Watch Kimbo Slice in This Ridiculous Rap-Metal Music Video

In the age of the internet, amazing music has never been more accessible. Today, you can stream full unreleased albums by Aphex Twin. You can watch live performances and interviews from unimpeachable artists like Sonic Youth or Chuck Berry or Lou Reed. So much great music is right there for the taking and can serve as totally respectable reference points for your would-be band to be inspired by. Xombie, however, has chosen the road less traveled, and arguably more shitty. They are following in the footsteps of 90s rap-metal bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit.

“[Our sound is] like Rage Against the Machine—but thrashier,” the guitarist Roy Galvan said to me, giving himself a compliment.

Galvan, vocalist Atom Crews, guitarist Robert “Fish” Fishkin, bassist Cadillac Mike Martabano, and drummer Eric Castillo are critically suicidal. They perform in a genre of music that is universally derided, right up there with white dudes in dreadlocks. But for them, nu-metal is not a guilty pleasure; it's just pleasure.

As the bastions of bad taste and vulgarity, we had to share this video with you. Because it's endearing and inspiring that Xombie is committed to creating music that will probably get them crapped on by even the most forgiving rock fans. We respect that. Plus, as if just being a hip-hop-metal band wasn’t laughable enough, they somehow managed to get Kimbo Slice in their latest video. So there.

If you too have an unwavering love for the most embarrassing era in rock, you’ll be pleased to hear that this “Rock Bottom” video is only the beginning for Xombie. The very ballsy band will release their third album, Capitol X, on July 29. If you like it, we promise not to judge you, but beware, someone else will.

Where do hip-hop and metal music meet?
Rob Fishkin: It’s a tough question, because when people think of rap and metal together, they think of cheesy 90s bands. That’s a huge stigma, and you don’t want to be lumped into it.

Atom Crews: For me, it’s the vocals. You’re taking two different worlds and putting them together. Any rapper can rap over a beat, even if it’s thrashy. What you do with it is what makes it special.They’ve brought out a completely different side of me. I grew up on hip-hop, so I don’t like to be compared to Fred Durst. When I was 14, it was great. But now when I hear it, it’s corny, cheesy hip-hop.

Have you been rapping for a long time?
Atom: Like 15 years. I grew up on hip-hop. Eminem’s Marshall Mathers LP is one of my classics. I did a lot of battle rapping, and I know I can hold my own my own with other rappers.

Part of the band came together on Craigslist. What did that first ad say?
Rob: I had been looking for a band in New York for years. I moved up here to play music, but I couldn’t find a band. I tried out for shitty bands, and it was just boring. I put a post on Craigslist and immediately Roy wrote back this ridiculous email in all caps. It was like, “I THINK YOU AND ME…” I was like, This guy’s weird, but I decided to send him some of my old band stuff.

Roy Galvan: Yeah, and then I said, "Do you want to come by and jam out?" He came, we jammed, and it was like—damn.

Any advice for meeting people on Craigslist after that?
Roy: I always ask to meet at Starbucks, but I stand across the street. When they say, “I’m here” I try to look who it is to make sure it’s not a weirdo or he’s going to rob me. If he looks approachable, I’ll go. If not, I’ll just disappear.

Atom: Don’t take anything personally. People will just flake out and disappear. You’ve got to watch your ass.

Did you write this song when you hit rock bottom?
Rob: We came back from tour and we were just pieces of shit. We didn’t have jobs, money, and we lived in New York City. It’s the most unforgiving place. When you don’t have money people treat you differently.

Atom: We quit our jobs at Scholastic. We had been on tour for three months. We were really roughing it—we don’t have a label, any money, or anyone supporting us. We were sleeping in a Walmart parking lot in a fucking van.

You set up an entire tour by yourselves?
Roy: We got lucky with the Kickstarter campaign that raised almost $11,000.  I was surprised that many people supported us, but basically they made us tour. Without that we would’ve barely made it to Maryland.

Atom: I came back to a telemarketing job for $10 an hour. I wrote this song about a lot of hard shit. I had rented out my apartment, but we came back a little bit early, so I was staying with my girl, bandmates, anywhere I could for a solid month—it sucked. I have three herniated discs on my back that I’ve been dealing with from 12 years ago, and then, a month before we went on tour, my back flared up really bad and I lost sensation in my right foot. I still haven’t gotten it all back, and it’s been two years.

Rob: We had to stop on tour so he could lie down and shit like that.

Atom: I would literally lie on the side of the road on my stomach because I couldn’t sit in the van too long. We were sleeping in the van. It was a shitty situation.

But now you have a video with Kimbo Slice. What’s he like?
Rob: I picked up Kimbo Slice from the hotel. When I pulled up, I texted him to come down. I was in a Subaru, and a little bit later this huge white limo pulled up behind me. Kimbo and his brother came down—and they’re literally larger than life. They came out of the hotel and looked at this white limo like, All right, all right. I yell out of the Subaru, “Hey, Kimbo!” and pull the seat all the way back. It was super cool. I’ve seen backyard fights of him knocking a guy’s eye out, but he’s really nice.

Atom: The nicest guy. He would never even go out of his way to hurt a fly. But when he grew up, he had to learn how to fight because it was a bad neighborhood.

Rob: Super professional. He put in a long day for us. Our main actor was our size, and Kimbo is this monster! We’re like, Hope he doesn’t kill you.

Atom: Kimbo wasn’t going 100 percent, but he was going 30, and that’s still 100 percent of a regular person.

Are you into fighting?
Roy: I like boxing. I like seeing people kick each other’s ass. It’s pretty awesome.

Do you fight at all?
Atom: I used to. It’s part of the reason my back is fucked up.

How about moshing at your shows?
Atom: Someone fell on me in the mosh pit. I’ve been moshing for years, but my biggest fear is falling and someone falling on me. Most people are pretty good, people try to be safe in the mosh pit, so if you fall someone will pick you up. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. It was concrete floor—wet and slippery— and I was wearing Chucks so I slipped. Before I even had a moment to get my bearings it was like, boom! Everything was disoriented, and my eye looked like it got punched by Kimbo Slice.

Do girls ever come to your shows?
Atom: We had a girl come up on the stage, dance, and pull her pants down. She was this big tall sexy girl, and she had these tight leather pants on. She came up in the middle of a breakdown and started dancing. She dropped low, got up, and pulled her pants down. There’s a video on the internet of it.

Roy: That was awesome.

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