Could Spank Rock be the laziest group in the music industry today? Besides allegedly hurling a glass at Jared Leto at the MTV Awards (and winning over plenty of fans in the process, check out the ruckus HERE), the group’s Naeem Juwan AKA MC Spank Rock says he hasn’t been up to much else this year. “Actually, I’ve been eating lots, sleeping, sleeping some more, waking up and eating again… In fact, I just finished eating just then. Who wants to work?” ITM has a quick chat to Naeem and gets the low-down on his recent side projects, his work ethics (or lack of) and of course, their upcoming Australian shows.
Spank Rock’s flamboyantly titled debut YoYoYoYoYo was released early last year and gained the sometimes Philadelphia, sometimes New York outfit, massive international acclaim. They’ve since become somewhat of a household name here in Australia too and they’ll be ‘Bumping’ (pun intended) across the country next month for some festival and solo dates. Naeem recently released his side-project Bangers and Cash with producer Benny Blanco, a one-off EP project but part from this and a few remixes, things from the Spank Rock camp have been a little quiet. One might wonder what Naeem’s been up to since the release of last year’s album: perhaps recording new Spank Rock material, touring or working on some other side projects? But he soon sets the record straight, as this self-proclaimed ‘blugger’ currently denounces anything close to work. As mentioned above, he’s been eating, sleeping and doing a whole lot of other stuff that doesn’t really involve work.
A fair call and who are we to question his work ethics, because once this food and sleep binge is over, the Spank Rock front-man will be joining the rest of the guys for a tour of Australia and they’ll be “bringing the sweat to the dance floor”, as he describes their upcoming shows. Spank Rock were out here earlier this year for the Big Day Out although ‘visa issues’ prevented Naeem from joining his band-mates here in Australia and when posed with the question, whether he’ll be allowed back into Australia, he laughs, “Yeah, this time will be cool, I’m looking forward to it a lot and I’m gonna behave myself,” he exclaims, before breaking off in a fit of laughter.
One can’t help wonder what these visa issues were that kept the MC from making it to over here so we put the question to him, to which he enthusiastically responds, “I was arrested at the airport back in the states,” and exclaims “I’m innocent!” before he begins to laugh again.
Humour and smut are all part of the Spank Rock appeal, and to describe Naeem’s lyrics as explicit would be a massive understatement. He recently released the Bangers and Cash side project, an EP project that focused on Miami bass, booty rhymes, sampling porn-rappers 2 Live Crew and featuring tracks named Pu$$y, Bitch and B-O-O-T-A-Y. It would seem that, perhaps the Spank Rock project didn’t offer the saucy-lyricist enough room or ‘creative sleaze’ to get down and dirty vocally, but he insists, “it’s just a bit of fun… Benny is a rad producer. I just wanted to do some extra stuff and this was like a 2 Live Crew tribute thing – a chance to honour them, you know.”
Side Projects aside, the Spank Rock outfit is a considerably large affair, consisting of himself as MC Spank Rock, producer Armani XXXChange, DJs Devlin and Darko and sometimes collaborator Amanda Blank. So who will be in for this tour? “There’s going to be me, Devlin, Darko, Pase Rock (his MC Doppelganger at last years Australian Tour), Alex ‘Armani XXXChange’ is staying home, but I’m trying to convince Amanda to come out. She’s working on her album and not sure if she can come, but I’m really pushing her. Seriously, who wants to work?”
You can catch Spank Rock ‘not working’ at the following shows…
Sun Dec 30 – Pyramid Rock Festival, Philip Island
Mon Dec 31 – Killer NYE, Melbourne
Tue Jan 1 – Field Day, Sydney
Sat Jan 5 – Summafieldayze, Gold Coast
Sat Jan 5 – Sydney Festival First Night, Sydney
Sun Jan 6 – Beck’s Festival Bar, Sydney
Wed Jan 9 – Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Adelaide
Thu Jan 10 – Metropolis Fremantle, Perth
And for a laugh, check out an interview with the Spank Rock crew here…
