Das Racist: Beautiful People 2011
By Michael h. MilleR
"We're gonna be funny," Das Racist's Ashok Kondabolu -- aka Dap -- reassures a sold-out crowd at the Highline Ballroom. Hip-hop's most reluctant (and sarcastic) crossover act still can't help but smile at being back in their hometown. Then they interrupt their set to blast Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" in its entirety. "That's real hip-hop!" MC Victor Vazquez says.
A line from their excellent mixtape, last year's Sit Down, Man, sums them up nicely: "We're not joking, just joking, we are joking, just joking, we're not joking."
"It started as a funny rap thing," Himanshu Suri, the other MC, says from the basement of
Vazquez and Dap's house in Bushwick. "Not necessarily joke rap. Joke rap is making a mockery out of rap and that's not what we do." The members of Das Racist take their humor very seriously, as does everyone else. The band started as a quirky Internet discovery with their first single "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." They became critical darlings after two back-to-back mixtapes, and are now controversial commentators on politics and race relations. When British customs detained them last year and sent them home before they could play their first European show, Dap wrote a note on the group's web site claiming they were being stymied for their political beliefs.
At the house, it's 3 p.m. and people are stumbling out of bed. Suri is unshaven, wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans and a pink belt. He runs the business side of things. He's busy putting together the band's label -- Greedhead -- which will release their debut album (this one's not a mixtape) sometime this year.
As Suri texts and sends e-mails, it becomes apparent that the stragglers in the house are actually the band's managers. Suri mentions Das Racist is planning another European tour. "Hey Alexi!" he shouts upstairs. "Our booking agent in France said she got everything from you, so we should be okay with visas this time!" What was that about being detained for political beliefs? "Oh," Suri says. "That was just a joke."
GO BACK TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF 2011
A line from their excellent mixtape, last year's Sit Down, Man, sums them up nicely: "We're not joking, just joking, we are joking, just joking, we're not joking."
"It started as a funny rap thing," Himanshu Suri, the other MC, says from the basement of
Vazquez and Dap's house in Bushwick. "Not necessarily joke rap. Joke rap is making a mockery out of rap and that's not what we do." The members of Das Racist take their humor very seriously, as does everyone else. The band started as a quirky Internet discovery with their first single "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." They became critical darlings after two back-to-back mixtapes, and are now controversial commentators on politics and race relations. When British customs detained them last year and sent them home before they could play their first European show, Dap wrote a note on the group's web site claiming they were being stymied for their political beliefs.
At the house, it's 3 p.m. and people are stumbling out of bed. Suri is unshaven, wearing a white T-shirt, black jeans and a pink belt. He runs the business side of things. He's busy putting together the band's label -- Greedhead -- which will release their debut album (this one's not a mixtape) sometime this year.
As Suri texts and sends e-mails, it becomes apparent that the stragglers in the house are actually the band's managers. Suri mentions Das Racist is planning another European tour. "Hey Alexi!" he shouts upstairs. "Our booking agent in France said she got everything from you, so we should be okay with visas this time!" What was that about being detained for political beliefs? "Oh," Suri says. "That was just a joke."
GO BACK TO SEE MORE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE OF 2011
Your Comment