Indian American rapper Heems, formerly of Das Racist, and British Pakistani actor Riz Ahmed, who’s in the new HBO miniseries The Night Of and also raps under the name Riz MC have teamed up. Together, they call themselves Swet Shop Boys. Back in 2104 they put out one very promising EP, and now they have returned with a debut full-length and a hyped-up and political first single called “T5”.
Terminal 5 is about being randomly searched and questioned at the airport. The song looks at the issues the two encounter while flying around the world for work: “Oh no, we’re in trouble/ TSA always wanna burst my bubble/ Always get a random check when I rock the stubble.” Racial tensions arise throughout the lyrics: “Terminal 5, terminal 1 /think we’re termites /wanna terminate us.”
Listen to the album track “T5,” plus checkout the artwork for both the album and the single, below.
The two MCs are joined by British producer Redinho. And according to Pitchfork, the album references recent events like Donald Trump and Brexit.
With songs titled: “Phone Tap”, “No Fly List” and “Zayn Malik”, the album can be expected to address problems people of color encounter, especially those of Indian and Pakistani descent. Equipped with Heems humorous lyrics and Riz MC’s political views; it seems like ab album that will be worth listening to.
Their debut album, Cashmere, is out on their own Customs label October 14. And it’s available for pre-order here.
Cashmere Tracklist:
01. T5
02. Shottin
03. Aaja
04. Zayn Malik
05. Tiger Hologram
06. No Fly List
07. Phone Tap
08. Half Moghul Half Mowgli
09. Swish Swish
10. Shoes Off
11. Din-E-Llahi
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