Gröûp X

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The cover of Gröûp X's second album Stepping on the Crowtche owf Your Americain Presidaint

Gröûp X (also known as Gröûp X: Arabian Rap Sensations) is a faux Arabian rock band most likely from Georgia but 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 are known thanks to flash animations featuring their songs. Some of the most famous "videos" of the band include Mario Twins, Schfifty-five, and Too Many Guys.

1 Members
2 Common venues
3 Elements in works
4 Stage antics
5 Flash videos
6 Website
7 DVD and controversy
8 2006 onwards
9 Discography
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

[edit] 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: Lead vocals
Blade Razorr: Bass, backing vocals, prank calls.
Rex Wif Da Machine: Drums, backing vocals

Their stage persona is that of a rap group from "Cramshananteen", Saudi Arabia with comically accented and mangled English and a vaguely hostile (yet satirical) attitude towards the United States and Americans. 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^[2]: 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.

[edit] Common venues

Occasionally Gröûp X played live shows at Swayze's Venue^[3] in Marietta (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 ^[4]

[edit] 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 99X, an Atlanta radio station. Much information about the band that is usually hidden from the public can be found through the archives of their mailing list, which can be accessed through the Contact page on the official website.

[edit] 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 in a similar fashion to bands like Mindless Self Indulgence and Guttermouth. 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.

[edit] Flash videos

Gröûp X are best 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) 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.

[edit] 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".

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 99X 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 performed at ROFLCon with Leslie Hall, Lemon Demon, Trocadero and Denny Blaze. The group had Ben Romans (from the Click Five) on keytar.^[5]