 |
Revolting rappers
|
There was surely no shortage of raging shows at last years Pop Montreal festival, but one of the highlights was definitely the Bronxs Ninjasonik. These New Yorkers main touchstone may be their indie take on hip hop, but by avoiding the trappings of over-saturated marketing, bling, booties and other bullshit cooked up by label moguls behind oak doors, the bands true spirit comes directly from punk rock. I grew up in hip hop, says DJ and beat-master Teenwolf, and moved to New York because it was the centre of hip hop, but what we do is also a rejection of what the hip hop scene has become. Im somewhat of a fan of mainstream hip hop but at the same time, we find it really funny, so I guess we just like to satirize it a bit. Even when we first started, we really didnt want to play hip hop shows, and wanted to play with punk bands or whoever. We have since played some hip hop shows and found out they just arent really our thing. Most Ninjasonik shows in the home-base burg where their reputation grew occurred among the burgeoning DIY venues in New York City, such as Death by Audio, the Shank, the Bodega and others, which saw Ninjasonik sharing these makeshift stages alongside like-minded bands like Japanther and Spank Rock. Live, Ninjasonik are all about punk-rock pandemonium, and theyll bust out a Minor Threat or Bad Brains cover, or perhaps rap about tight pants and art school girls over lo-fi beats. Because of their refusal to subscribe to any specific scene, typical Ninjasonik fans can run the gamut from metalheads and angular-haired hipsters to hip hop heads and punk rockers. People who respond to what we do are usually people who like to party and get drunk, but outside of that, its really diverse. We get Mexican gang members, skate kids, metalheads and all kinds of people who are just looking for something a little different. Im in awe that people who are into so many different kinds of music come out to our showsits the biggest compliment we could get. There was surely no shortage of raging shows at last years Pop Montreal festival, but one of the highlights was definitely the Bronxs Ninjasonik. These New Yorkers main touchstone may be their indie take on hip hop, but by avoiding the trappings of over-saturated marketing, bling, booties and other bullshit cooked up by label moguls behind oak doors, the bands true spirit comes directly from punk rock. I grew up in hip hop, says DJ and beat-master Teenwolf, and moved to New York because it was the centre of hip hop, but what we do is also a rejection of what the hip hop scene has become. Im somewhat of a fan of mainstream hip hop but at the same time, we find it really funny, so I guess we just like to satirize it a bit. Even when we first started, we really didnt want to play hip hop shows, and wanted to play with punk bands or whoever. We have since played some hip hop shows and found out they just arent really our thing. Most Ninjasonik shows in the home-base burg where their reputation grew occurred among the burgeoning DIY venues in New York City, such as Death by Audio, the Shank, the Bodega and others, which saw Ninjasonik sharing these makeshift stages alongside like-minded bands like Japanther and Spank Rock. Live, Ninjasonik are all about punk-rock pandemonium, and theyll bust out a Minor Threat or Bad Brains cover, or perhaps rap about tight pants and art school girls over lo-fi beats. Because of their refusal to subscribe to any specific scene, typical Ninjasonik fans can run the gamut from metalheads and angular-haired hipsters to hip hop heads and punk rockers. People who respond to what we do are usually people who like to party and get drunk, but outside of that, its really diverse. We get Mexican gang members, skate kids, metalheads and all kinds of people who are just looking for something a little different. Im in awe that people who are into so many different kinds of music come out to our showsits the biggest compliment we could get. WITH JAPANTHER, BLACK FEELINGS |
