I first heard him like 2 years ago now, and I was captivated. The quasi-Asian-ness (he's 1/2 Korean) The quasi-white-ness (he's 1/2 white). The quasi-not-gangsta-ness. The actual gangsta-ness. The cameos with 'real G's'. I think to myself 'I must just not know what this kid has going on! How is he so gangsta?! He looks so NOT gangsta!!' He's not the best blow-you-away, hands-down rapper, but homie goes hard thats for sure. I'm down with the Chain Mang.
Peep the teaser for his new video, 'Wow':
And the video for a summer 2010 track of his, 'Diamonds & Cadillacs':
One of the best shows I have ever been to hands down. Seattle 2008. The night after seeing Cut Copy (one of the best shows I have ever been to). By the end, my jeans (a thick pair) were literally soaked completely through. I never washed them. Then they got lost. Gogol sweat and all.
They had finished the main set, and everyone was chanting for an encore. Eugene comes out and screams :
"YOU WANT MORE?! MORE ... IS SO MUCH MORE...THAN YOU CAN FUCKING HANDLE!!!"
Well everyone went nuts of course & then they proceeded to play like 30 minutes more of straight, non stop madness. Jeeeez. That old dude on the fiddle is out his gad damn mind.
He tells it the best himself in the beginning of this video...which also gives you an ease into the bands vibe...
Their new album Trans-Continental Hustle,produced by Rick Ruben, is out now. You should check it. Upon it you will find the song for which the video is posted below, courtesy of boing boing, and from there, Eugene tells us a bit about where the band is coming from on this one :
I have lived in the Ukraine, Italy, the United States, and Brazil, and of course we've traveled so many places as a band now, too. For us as a band, immigration policies— we've been affected by them, we know how imperfect they are and how brutal they can be on people. This song speaks about the double standards that immigration policies have. One of the biggest defects of immigration is the hosting country often makes itself look very inviting at first, and once the migrants are there, they are subjected to super serious hardcore bureaucratic terror for a number of years which does not make them feel very welcome. Anything like that should be resolved, it traumatizes people to the bone.
Well, you done fucked up, cuz its too late! They large now! HA!
Im just messin, kinda, but Audio-Ology is definitely on their way, and an amazing performance at Ne-Yo & Chris Brown's VMA afterparty @ Boulevard 3 in Hollywood this past Sunday was just another step. Y'all killed it my dudes! Silk The Shocker what? Gucci what? Waka what? Nothing compared to the real music coming from these guys. Look for big things happening.
