Das Racist first appeared as a joke of a group, and as it
turns out they still are - they do spend a solid two and a half minutes
repeating "Booty in the Air" on the shockingly named track "Booty in the Air",
after all - but that doesn't mean they should be taken as anything other than
what they are.Relax is a triumphant debut album from one of the best, most absurdly
talented new rap groups to show up in the past half decade.
There is something to be said for any rap group that can
name check My Bloody Valentine and not sound like they are trying too hard, but
it's not humanly possible for Himanshu Suri to sound like he cares about
anything at all, and it seems like Victor Vazquez and their quote-unquote "hype
man" (though that really is the wrong way to describe him) Dap are just trying
to top him throughout the album.
There are no highs that reach the brilliance of "hahaha jk"
no matter how many pop culture references they stuff into each song (they really
make valiant efforts on "Michael Jackson" and the aforementioned My Bloody
Valentine referencing "Happy Rappy"), but that is really no reason to look at
the album as a let down. Though nobody wants growth out of a group like Das
Racist, they somehow still manage to make an album that shows some future
potential for them to be Serious Artists (or something better, like just
themselves).
Relax only suffers when it
tries to be too many things for too many people. Tracks like "Power (f/ Danny
Brown and Despot)" and "Punjabi Song (f/ Bikram Singh)" come off the rails for
trying to make a great guest star track for the sake of it.
I have often wondered what WHY? (QRO live review) would sound like if Yoni Wolf weren't so depressed all the time
and after listening to Relax I now know. So if
nothing else Das Racist have answered my questions, let them answer all your
questions (or at least two of them) too.
Click here for photos of Das Racist at 2011 Governors Ball on Governors Island in New York, NY in the QRO Concert Photo Gallery
Fueled with Voodoo Doughnuts, Alcoholic Faith Mission
delivered to a rockin' crowd in Portland.
Those lucky enough to
enter the House of Blues Boston took a spacey journey
that felt like one long dream starting with opening act I Break Horses.
The student-filled O2 Academy in Manchester started heaving
forward the instant the visual art showed "The Cribs" on the backdrop.
