Swet Shop Boys – Studio at Webster Hall
Photo by Sachyn Mital

Swet Shop Boys (Heems & Riz) played two NYC shows (pics from Webster Studio)

The Swet Shop Boys, the rap duo of Himanshu Suri (Heems) and Rizwan Ahmed (Riz MC) and producer Redinho, sold out two back to back nights in NYC — one at Rough Trade and the second at the Studio at Webster Hall. Heems and Riz met when Riz visited with the former Das Racist member and conduct some research for his starring role in HBO’s The Night of (co-star John Turturro attended the Webster Hall show). Their collaboration led to one EP in 2014 and it took them just five days this year to record their proper full length album Cashmere, which saw release last month on the Customs label. As The Atlantic wrote about the album, “There’s an underlying urgency behind all the jokes, a sense that the stakes are higher than they’ve ever been, but while the satire is grounded in the political moment, Swet Shop Boys also sound like they’re having fun.” With both the Brexit vote and the Trump’s election, SSB’s urgency needs to be heard. A stream of their full album is below and photos from their Studio at Webster Hall show are above.

Humeysha, a mellow psychedelic band fused with South Asian influences opened for the Swet Shop Boys (The Kominas were the openers at Rough Trade) but we missed their set as we were upstairs for the CRWN Conversation with A Tribe Called Quest. Here are a few photos from their Mercury Lounge performance in July instead and a stream of their debut as well.