Duncecap is part of the rollicking Karma Kids, a combination record label, rap group, and stable of unstable performers. If you’ve ever caught one of their shows, you’d be forgiven if you’d mistaken if for a punk show; the way bodies fly in every direction and the performers are as happy to start mosh pits as they are to strip down to their underwear and ride each other around like pack animals.
Which makes Duncecap’s “Stale Saltines” video from his Generally Sad Songs LP (released before joining The Karma Kids) a bit of a shock if you’re only familiar with him through his stage persona. In the video, Duncecap has his head shorn while a gentle piano line and an aggressively upbeat tempo produced by English beatmaker DJM provides the soundtrack for his haircut, but as he says in the song, “looks don’t mean change.”
We caught up with Duncecap to talk Generally Sad Songs and his new video for “Stale Saltines”. You can watch the video above, stream the full EP here, and read our interview below.
How long had you been growing out your hair before you decided to cut it for the video? Why cut it on video?
I was growing my hair out probably like a year and some. I tend to shoot a lot of personal videos and this one was originally purely documentative. The idea to use it as a music video was actually something I thought of before. I have another hair cut video clip on my hard drive from years ago that was gonna end up a music video, but this time around it worked out.
The whole Karma Kids crew is known for their rambunctious shows and music, why did you choose to showcase a quieter, more contemplative song this time?
This has been a favorite song of mine for a while and I knew before I put out my next project with [Karma Kids DJ and producer] Samurai Banana, I wanted to put out another video from Generally Sad Songs. It’s definitely a quieter track, I’d say one of my roles as a rapper in the Karma Kids is bringing the more sensitive angle as well as a goofier side.
What is your favorite thing about your own music? What are you striving for?
I usually hate my music after every release, honestly. Only until recently have I come to terms with let it staying alive on the internet and appreciating it for what it is.
What I think I do best is fill in creative holes. I think a lot of the time I know what a track needs, I consider myself a great at collaborating and at being myself.
I’m definitely striving for longevity, and a product that more people gravitate to. Not everybody likes sad, introspective lyrics. My next project with Samurai Banana is achieving a more typical Karma Kids experience though.
If you could get a verse from anyone in history on your next project who would it be?
Oh god, I don’t know. I’m the worst at picking these kind of collaborations for myself. Who do you think I’d sound good on a track with?
If I had to pick a contemporary I’d pick Earl Sweatshirt because besides being very talented, he also can do introspective or hype and I like his work a lot.
From all time? Let’s throw a curveball and say Paul Simon or Robert Smith in their respective primes transposed into a modern day setting. Paul Simon as a rapper and Robert Smith a producer and singer. I’d be in that mopey ass pop group. They’re not dead yet so maybe.
