Das Racist performs at Canvas magazine premiere

People filled Alumni Hall in the Indiana Memorial Union as beats from the stage reverberated off the walls.

Thursday night, New York hip-hop group Das Racist headlined the party for the launch of Canvas Creative Arts Magazine’s 2012 spring edition.

At about 7 p.m., students from the Jacobs School of Music performed to poems featured in the spring issue of Canvas, followed by a performance by beat poet
Michael Mlekodaj.

The public event also included free issues of Canvas, which aims to create an IU art community.

Popular for their Internet song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” Das Racist established themselves as rappers with the release of their 2010 mixtapes “Shut Up, Dude” and “Sit Down, Man.”

Chloe Kent, assistant director for Union Board, said the event had been planned since the beginning of the semester.

“We didn’t know we were going to get Das Racist, but we’re really excited that we did,” she said. “It’s just a bonus.”

Benjamin Taylor composed the music that percussionist Bobby Conselatore performed for the poem “Belly Button” by Raphael Koehler–Derrick.

Taylor, a first-year doctoral student at Jacobs, said he has never composed music that was inspired by text, although he derives inspiration from art and photography.

“I just thought the poem was so funny,” said Taylor, who also composes jazz and orchestral music. “His text is interesting, and it made me think of my belly button like I’ve never thought of it before.”

Junior Tae Na attended the event with his friends because he liked the song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” which he heard a few months ago on YouTube.

“I’ve never read Canvas before, but I love music, and I love art,” he said. “I just want to see how the Union Board runs the concert, and I also just want to see the performance.”

Daniel Avon, a junior studying Spanish, Portuguese and German, said he is a friend of Jared Thomas, director of Canvas Magazine.

“I’ve always read Canvas and always knew about it,” Avon said. “I see it everywhere, too. It’s distributed in stands in Ballantine Hall. I think people don’t read it because they have tunnel vision.”

“My favorite song is ‘Michael Jackson,’” sophomore Ashik Shah said. “I was in the car when I heard it on my friend’s iPod, and I thought it was good, so I really liked it.”

Kent said the idea of the premiere was to create a collaborative effort.

“I’m excited to celebrate a new issue of Canvas,” she said. “I’m surprised so many people are here.”