"We're not joking, just joking, we are joking, just joking, we're not joking," raps Das Racist on the front loaded track "hahahaha jk?" from their sprawling mind-boggling mixtape/album "Sit Down, Man." The track is a self-referential defense of Das Racist's approach to hip hop, who first made a splash in 2008 with the humorous, but urgent sounding "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell." That track polarized listeners, with some dismissing it as joke rap, while others found in it an existential commentary on American consumerism. Das Racist is clearly aware of this split in reception on "Sit Down," and plays both tips to the max. A quick listen to the album's lead track "All Tan Everything" finds the duo (with a little help from Jay-Z) blending high and low humor with commentary seamlessly, kicking the track off with the observation that "the white man can't even go outside, he'll get a disease...because of the sunlight," before running through a stream of consciousness meditation on race that name-checks Mia Farrow, Peggy Noonan, Patty Duke, Ann Coulter and the Blue Man Group before descending into juvenile riffing off of the word "booty." All of this is dropped over beats and electronic blips that sound a robot slowly slipping into delirium in a mid-1960s Sci-Fi shlock flick. Then there is "Puerto Rican Cousins" that includes some of the funniest play on words ever laid down to tape broken up by a chorus that subverts Sly & The Family Stone's "We Are Family" in order to make a subtle commentary on "they all look the same" racism that is more grin-inducing than preachy or heavy-handed. In short, race consciousness has never sounded this fun. The genius of Das Racist is that they are able to drop mindbombs coded as stupid-smart humor like napalm over the course of 20 tracks and leave listeners in awe of their word play, and amused at their ability to crack a smile throughout. Social and political commentary is never this entertaining, and Das Racist realize this. In an interview with the Village Voice member Himanshu Suri said "all I wanted to do was make some jokes—mostly about race, though not necessarily consciously, over dance music that would serve to undermine it so Talib Kweli fans wouldn’t like it." To that end Das Racist have succeeded wildly. "Sit Down, Man" is more "Paul's Boutique" than it is Black Star.
Das Racist formed out of the friendship of Suri and Victor Vazquez, who meet while attending Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Suri also attended the prestigious Stuyvesant High School of New York along with third member/hype man Ashok Kondabolu. For good measure Suri is also an alumni of the School of Oriental and African Studies, so to say that Das Racist has an intellectual pedigree like no other hip hop act is a bit of an understatement. Such fancy learning could spell a recipe for obscure disaster. There is often a seriousness behind hyperliterate rap that handicaps its acceptance outside of the most cerebral. Hip hop is certainly no stranger to artists that make a handful of listeners think, but who fail to move bodies and thus never crossover to a wider audience. I love the hell out of Sole's "Selling Live Water," but whenever I have played it for others I am often met with the same reaction: 'what a fuckin' downer.' Yet Das Racist seems to be one step ahead of perception, making sure that their rhymes can be enjoyed across the board, including by those that may not get all of their references. They have perfected the art of being, to use their own description, "the smartest dumb guys in the room."
And least anyone think these guys are some sort of smartypants interlopers to the hip-hop game, Das Racists name-checks, critiques and gives props to a wide array of MCs and personas, well beyond this dilettante's knowledge. They clearly take hip hop seriously and show a vast and deep appreciation of the genre and its history, even while throwing it into the mix of sacred cows to skewer and use as fodder in their word play. To underline that point, "Sit Down, Man" has a plethora of producers bringing in styles ranging from party people in the house beats to dark and claustrophobic urban hellscapes (courtesy of El-P, of course). In each case the band is able to adapt and go with whatever flow has been crafted for them.
While certainly some songs work better than others, and there are a couple of forgettable tracks here, it is hard to find too much fault, since a few soft spots are bound to pop up on an album this massive and long. What is more compelling is that the vast majority of songs here do work and provide a complete picture of Das Racist and their insane crazy wordplay skills. This isn't so much an album of potential as it is an album that announces the arrival of a new and important voice in hip hop. I am sure that 2011 will see the band's first proper release, and that it may be a little spruced up from the sort of ragtag charm of "Sit Down, Man," but this album is going to be the group's benchmark, and one that fans return to years later just as they do "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back," and "License to Ill" now, and considering shades of both of those albums can be found here without embarrassment to either classic this is a pretty damn good start.
"All Tan Everything"
"Rapping 2 U"
"Puerto Rican Cousins"
No comments:
Post a Comment