“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

Executive produced by Adam F. Goldberg, creator of The Goldbergs, the expanded collection features 19 tracks, pairing the original twelve-song album with seven bonus recordings: three new 2026 versions and four tracks from Lars’s 2012 Edgar Allan Poe EP. Arriving just in time for Halloween, the release draws together years of Lars’s exploration of Poe through lit-hop, his fusion of classic literature and contemporary hip-hop.

Across the collection, Lars revisits the author’s tales of obsession, revenge, mortality and madness through songs inspired by works including The Cask of Amontillado, The Raven, The Tell-Tale Heart and The Black Cat. The album connects Poe’s enduring themes with Lars’s interests as a rapper, storyteller and educator, offering listeners another way into the author’s work.

Guests 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.”

Among the anniversary edition’s additions are “Amontillado (2026)” featuring Watt White, which reimagines Poe’s chilling tale of revenge and deception; “Wiggle Wiggle Worm (2026)” featuring Jaret Reddick; and “Mr. Raven (2026)” featuring Gosh Diggity. The bonus disc also revisits Lars’s earlier Poe recordings, including “Flow Like Poe,” “The Tell-Tale <3” featuring Mega Ran, and “Mr. Raven (2012)” featuring the Dead Milkmen.

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 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.

Lars is also scheduled to mark release day with a lit-hop performance and education event at Stanford University’s CCRMA Stage, presented with Stanford’s English Department and Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. Following a residency led by Lars, students from San Jose’s Indigo Middle School will perform original raps inspired by “The Raven.”

“I want a kid to hear this record, get obsessed with ‘The Raven,’ and not realize until later that they did their homework.”

Read about the event on Metro Silicon Valley.

The Edgar Allan Poe LP (Special One Year Anniversary Deluxe Expanded Edition) is out now digitally and on two-disc CD via Oglio Entertainment.

Listen / Order: https://link.content360.io/MC_Lars

TRACK LISTING

DISC 1

1. Who Killed Edgar Allan Poe? — 2:16
2. Victorian Drip — 2:24
3. Amontillado featuring Lacey Johnson — 3:29
4. OG Gothic Poet featuring Rodney Anonymous and R2 the Specialist — 4:44
5. The Devil’s in the Belfry featuring Christina Rotondo and Worm Quartet — 3:20
6. Fatal Pattern featuring Schäffer the Darklord and Brad Carter/Phone Losers of America — 2:29
7. Wiggle Wiggle Worm featuring Dory-Loup — 2:56
8. The Black Cat Came Back featuring Ash Tell Em — 4:35
9. The (Slightly Less) Abridged Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket featuring Somos Animales — 4:30
10. $3.47 featuring Schäffer the Darklord, Ash Tell Em, Brad Carter/Phone Losers of America and Longmont Potion Castle — 5:34
11. A Dream Within a Dream featuring Ash Tell Em, Christina Rotondo and Liliia Kysil — 5:14
12. 99 Ways to Die in a Poem — 4:34

DISC 2

1. Amontillado (2026) featuring Watt White — 3:37
2. Wiggle Wiggle Worm (2026) featuring Jaret Reddick — 3:08
3. Mr. Raven (2026) featuring Gosh Diggity — 3:41
4. Flow Like Poe — 4:05
5. The Tell-Tale <3 featuring Mega Ran — 3:22
6. Lenore (I Miss You) — 3:30
7. Mr. Raven (2012) featuring the Dead Milkmen — 3:12

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

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

Tour Information and Tickets