Recap Das Racist at the High Noon Saloon

When diminutive Queens rapper Despot asked the crowd at High Noon Saloon “Have you ever been to a rap show before?” on Wednesday, he didn’t get that many answers in the affirmative. That’s understandable: This probably wasn’t the same crowd that would file into an Immortal Technique show in town. But then again, “rap show” doesn’t even begin to explain Das Racist’s headlining set on Wednesday.

The show, at times, was a confrontational battle with the audience, as Das Racist falsely introduced multiple songs as “Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell” to big cheers, followed by bummed out faces. It was also a Wu-Tang Clan circa 1999/Diplomats circa 2005-style posse concert catastrophe (openers Despot and Danny Brown joined in on a couple of songs), mixed with a willful, postmodern deconstruction of the idea of a hip-hop concert, with the members of Das Racist refusing to rap their parts straight (Heems rapped the third verse of “Michael Jackson” like he had a mouthful of helium) and mocking the idea that there was something “expected” of the MC during the show. It also had what seemed like elements of someone’s master course in film, with GIFs/video compilations of Law And Order, Kanye West, The Simpsons, and Juelz Santana projected behind the groups. And there was copious use of a sample that said “white demon.” In other words, the show was a disaster, and it was transcendent, and it was great.

Das Racist’s stop in Madison was the group’s first since 2009, when the MCs had still been riding the hype of “Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell.” The group has always had a contentious relationship with its viral hit, but beyond constantly teasing the lookie loos in attendance with the song’s imminent arrival, the show was a emphatic reminder to latecomers that Das Racist is sitting on two mix-tapes and an album’s (this year’s Relax) worth of monster material. The group hit all three releases hard, doing crowd shout-alongs to “Who’s That? Brooown!” and “Ek Shaneesh” from Shut Up, Dude, and “Rooftop” and “Amazing” from Sit Down, Man. But the few tracks from Relax were the biggest hits, as “Michael Jackson” and “Power” were rendered into a stomping, building leveling jam thanks to High Noon’s bowel-loosening bass capacity.

In addition to being out on the road with Despot, who joked he caused Def Jux to close because he was “too lazy” to ever put out an album (which is sort of true) and about liverwurst just being “a’ight,” Das Racist is touring with Detroit MC Danny Brown, whose recent release, XXX, is in the running for mix-tape of the year. Brown took the stage wearing a tiger-skin suit (and tails), and ended his set simulating oral sex and bleating about weed. Like the stuff that came afterward, the performance was crazy, all over the place, a spectacle, and part of one of the best concerts we’ve seen this year.