Flatbush City Limits

Meech, Juice and Erick Arc Elliott have just returned from the UK for their first shows outside the US and sound like they're bouncing off the walls of their Flatbush apartment as they all scream down the speaker phone at once.

“We was just out there in London, doing shows, we on the BBC and all that and it was great, you know what I'm saying?” says Juicy in a sing-song wail. “They appreciated us a lot and we didn't understand the stuff they were saying but we rocked that shit out, but now we coming to Australia!”

Juice spits this paragraph out while the others holler out shit like 'London!' and 'Peace!' and many other indiscernible things in the background. They sound like they're having fun, despite a whole day spent doing interviews. In fact, it sounds like they always have fun.

It's early days for the Flatbush Zombies' world domination but they're well on their way, and they are hungry for it. With guest appearances on tracks by the likes of A$AP Rocky (the horrifying Bath Salt) their associations are already putting them on the radar, not to mention their first release, The D.R.U.G.S. Mixtape, which serves as a very thorough introduction. There's no half baked ideas on the mix – in reality it's a mixtape in name only and really would serve them well as a debut album.

“I can't afford no sample clearances, I'm still living with my momma and I'm poor,” Juice manages to make the word 'poor' go for longer than the rest of the sentence and the other dudes break into hysterics. He then starts singing some song with the word 'poor' in it a lot. He regularly breaks into song during an answer, often unrelated to the question.

“Don't listen to that idiot man,” Meech cuts in as the voice of reason. “We're just taking it one step at a time. The new mixtape or album or whatever you want to call it is called Better Off Dead and I want to say that it's coming in June. Did we finish that shit? Is it done?” he asks the others.

“We just gotta review some things and see,” says Erick soberly.

There's already been a lot of underground hype for Flatbush Zombies, with much of the discussion focusing on the group's frequent references to LSD on The D.R.U.G.S. Mixtape. Vice ran a piece on how they were evidence that the hip hop kids are getting into acid. They're quick to refute the claim they're anywhere near the first rappers to raise the issue.

“Eminem has rapped about it before,” says Erick. “Xzibit did a track about acid. There's always been acid around, it comes and goes. Sometimes there's an abundance of it.”

“I've always been told, you don't go looking for acid, the acid finds you, so that's how I've looked at it my whole life,” Meech cuts in with Zen Jedi wisdom. There's evidence that the acid is having an effect on the music – but Erick who made all the sounds for the mixtape suggests that he is picking up on the feel of his bandmates on the drug as opposed to it having a direct effect.

“I've never taken acid,” Erick says, his voice hushed in an almost confessional manner. “I still feel like it has an influence on the music. I trip everyday and my perspective is like a mosaic painting. I'm already weird. When these guys do their shit, I feel like it permeates through me and we all just make this music together. That's the way it feels to me.”