We catch up with alternative hip hop trio Das Racist, who are on tour promoting their highly anticipated new L.P., Relax.
Story By James Johnson Photos By Tony Murnahan
Das Racist was supposed to be a joke, right? Even now, with the group not being able to muster a burp that doesn’t attract critical acclaim, it is still unclear as to whether the forked tongued Brooklyn, NY based rap trio have ever been taking their rise to fame seriously. The proof of the group’s commitment may be at hand with the release of their first commercial LP, titled Relax, as well as the start of their first national tour. Sh*t just got real.
How was it that the group that had first gained public notice by unleashing upon the Internets an ode to fast food consumerism entitled “Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell” in 2008, would come to be named as one of Spin Magazine’s 50 Acts to Watch at SXSW, or by MTV’s Iggy as “one of the 25 best new bands in the world?” Or have their debut album peak at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers chart?
“(‘Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell) was successful in that it racked up 2 million Youtube views and it allowed us to do everything afterwards,” said group hype man Dap, aka Ashok Kondabolu. “It is nice coming from a position of low expectations. I hardly hear about that now-o-days. There was no real money made off the song.”
Dap, along with group MCs Heems (Himanshu Suri) and Kool A.D. (Victor Vazquez) have built their musical catalogue around their shared twisted sense of humor and love of obscure pop culture references. The group’s name was inspired by their combined love of racially insensitive humor.
“There was a lot of that growing up … Ultimately, I did grow up in a neighborhood where there was a lot of Indian kids. There were some white kids who would be calling you Gandhi. There was a Haitian kid, a Puerto Rican kid, but I just hung out with my two Indian cousins,” noted Heems, who like Dap is of Indian descent. “Racism became an issue when I started going to college and hanging out with mostly white kids for the first time. White wealth. Even growing up in New York I wasn’t that knowledgeable.”
Their ability to find inspiration in even the most uncomfortable situations may be one reason the group has proven to be so relentlessly prolific, having released both their 2010 mixtapes, Shut Up, Dude, as well as Sit Down, Man, mere months apart.“A lot of people we know make music. Our friends are like, engineers and we’ll hang out in the studio, so we’re like, lets just make music cause that is where we’re hanging out anyway,” explained Dap. “When we get in the studio, we want to create something and not just fool around. There is a process.”
Currently the group is, for the very first time, getting settled into the life of touring artists.
“I am anticipating being very tired of sitting in a van with a bunch of men,” joked Dap. “I am going to fight with other people who are in the band with me because someone lost some sun glasses that I got… But yeah, I am very much looking forward to it. I want to know what it is like to drive around. I want to know what kind of freak I am going to be at thee end of that.”
