- Gröûp X
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Gröûp X (also known as Gröûp X: Arabian Rap Sensations) is a faux Arabian rock band, claiming to be from the fictional village of Cramshananteen, Saudi Arabia. They play a mix of rap and rock. They are known for using comically accented and mangled English[1] and a vaguely hostile (yet satirical) attitude towards the United States and Americans. (They should not be confused with the early 1960s English instrumental band Group X, most famous for their number 'There Are 8 Million Cossack Melodies - And This Is One Of Them'.[2])
Contents
Members
Mentioning their true identities or nationalities is generally frowned upon by fans and band alike. In Gröûp X, the individual performers are known only by their pseudonyms:
- Hashmeer Shashmeer: Rifleman
- Blade Razorr: weapons specialist explosives expert.
- Rex Wif Da Machine: heavy machine gunner
- White Chocolate: Guest rapper, beatboxer and backing vocals (The only one claiming to be a "white/American" character)
The real names of the band members are unknown to most.
Post-Hashmeer period:
- Blade Razorr: Lead vocals, prank calls.
- Rowbby the Sheeth: Bass
- Rex Wif Da Machine: drums, backing vocals
- Flat-Eyed Tony[3]: Keyboard
Hashmeer Shashmeer left the group after the release of Stepping on the Crowtche owf Your Americain Presidaint. However, according to the official Gröûp X mailing list[citation needed], Hashmeer had left Gröûp X in 2001, but returned "aifter a two yeares in rezidence at L'ACADEMIE DE LA MUSIQUE."
Pending Hashmeer's departure from the band Blade has taken over Vocals (Talks/Shoutes)and Blade's alleged son "Rowbby the Sheeth" as he is known in the "Waffle house Crank Call" bonus track at the end of "Stepping on the Crowtche owf Your Americain Presidaint" album has taken over Bass guitar in Blade's place. This is made evident on the DVD: "Live from Cramshananteen" mid-performance by Blade himself.
Common venues
Occasionally Gröûp X played live shows at Swayze's Venue[4] in Marietta, Georgia (they have not attended the venue for some time), and also recently once or twice a year at Under the Couch, a small concert venue on the Georgia Institute of Technology's campus [5]
Elements in works
Their albums contain humorous rap and rock songs, together with prank calls in the same manner of the Jerky Boys. Guest vocalists on the albums include White Chocolate and Danny Advantage.
There is also a separate single, "Come Arabian" (a cover of 311 song "Come Original"), which references a morning show on the former WNNX, an Atlanta radio station.
Stage antics
Gröûp X's performances often contain a wide variety of gimmicks and audience-involvement. Blade Razorr can be viewed on the DVD antagonizing show patrons and insulting them. A key difference is that Blade is depicted using purposefully ignorant Chauvinistic and sexist rhetoric on either sex of the audience on their DVD performance. Other gimmicks include the theme of their gigs, reportedly satirizing children and faux-middle-eastern extremists. The set for example is often strewn with toys and sometimes, but not always, the band wears Middle Eastern attire.
Website
Late in 2004, their website was updated, saying that there was a new phone call album to be released on January 18, 2005, but this hasn't been released yet, despite another site update earlier in the year. In June 2005, the site was updated once again, saying the release date has been shifted to August 2005. To this day, it has not been released.
The group also jokes, from time to time, about new releases exclusive to the band's official website. Such as "GROUP X Ladies owf Sumer Hotshit Calendar" and "Ladies of Cramshananteen 2008 Calendar". Furthermore, various celebrities' images have been placed on the official website of Gröûp X. The images are of Gene Siskel, who quotes "Tight new shit", Bert Lowry, who quotes "Damn! Them kids is off the chain!", and O.J. Simpson, who adds "I'm gonna kill you two".
On August 2008, the Gröûp X website was converted into a Blogspot page with two posts, one promising future updates. The other detailed their ROFLCon performance earlier in the year, featuring two YouTube videos and insults directed at fellow ROFLCon performers Leslie and the Ly's.
DVD and controversy
A live Gröûp X DVD, Live from Cramshananteen, was scheduled to be released in July 2005, but due to offensive content, the DVD pressing company refused to take their order. The DVD was released in early 2006. It includes a live show filmed on the campus of Georgia Tech and various comedic bits including band members harassing employees at fast food drive-thrus, and a prank call to a Chinese buffet, in which Blade attempts to get free food for his entire extended family.
2006 onwards
In October, 2006, they signed on MySpace and added some of their music on their profile. On November 19, 2006, they added two unreleased and rare material on MySpace. It included a rare jingle by Gröûp X heard on radio station WNNX and a song about the history of Gröûp X. The next day, Stepping on the Crowtche owf Your Americain Presidaint was available on iTunes.
In April 2007, Gröûp X posted an official announcement on MySpace declaring their reunion and that a new album is in the works for late 2007. Their MySpace page reports August as the release date.
In September 2007, Gröûp X posted an official announcement regarding the release date. February 2008 is the new expected release date.
In April 2008, they headlined the finale concert at ROFLCon with fellow internet stars Leslie Hall, Lemon Demon, Trocadero and Denny Blaze. The group had Ben Romans (from the Click Five) on keytar.[6]
On April 15, 2009, Gröûp X created an account on Twitter, or "Twetted", as they put it on their website.
In late 2010, flyers around the town of Athens, Georgia, stated that the Reunion of Group X would be on January 6, 2011, at Caledonia Lounge. After Fans waited through multiple opening acts, it was announced that the vocalist had fled the scene. The remaining members of the band then decided to give the fans their money back, along with free CDs and DVDs. Any other news of a reunion show has yet to be announced.
Discography
Flash videos
Gröûp X are known for the Flash animation music videos of their songs on the Internet, such as "Bang Bang Bang" (created by Wesley), "Cheese" (created by my_name_is_tim), "Schfifty-Five" (created by backtothefuture), and "Mario Twins" (a rendition of the basic tune found in the video game Super Mario Bros.; created by Keith McKnight), "Sehventain Year-es" by Greg Pugh, and BlitzIISnake's "Bang Bang Bang" Machinima. Gröûp X did not participate in making any of these videos; they only wrote and performed the songs.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Noteworthy Nobodies: Group X has hilarious hip-hop, by Jason Albaugh, Western Herald, Jan 16, 2003
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yWwlOLNwGg
- ^ *Metts, Jonathan "Editorial: A Night with Group X", NintendoWorldReport, March 26, 2002. Accessed July 5, 2007.
- ^ *"Swayze's Venue showlisting archive", Swayze's Venue, March 24, 2003. Accessed July 15, 2007.
- ^ Group X plays Under The Couch, by Siddhartha Parmar, Technique (Georgia Tech), Nov 4, 2005
- ^ The Phoenix > Live Reviews > LOL in the family
External links
- Official site
- Gröûp X on Myspace
- Blade Razorr on Myspace
- Group X flash videos
- Technique Entertainment article
- Official Gröûp X Forum
- Live from ROFLCon Part 2 Review of the Group X show at ROFLCon.
Categories:- Internet memes
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