Meet BLAHSUM

Need a bit of trip-hop with a political bent in your life? Have no fear. Blahsum is here! Based in Chinatown, this hip-hop duo comprised of Greta Garbo (no, not that one) and JahniRotten Seed make “psychedelic rap punk rock-and-roll moon fuzz dystopian revolution music.” 

They’ve ticked all the boxes, basically.

These fellahs are creatives at heart, making music and experiences bigger than all of us. Give their tracks a listen and take a deep dive into the “trenches” of their minds. 

Below, we discuss appropriate soup eating conditions, the underrated dog size, and the eternal spirit of a good live show.

CLICK PLAY AND SCROLL FRIENDS.  

Self-portrait By, BLAHSUM

Would You Rather…

your favorite restaurant be modified to have massage chairs that are on at all times, or there is a clown in there doing clown things at all times? Please explain why.

We have a clown boy on the cover of moontape IV, somehow we have a thing with sad clowns, not purposely but it keeps coming up, clowns are not so bad. The massage chair scenario would become problematic real fast, they are noisy, and they can hurt, and how are you supposed to eat soup while your body is vibrating?



The clown thing cud be all positive, cud be a great clown. You can still eat soup too.

Some Questions with BLAHSUM

Where are you when you come up with your songs? In the shower? On the train?

Greta Garbo: All of those places actually 100 percent, but mostly the trenches

Jahni Rottenseed: Ads on the Subway, but mostly in the trenches of the mind.

What is the last book you read?

Greta Garbo: Tried to read a biography on Walt Disney.

Jahni Rottenseed:  The Big Sleep

What is the creative process between both of you?

Greta Garbo: We just go back and forth, channeling, failing, pulling it off. We do it all. Rap is weird in the sense you kinda gotta tell people that you're making all the music, It's more traditional to rap over somebody else’s track.

How many legs are too many legs?

Greta Garbo: Since we have 4 prolly 5

Jahni Rottenseed: Reptile leaders reversed engineered snakes, garden of eden, centipedes crawling in your ears at night, follow the money

BLAHSUM channels a unique collection of many different genres. Can you draw a clear line to where all of your influences come from?

Greta Garbo:Very clear lines to all the influences, there are a lot of references everywhere which are all pretty much influences. Every dish is made out of ingredients and very rarely is one the first to use an ingredient. Everyone has to learn from somewhere before them.

Jahni Rottenseed: We’re plugged in, we have direct conversations with those influences. Hit up Jerry Garcia on Facetime type shit.

What has been your most memorable performance as BLAHSUM, and why?

Greta Garbo: Our first DIY basement show was very impactful,, we weren't sure how the whole thing wud work live, but it was an energy that was bigger than all of us. It was like going into battle. I think I almost died. We found this bar in the east village and we played in the basement, it was anything goes and anything was going.
Also we had a show at the mckibbin lost where we turned a 20 minute set into a three hour show it was insane. We were passing the mic around the whole room and there were dead dead dead serious freestylers in the room.  No lie. Couldn't tell where the show ended and the audience began. Never seen anything like that. THE shows weve thrown ourselves, the bugouts as we call em, are way better than these stupid rigged pay to play nyc bullshit gigs that we do anyway to keep in good form. The live show is an experience everyone should see it before they die. Anyone can get it. All ages. It’s the eternal spirit of rock and roll shit.

Are you a dog person or a cat person? Neither?

Greta Garbo:  We like small dogs. All we’ve had is small dogs, underrated

Do you drive? Are you a good driver?

Greta Garbo: Don’t drive much, you know, the whole new york city thing.

Jahni Rottenseed: Driving is my favorite thing to do. But we don’t have a car. Last time I drove, it was for 48 hours straight. Cars are sound capsules, music’s gotta pass the car test.

Was there a concert or song that inspired you to want to make music?

Greta Garbo: Its all in the music, we love to pay it back to where it came from. We were kind of confused we weren’t hearing blahsum anywhere and we realized that’s cuz we are blahsum we gotta do it.

If you were an onomatopoeia which one would you be?

Greta Garbo: bleh

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Greta Garbo: Rock and roll will never die