On The Rise: Heems

This week’s On The Rise is about someone who, if we’re being honest, you should already know. As far as we’re concerned, he’s already risen. We just want to make sure you’re aware. If not though, it’s okay, we’re here to help you.

You may know Heems from his Das Racist days. That “Combination Pizza Hut Taco Bell” fame. But Das Racist were more than that. They had that “Chicken and Meat” and that hella amazing video/video game “Who’s That Brown”. Das Racist had fun & were funny but underneath the beat they would spit some real fucking shit.

Well, Heems is doing Heems now. In 2012, Heems released his mixtapes Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom. In 2013 he dropped “Soup Boys” (see below) – which features choice lines “drones in the morning/drones in the night/I’m tryin to find a pretty drone to take home tonight.”

Earlier this year Heems released his solo album, Eat Pray Thug and it’s really fucking good. It’s heavy. It’s political. It hits hard. Heems raps about love. He raps about the NSA. He raps about post 9/11 America as a Punjabi-Indian born in Queens. Heems himself refers to the album as “9/11 and Heartbreak.” And Heems does what he does so well. The beats are tight, the samples are selected to perfection and he’s as clever as ever. Just check out his video for “Sometimes” below, which features comedy kings Eric André and Hannibal Buress + Heems’ take on the terrible movie The Love Guru.

The Heems goods keep coming. A couple weeks ago, Heems dropped a video for Eat Pray Thugs’ aptly titled “Pop Song (Games)” (which he made in an hour with zero budget) as well as a smooth brand new track in which he explains how he just wants a “bad Punjabi girl to put coconut oil in [his] hair.” Give it a listen below.

Oh and did we mention FOX is developing a TV show based on Eat Pray Thug? Yeah bro. Heems is working with Fresh Off The Boat producer Sanjay Shah to develop a TV show starring Pitch Perfect’s Utkarsh Ambudkar. No big deal.

Eat Pray Thug is out now on Megaforce. Go get it.

On The Rise is our spotlight series on new and emerging artists. We last featured Pixx. Stay tuned for next week’s On The Rise artist!