Heems by Atif Ateeq (Download hi-res assets HERE)
"Sri Lanka" featuring Your Old Droog LISTEN: https://linktr.ee/veena.nyc
LAFANDAR PRE-SAVE / ORDER: https://orcd.co/lafandar
Veena.nyc "the warmth of India, the concrete of new York"
(February 6th, 2024) - Today, Himanshu ‘Heems’ Suri reunites with fellow New York rapper Your Old Droog to share his new single “Sri Lanka.” The song is the second offering from Heems’ forthcoming collaborative album with Lapgan, LAFANDAR, following his long-awaited return in January with “Accent,” which The FADER described as “part protest and part reflection.”
Droog and Heems initially collaborated on the 2016 fan-favorite track “Bangladesh,” which Droog credits as an ode to the late New York rap legend Sean Price. “Sri Lanka,” as the followup to “Bangladesh,” embodies the previous track’s spirit, finding the two New York rappers reigniting their chemistry as they trade bars over Lapgan’s production. Heems and Lapgan will be celebrating the album’s release with a release show at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn on February 23rd. Remaining tickets available HERE.
Born Himanshu Suri, Heems’s LAFANDAR project finds the artist tackling Lapgan’s cinematic South Asian samples with all the internal rhyme and laugh-out-loud wit fans remember from his old tapes and work with Das Racist and Swet Shop Boys. LAFANDAR’s title is an old-country insult for a vagabond, a wanderer, a loomer, a lurker, an urban dilettante, and especially in Heems’ case, a flaneur. Heems casts the sprawling enclaves of Queens, New York as outsider hip-hop’s natural home, with new subsects, dialects, references, and threats around every corner.
The new single follows the formal launch of Suri’s new magazine and brand, Veena. An ode to the collision of his South Asian heritage and New York roots, Veena is dedicated to and named after his mother, and explores the implementation of self-care through Heems’ passions - fashion, flows, and food. In celebration of its launch, Veena is releasing a product offering encompassing all three of its core tenets – Sounds, Wears, and Naturals – including physical editions of both 2010 Das Racist mixtapes Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down Man, which are being made available on vinyl for the first time. Veena is also releasing two tees designed by Himanshu Suri and Peter Chung (Supreme, Polo) and 100% organic cold-pressed virgin coconut oil made in India.
Speaking on the connection between his music and his new endeavor with Veena, Heems says, “My world was one of graffiti and golgappas, skateboards and saris, music and Mughals, and so on. This is what my music sounds”.” Now he invites you to experience the rest of the world he is building.
Listen to “Sri Lanka” featuring Your Old Droog and pre-order LAFANDAR above, and stay tuned for more from Heems and Veena coming soon. | 
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