'Game of Thrones' rap

Millions of people around the globe are eagerly awaiting the premiere of the eighth and final season of HBO's epic fantasy series "Game of Thrones," out April 14.

Among them are two Wilmington men, Christian Ames, 28, and John Gelardi, 26, of the nerdcore rap duo JT Music. The professional YouTubers have 2.8 million subscribers to their channel, with hundreds of millions of views for their videos both poking fun at and paying homage to everything from video game franchises to popular movies and TV shows.

On YouTube at noon on Saturday, the duo will debut their "Game of Thrones" rap video, which pairs original music and lyrics to footage from the show. It's part of JT Music's attempt to grow its brand by increasingly expanding from niche to more mainstream titles.

"If you had told us we'd be doing this full time when we were in college, I'd have said, 'No way,'" Ames said Thursday morning in downtown Wilmington, where JT Music has its offices and studio. "We literally just combined our passion for video games and music, and discovered after we started doing it that there's this whole group of people who love listening to this weird, sometimes cringey, nerdy music. That's really cool that we could find a following doing this."

Both Ames and Gelardi are from Kennebunkport, Maine. Gelardi moved to Wilmington to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he double-majored in Film and Business, graduating in 2015. Ames, a Film major, visited here while Gelardi was in school, and later moved to the area.

Ames, who's gregarious and charismatic, does the duo's music, while Gelardi, who's quieter, focuses on the videos and marketing side of the business.

"In terms of music, being a white rapper, a lot of our inspiration comes from Eminem, Beastie Boys, Jedi Mind Tricks is another great group I always list as one of my inspirations," Ames said.

Nerdcore is a hip-hop subgenre pioneered by such artists as MC Chris. Some have called what JT Music does "gamecore" because of its video game focus.

"To me, it's just music about something you're passionate about," Gelardi said. "That's all that nerdcore is, (music about something) you're nerdy about."

And while most of their work has focused on video games — "Assassin's Creed," "Overwatch," "Red Dead Redemption" and "Fortnite" among many others, with gameplay graphics edited to fit the group's music — they've increasingly expanded their focus to do videos for TV shows like "Westworld" and "Rick and Morty" and such movies as "Venom" and "Solo."

Most video game developers are fine with groups like JT Music rapping to their graphics, but there's more risk involved when the focus is a TV show or movie. Their "Venom" rap video got "claimed" after 2 million views, Gelardi said, meaning that they couldn't get any more revenue off the video even though the music and lyrics are original.

They've also branched out into producing live-action videos, like their one for "Solo," which was shot in Wilmington bar The Blue Post, and they recently flew to Austin to do a cowboy-themed video, out May 4, for  "Red Dead Redemption."

And while most of their work is strictly comedic, they've taken a different tack with the "Game of Thrones" rap, which is "inspired by the actual lore of 'Game of Thrones,'" Ames said, and has "a more serious angle as opposed to kind of goofy nerdcore."

The video should appeal to casual "GoT" fans, Gelardi said, but the nerdier you are about the show, the more references you'll get.

Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.

JT Music

Find the Wilmington nerdcore duo at:

• Youtube.com/c/jtm
• Instagram.com/jtmusicteam
• Twitter.com/JTMusicTeam
• JTmerch.com