiggle Worm (2026) featuring Jaret Reddick — 3:08
- Mr. Raven (2026) featuring Gosh Diggity — 3:41
- Flow Like Poe — 4:05
- The Tell-Tale <3 featuring Mega Ran — 3:22
- Lenore (I Miss You) — 3:30
- Mr. Raven (2012) featuring the Dead Milkmen — 3:12
The Edgar Allan Poe LP (Special One Year Anniversary Deluxe Expanded Edition) arrives digitally and on two-disc CD October 16, 2026, via Oglio Entertainment.
UPCOMING APPEARANCES
October 3 — Syracuse, NY — Official Retro Gamer Con Afterparty, with Schäffer the Darklord
October 4- Baltimore, MD- Poe Fest International
October 10 — Kingston, NY — O+ Festival 2026, with Lucero, Matt Pond PA and more
October 16 — Stanford, CA — CCRMA Stage, lit-hop performance and education event with Indigo Middle School students and Stanford faculty
December 27- Berkeley, CA- The Ivy Room
