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Oct 21, 2010 Das Racist By Kyle Lemmon

“We’re not joking - just joking/We are joking - just joking/We’re not joking.” - Das Racist, ”hahahaha jk?”

Das Racist’s two 2010 mixtapes, Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man, (both free) are packed with music that’s at times complex and direct, and churlish and witty. Their first single, ”Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” was the definition of a novelty song, but those that dig deeper are rewarded with a smart hip-hop group swirling amongst the bong smoke. Both lay the crusty ol’ corpse of hip-hop/rap/R&B on the operating table and start hackin’ away. I’ve read bloggers complain about the stream-of-consciousness babbling, but this pop music IV is invigorating to these ears. The Queens-born Himanshu Kumar Suri (Young Coca Butter), San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez (Kool A.D.), and Queens-born hypeman Ashok Kondabolu (Dapwell) are beyond tongue-in-cheek. What they’re not beyond is tackling race and the general lull rap music faces in 2010.

As others have pointed out, it’s not “Doss Racist,” like Das Boot. It’s “Dass Racist,” as in, “That’s Racist!” The self-described “weed-edge/Hare Krishna-hardcore/art-rap/freak-folk music trio” is actually quite smart for a hashed-out, hipster party crew. The wordplay they let loose on Sit Down, Man steps up from the reefer madness of Shut Up, Dude. Flashy non-sequiturs and hat-tips to silly rap crews of the early ‘90s fly by at Web 2.0 speeds. Even Sit Down’s minimal electro-pop beats showcase a total producer pile-up. There’s Diplo and Chairlift, Boi-1da and Scoop Deville, Devo Springsteen and Dame Grease at the mixing boards, and the vocal chops of El-P, Despot, Roc Marciano, Keepaway, Teen Girl Fantasy, and Vijay Iyer are sprinkled throughout.

It’s easy to go on and on about this mixtape. There are so many ridiculous lines on Sit Down, Man that The Village Voice felt compelled to make a list. There’s no need to go into that here, because (1) it’s free and (2) that would be incredibly boring. And boring is the last thing this release will be remembered as. One thing to remember is that Vasquez is the slower, more chilled-out of the two rappers. Suri doesn’t keep as tight a leash on his rhymes. He’s the one you’ll get an ice cream headache from when he blacks out. They’re so similiar so many white people will not know the difference. (Ohhhh, that’s racist!) Just go listen, dudes. (www.dasracist.net)

Author rating: 8/10