Meanest Man Contest

{{short description|Hip hop and electronic music duo}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Meanest Man Contest

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| image_size =

| background = group_or_band

| origin = San Francisco, California
Los Angeles, California

| genre = Hip hop
Electronica

| years_active = 2002 - Present

| label = Sneakmove
Gold Robot Records
Plug Research
RCRD LBL

| associated_acts =

| website = [http://meanest.me/ Official Website]

| current_members = Eriksolo (Eric Steuer)
Quarterbar (Noah Blumberg)

| past_members =

}}

Meanest Man Contest is a hip hop and electronic music duo based in San Francisco, California. The members are Quarterbar (Noah Blumberg) and Eriksolo (Eric Steuer).

As college roommates, Noah Blumberg and Eric Steuer started making lo-fi rap songs on a 4-track, then recruited friends to create the Santa Barbara hip-hop crew mic.edu.{{cite book|author=Vladimir Bogdanov|title=All Music Guide to Hip-hop: The Definitive Guide to Rap & Hip-hop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wr1lmklsD8QC&pg=PT316|year=2003|publisher=Backbeat Books|isbn=978-0-87930-759-2|pages=316–}}{{cite web|url=http://www.urbansmarts.com/interviews/micedu.htm|title=mic.edu interview|author=DJ Fisher|publisher=Urban Smarts}}{{cite web|url=http://ugsmag.com/2011/07/eric-steuer/|publisher=UGSMAG|title=Eric Steuer|author=Luke Muyskens|date=2011-07-06}} The duo formed Meanest Man Contest after a move upstate to Oakland, where they searched through stacks of flea market records looking for samples. From this effort came a series of short tracks that would form MMC's collage-like first single, Contaminated Dance Step. MMC's first LP, Merit, included jazz samples and live guitar.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5192-merit/|publisher=Pitchfork|author=Jascha Hoffman|date=2003-04-24|title=Meanest Man Contest: Merit}}[http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/reviews/mmc_merit.htm The Milk Factory - Reviews - Merit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009090414/http://www.themilkfactory.co.uk/reviews/mmc_merit.htm |date=2007-10-09 }}[http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/meanest-man-contest/Content?oid=1070561 East Bay Express - CD Reviews] More recently, the duo has expanded its musical approach with releases like the off-kilter pop EP Some People, the electro-tinged single Throwing Away Broken Electronics,{{cite web|url=http://www.imposemagazine.com/bytes/meanest-man-contest-discuss-throwing-away-broken-electronics|date=2013-10-17|author=Blake Gillespie|publisher=Impose Magazine|title=Meanest Man Contest discuss re-recording "Throwing Away Broken Electronics"}} and the hip-hop releases Split{{cite web|url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-04-05/music/meanest-man-contest-languis/|date=2007-04-05|publisher=Phoenix New Times|title=Meanest Man Contest/Languis|author=Dominic Umile}}{{cite web|url=http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Meanest_Man_Contest/music |title=RCRD LBL: Meanest Man Contest |accessdate=2008-10-02 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110121257/http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Meanest_Man_Contest/music |archivedate=November 10, 2011 }} and Partially Smart.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.laweekly.com/westcoastsound/2010/01/watch_meanest_man_contest_part.php|date=2010-01-18|title=Watch: Meanest Man Contest, "Partially Smart"|author=Chris Martins|publisher=LA Weekly}} In 2013 the group released Everything Worth Mentioning.{{cite web|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/16009-in-the-dark/|publisher=Pitchfork|title=Meanest Man Contest: "In the Dark"|author=Renato Pagnani|date=2013-09-10}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/hip-hops-gloomy-sons/Content?oid=3756633|title=Hip Hop's Gloomy Sons|date=2013-11-06|publisher=East Bay Express|author=Kathleen Richards}}