Kool A.D.: 19 & 63

By Alif Omar Mahfix • 14 Mar 2013 in Review

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A.D (AFTER DAS RACIST)
It’s sad that just when they were about to cement themselves as the most intelligent stupid rap group around (master satirists, their dumbest tracks say more than supposedly smart hip hop songs), Das Racist decided to break up. Fortunately for us, as solo acts both Heems and Kool A.D are still very much so Das Racist – even if they don’t trade rhymes anymore.

Kool A.D’s recently released mixtapes 19 and 63, successors to 51 last year, owe more to his Bay Area roots than the New York milieu of Das Racist’s music (the names are San Fran’s bus routes, for one). Fittingly the 2 mixtapes are produced by locals and much of its sound is indebted to hyphy-esque minimal beats. You’d think that would make Kool his own thing, yet the Das Racist sound – if there’s such a thing – is really the way they rap; the abstract nonsensical humour of their lyrics and general not-giving-two-f*cks that permeates it.

Parodying non-word adlibs rappers are fond of, Kool A.D frequently shouts Bieber and Madonna throughout the records. But don’t mistake him for a satirist with disdain for his subject matter, he loves and understands hip hop – Das Racist ain’t The Lonely Island after all. There is one thing that separates Kool A.D as a solo act from Das Racist (and former partner Heems), he’s persistent about not taking himself seriously.

Whereas Heems’ solo tracks have underlying real world issues despite maintaining its humour (‘Soup Boys’), Kool A.D is busier trying to evoke Lil B’s ‘Ellen Degeneres’, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

LISTEN TO: ‘Eroika’, ‘Beautiful Naked Psychedelic Gherkin Exploding Tomato Sauce All Over Ur Face, Flame Grilled Painting’
IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU’LL DIG: Das Racist, Heems, Lil B
RATING: 3.5