For those who don't know, Das Racist were a rap group consisting of Heems, Kool A.D., and their hype-man Dapwell. They were around from like 2008 until 2012 when they broke up seemingly at the peak of their career.
Known for their creative and often hilarious lyrics, they quickly developed a passionate following.
A couple of my favorite songs (but really, i like almost everything they ever put out).
Rainbow in the Dark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzWxf7tf3Qo
Hahaha jk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LliTqJNKJrM
Power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jp5W7ljVJ0
So yeah, they got big. Then quit. What went wrong? There are countless interviews, but i thought Dapwell's recent twitter rant to be fairly illuminating:
"Some Das Racist ramblings 1) the name sucked but changing the name of yr group mid-stream is a pain in the ass move.
2) a handful of terrible press photos that made us look like cornballs. also, our "racially ambiguous" (white peepoo talk for non-black) identities made us unappealing to rap fans who fetishize black america and our being "funny" made us unappealing to people who fetishize drugs/violence. so you have a bunch of middle american/british people calling us hipster or soft or w/e or whatever when it was just two brown dudes from queens and a brown dude from the bay.
3) "overeducated" (mostly) white critics flexing their english degrees kept asserting that our songs were some sort of "commentary" on rap which pegged as as outsiders poking fun at something we weren't a part of. ultimately we released ~50 songs, majority of which were pretty straightforward rap songs, some had weirdo choruses. Wack fans coming up like "OH, I DON'T EVEN LIKE RAP, BUT I LIKE YA'LL"
All that shit sucked, but a lot of it was straight. I was a roadie/dancer though, keep that in mind. -FIN- Not complaining, amazing experience, blah blah. People ask why we stopped doing it, so listing some of the (smaller) reasons publicly."
I saw them live twice, both times it felt like they did not give a shit/did not want to be there. I always felt like they really resented having me (a white male) as a fan. Luckily Danny Brown opened for them and absolutely killed it.
Like it never bothered me that their lyrics went in that direction, but they often seem legitimately annoyed that white people and blogs (pitchfork) paid more attention to their music than "black" focused outlets.
Basically it seems they created this thing, but it made them appeal to an audience they didn't care about/weren't attached to. So they just sort of blew everything up and started over.
Which part of me really admires. To them it wasn't about the money, it was making the music they wanted to make. And it may not have been there intention, but they really did get me more into a lot of modern rap. Whether they would be happy with that fact i don't know. But it is true.
Heems and Kool A.D. are still making some sick as music. It is just a shame they aren't doing it together....
Heems (as Swetshop Boys) Benny Lava: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLlYykSUXLk
Kook A.D. Tight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagSKvZdZXE
Because honestly, that heems verse could be a das racist song no problems. So it isn't like they suddenly moved away from making that type of music all together.
Two dudes who brought out the best in each other and we will likely never see them on the same track again. How sad.
So yeah, talk about your favorite songs. Recommend some newer music they are involved in. Talk about why you think the split really happened. Or just blast some cool tunes.
Known for their creative and often hilarious lyrics, they quickly developed a passionate following.
A couple of my favorite songs (but really, i like almost everything they ever put out).
Rainbow in the Dark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzWxf7tf3Qo
Hahaha jk:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LliTqJNKJrM
Power:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jp5W7ljVJ0
So yeah, they got big. Then quit. What went wrong? There are countless interviews, but i thought Dapwell's recent twitter rant to be fairly illuminating:
"Some Das Racist ramblings 1) the name sucked but changing the name of yr group mid-stream is a pain in the ass move.
2) a handful of terrible press photos that made us look like cornballs. also, our "racially ambiguous" (white peepoo talk for non-black) identities made us unappealing to rap fans who fetishize black america and our being "funny" made us unappealing to people who fetishize drugs/violence. so you have a bunch of middle american/british people calling us hipster or soft or w/e or whatever when it was just two brown dudes from queens and a brown dude from the bay.
3) "overeducated" (mostly) white critics flexing their english degrees kept asserting that our songs were some sort of "commentary" on rap which pegged as as outsiders poking fun at something we weren't a part of. ultimately we released ~50 songs, majority of which were pretty straightforward rap songs, some had weirdo choruses. Wack fans coming up like "OH, I DON'T EVEN LIKE RAP, BUT I LIKE YA'LL"
All that shit sucked, but a lot of it was straight. I was a roadie/dancer though, keep that in mind. -FIN- Not complaining, amazing experience, blah blah. People ask why we stopped doing it, so listing some of the (smaller) reasons publicly."
I saw them live twice, both times it felt like they did not give a shit/did not want to be there. I always felt like they really resented having me (a white male) as a fan. Luckily Danny Brown opened for them and absolutely killed it.
Like it never bothered me that their lyrics went in that direction, but they often seem legitimately annoyed that white people and blogs (pitchfork) paid more attention to their music than "black" focused outlets.
Basically it seems they created this thing, but it made them appeal to an audience they didn't care about/weren't attached to. So they just sort of blew everything up and started over.
Which part of me really admires. To them it wasn't about the money, it was making the music they wanted to make. And it may not have been there intention, but they really did get me more into a lot of modern rap. Whether they would be happy with that fact i don't know. But it is true.
Heems and Kool A.D. are still making some sick as music. It is just a shame they aren't doing it together....
Heems (as Swetshop Boys) Benny Lava: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLlYykSUXLk
Kook A.D. Tight: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EagSKvZdZXE
Because honestly, that heems verse could be a das racist song no problems. So it isn't like they suddenly moved away from making that type of music all together.
Two dudes who brought out the best in each other and we will likely never see them on the same track again. How sad.
So yeah, talk about your favorite songs. Recommend some newer music they are involved in. Talk about why you think the split really happened. Or just blast some cool tunes.
