DOOMTREE

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THRASHER, APRIL 2012

Doomtree is one of a kind. The Minneapolis-based hip-hop collective is not only an up and coming supergroup made up of longtime friends, but it’s the name of their record label, as well. Each member is successful in their own right, with solo albums, headlining tours and numerous collaborations under their belts. When they get together, magic happens. Comprised of P.O.S., Sims, Dessa, Paper Tiger, Lazerbeak, Mike Mictlan and Cecil Otter, the seven multi-talented artists bring their individual spark to the stage as they merge their styles into once cohesive force. Doomtree’s most recent studio album, No Kings, hit the shelves this November and will no doubt be making some waves in the underground world. I had a chance to catch up with a handful of them to talk false hopes and dreams. –Kyle Eustice

How do you think hip-hop and skateboarding coincide?

Dessa: Cecil is a really talented skateboarder. P.O.S, Paper Tiger, and Sims skate too. There's an obvious overlap of those cultures; maybe in part because there's a palpable drive toward innovation. I think there's a real love for the underdog in both worlds, too.
Sims: Hard to say exactly. I think that they are both movements started by youths as a way around getting into trouble. They both give kids something positive and constructive to do with their time.
Paper Tiger: I got into hip-hop through skateboarding. Aside from all of the mainstream stuff that was on the radio, everything I learned about music and counter culture came from skateboarding. Everything about who I am today is because I grew up skateboarding.
Mictlan: Hip-hop and skateboarding to me have always coincided aesthetically because they are both direct reflections of youth in America attempting to define themselves through their own original styles and innovations.
P.O.S: The same way hip-hop and punk rock do. You find out about one or the other because of skateboarding. Maybe it’s not just hip-hop necessarily. Music and skateboarding always had a deep connection. Nobody can deny that.

Do you skate? If so, what's your favorite trick or spot to ride?

Sims: I mostly push around these days. So my favorite trick at the moment is Ollie up the curb.
Paper Tiger: I used to skate all the time, however I am getting old these days and don’t get out to skate as much as I would like to. My favorite tricks to watch are the stuff that Chris Haslam or Daewon do. Those guys are crazy creative when it comes to tricks and terrain.
Mictlan: Sometimes yes, I am known to get on a skateboard from time to time. I live in Minnesota. We can't skate year round like kids do back home in California so out here we got places like 3rd Lair, which is a dope indoor spot. When I'm in Cali, the Vans Skateparks are cool to check out and of course, Venice Beach. I grew up around the old Venice and just miss the atmosphere that used to be there. My favorite trick would have to be the GnarGnar Olly Whopper. I still haven't landed that yet. Usually getting on the board and making it from one destination to the other is my most fanciest trick I pull off.
P.O.S: I do skate, but not nearly as well. Heel flips and cruising transitions are fun. I bring a skateboard with me on all the tours. Not super heavy into tricks, but I still like to cruise on a nice day.

As a group, what's your song writing process like?

Dessa: For No Kings, all of us sequestered ourselves in a cabin in the woods. We played beats on repeat--all the emcees pacing and mumbling as they wrote their verses. Several days, a lot of booze, and dozens of sandwiches later, we left with the majority of the record demoed.
Sims: This is interesting because it works differently than it does when any if us are in process for solo material. With this album the producers got together a couple times a week for a month or two and made beats together, collaborating on sounds, layout, sequence and all that stuff. Writing the lyrics for the songs basically worked like this: we'd put a beat on loop and people would start to sketch out ideas. When someone came up with either a concept, chorus or start to a verse we'd decide as a group whether or not that was the direction that particular track should take.
Paper Tiger: Typically it starts with a beat. The producers will pass around beats and the MC's will write to them. It is a simple process, but also very personal. However the making of the "No Kings" record was a bit more collaborative, there was much more creation happening as a group.
Mictlan: On this new Doomtree record No Kings, this is the first time we all got together and wrote 11 out of 12 of the songs together over 6 days at a cabin in Northern Wisconsin. What we wrote in those 6 days is what came out and we made the choice ahead of time that we were gonna stand behind whatever we did.

Do you guys ever clash?

Dessa: Working by committee definitely has its challenges--big decisions are hard to make quickly because everyone's opinion has to be solicited and discussed. That said, we've had remarkably few fall-outs. We genuinely like and trust one another, which is probably more than most businesses can say of their workforce.
Sims: Every family has its moments but we know each other well enough and have strong enough relationships that nothing ever gets out of hand.
Paper Tiger: Of course, in any creative field there are levels of differences.
Mictlan: We go back like rocking chairs. We’re like 2 rear flats on a Cadillac. We've been rapping with each other for like 10+ years. When it comes to our music we're all adults. Creating is supposed to fun. At least that's what we always thought.
P.O.S. No not typically. We’ve been bros and sis for 10 years now. We know how to deal with personalities but were family.

Does this lifestyle ever get overwhelming?

Dessa: Yes, it does. But I want very badly to do this well. And I want to share my work. If those objectives entail some compromises, I'm willing to make them so long as I can retain artistic control and personal integrity. Sounds like a Girl Scout, I know. But it's the truth.
Sims: Touring gets hard but what else would I be doing right now?
Paper Tiger: Every lifestyle can get overwhelming, you just take on what you can.
Mictlan: It can be like Groundhog Day at times. You wake up in a different city doing the same thing.

What do you think is the biggest cliche in hip-hop right now?

Dessa: Posturing
Sims: Blog rapper
Paper Tiger: Money
Mictlan: Swagg, duh.
P.O.S. Money.

Several hip-hop collectives like A Tribe Called Quest and Jurassic 5 have broken up completely because they simply couldn't get along. What do you think it takes to make sure that doesn't happen to Doomtree?

Sims: I don't know. Hopefully everyone stays honest with each other and keep the egos in check. We've known each other long enough know better.
Paper Tiger: It's just a simple matter of being there for people when they need you. We are a family first.
Mictlan: We'll have to mean it more. We'll have to walk the talk. We're just going to have to show our elders and our peers exactly what it means to be rappers and honest professionals who inspire people to do it like us, fairly and equally with our friends and our fans.

What are your hopes for Doomtree?

Dessa: Doomtree is a group of artsy friends who chose to make themselves into a family. Although I hope we all achieve glorious worldly success, in some ways, Doomtree is already doing exactly what it is supposed to. Our lives are all better by virtue of the fact that we're connected to each other.
Sims: One hit wonders
Paper Tiger: It would great if I could do this as my full time job for a while, but other than that, I am really excited about how things have been growing over the years.
Mictlan: Over at Doomtree we have a thing called "False Hopes.” Lucky is for suckers. I just hope people keep listening, man and keep on rocking in the free world and that all that jazz. This is our 33rd release as a label. We have a lot more planned for the future and I consider the past ten years the beginning.
P.O.S: That we can continue to make songs and have a place to out them out both as individuals and as a crew.

What's the biggest lesson you've learned about the industry since you got into it?

Dessa: Professionals who've been in the game for decades still improve as players.
Sims: Don't trust whitey.
Paper Tiger: Haters gonna hate.
Mictlan: No kings. Ever. Or in the timeless lyrics of Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest: "Rule #4,080: record company people are shady!"
P.O.S: That’s a good one, Mike [laughs]. Surround yourself with people you trust and will make you work harder.

Das Racist

Daps Talks Fancy Joints and Super Geniuses
By Kyle Eustice

If you’ve heard Das Racist’s 2008 hit single, chances are you’ll never look at a combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the same light ever again. The New York City-based indie rappers scored big with a surprisingly catchy song simply titled “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell” which was not only extremely witty, but had hidden gems of social commentary scattered throughout. Himanshu “Heems” Suri, Victor “Kool A.D.” Vazquez and Ashok “Daps” Kondabolu are three funny yet refreshingly intelligent dudes brimming with promise. Currently on tour in support of Das Racist’s debut album, Relax, Daps took a minute to talk to me from the lobby of his Chicago hotel.

So you’re having trouble getting into your hotel?
Yeah, we’re lingering in the lobby. Should only be a couple of minutes.
Are you at a Motel 6 or the Ritz Carlton?
[Laughs] We’re in something between a Motel 6 and like, a fancy joint.
Let’s talk about the first single, “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.” While it’s obviously funny, there’s a little social commentary on consumer identity in corporate America, isn’t there?
I don’t think that was in any way intended when the song was made. It was a line from one of Victor’s solo songs under Kool A.D. It also contained the line that ended up being the chorus to the Michael Jackson song.
[Call is dropped] Hello?
Oh no, the phone died? I was babbling. What was the last thing I said? Oh yeah, so the chorus for Michael Jackson and Pizza Hut and Taco Bell both came from Victor’s song. They pulled out that one part and said it over and over again. Then a larger message got attributed to the song which happens all the time. Why is a song any less legitimate or beautiful or interesting if it’s not some stupid blatant bullshit message song that some corny fucking idiot with a guitar made? I’m not going to pretend it was made with that intention.
Why do you think it took off so quickly?
I don’t know. It’s a dumb song, very repetitive and I think this country is pretty dumb. I think a lot of people latched on to the simplicity of the song. They thought it was silly and it’s a fun thing to yell when you’re drinking crappy beer in the middle of America somewhere.
It’s such an obvious thing to kind of wonder about because what a weird concept anyway. I mean, why do you have to combine a Pizza Hut and Taco Bell in the first place?
[Laughs] Yeah, I don’t think the depressing aspect of that got lost on everybody. It’s a miserable, miserable thing.
Humor clearly plays a pivotal role in your music. Do you think some of that has been lost in mainstream hip-hop?
It’s weird because a lot of the personalities are insanely huge. I mean, not insanely, but they are jovial dudes. Rick Ross is really a funny dude. I don’t think a lot of people want that or at least that’s not how things have been for a period of time. And people just listen to what’s on the radio, essentially. In the early 90s and shit, there were a lot more opportunities to be funny.
Speaking of, have you seen the Beats, Rhymes and Life documentary about A Tribe Called Quest?
Nah, not yet. People ask us that all the time. I should probably watch it.
Yeah, it’s time to watch that. They kind of cover some of that. They were considered weird, eccentric people, but they did their own thing and it worked. People liked it. You guys have a little of that going on.
True. I think a lot of it is tied into the fact that the majority of people, at least those with the purchasing power, that are white Americans or whatever, they wanted a certain depiction of African American life and a certain type of African American art that falls into old roles of machismo and depicting urban poverty. When they see these alternative depictions, I don’t think they’re interested because it’s not the image they want to buy into. That’s why we’ll see white kids at our shows kind of like, you know, fronting and insinuating that we’re cornballs and white. And I’m like ‘you’re white, you’re actually white! I could beat the shit out of you and I know like drug dealers, too and shit. ‘ [Laughs]
Kind of like you know people who will kill people for fifty dollars? [Laughs] Das racist!
Yeah, exactly [laughs].
I feel like underneath all of the jokes, there’s a lot of intelligence brewing in your lyrics. Are you guys some super geniuses?
[Laughs] Uh, you’re pretty funny. I think we’re pretty well-read. I don’t know. I sat around a lot and these dudes went to college. I sat around for 5 years reading and doing weird shit in New York because I didn’t go to school. There was a lot of time when I did that instead of working.
I feel you. I’m trying to do the whole freelance writer thing. I mean I am working, but my parents don’t see it that way.
[Laughs] I know how that is.
If Das Racist could say one thing about society, what would it be?
Take it easy.
Your music has been described as “sawing the legs of off hip-hop.” Can you elaborate on that?
Someone had written that about us. I think we generally don’t like making large statements about hip-hop and our role in hip-hop plus that’s insane and no one knows who we are anyway.
[Laughs] Yeah, right.
I think whoever wrote that was saying we were just big goofs in the beginning and we were trying to make some kind of commentary about hip-hop in our music and they thought it was refreshing. But, I don’t like this whole idea that we’re coming in, looking around and mocking things. It’s just not accurate and not true at all. We’re just rap fans that like rap and we happen to be funny ass dudes and shit. In the age of the internet, things happen exponentially fast, I suppose, so it takes much less time for a reaction to happen. To get a comedic response takes 3 or 4 days.
You just answered one of my questions kind of inadvertently about how big of a role the internet plays in making an artist successful.
Oh yeah, it’s everything. It’s insane. I mean Odd Future wouldn’t exist without the internet. Those dudes blew up in less than a year. We’ve met Tyler once and those kids are going insane.
I think that when you get so famous so fast, you can sometimes be really unprepared and it’s a little challenging.
Definitely.
How was it to collaborate with El-P who has kind of a dark overtone to his material?
It’s funny we have a mutual friend, Alex Despot. He was on Def Jux for awhile. Eventually, he thought our shit was great. We started hanging out and we’re all from New York and I had been listening to El-P’s shit for a long time. We went over to his house and we had similar senses of humor.
So El-P’s a funny guy?
He’s a mad funny guy, oh yeah. ‘Dark ‘ is kind of corny or it sounds kind of pretentious. Whenever I think of the word ‘dark,’ I think of someone British, I don’t know why.