3OH!3 to bring the (T-) Pain in 2009?

Perhaps it's time people started taking 3OH!3 seriously.

The Colorado-based rap duo, prone to dropping sub-par rhymes verging on a "Saturday Night Live" parody skit (see "Your girl's a freak/cos that's what I told her/You think you're tight/but my ice gets colder") is rumored to be in the running for a slot on the forthcoming Alternative Press summer tour. One may also guess that the Photo Finish/Atlantic act will be asked back for at least a few dates on 2009's Warped Tour after a well-received run this year.

Pop & Hiss caught up with 3OH!3’s freakishly tall beatmaker Nathaniel Motte after the electro-rap group's sold-out show (with Taking Back Sunday) last week at Club Nokia, where he informed us he was already trading beats online with T-Pain for a possible 2009 collaboration.

“We’ll see what happens," he said. 

T-Pain collabo or not, Motte and his bandmate Sean Foreman seem to have already piqued the interest of the 14-24 set with their (now-verging-on-cliched) mix of Southern-influenced rap meshed with pop-infused electro loops. 

Their major label debut, the hook-heavy "Want," has sold more than 55,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, having just recently dropped out of the Top 200 on the U.S. pop chart after debuting this summer. And the act's current single, "Don't Trust Me," has now logged more than 12 million plays on MySpace -- not bad for a couple of guys who met in a physics class at the University of Colorado at Boulder just a few years ago.

"We have fun with our music," Motte said between drags of a cigarette on Club Nokia's patio.  "People ask me sometimes, 'Are you guys just making fun of hip-hop?' And I have to say, 'No.' We’re having fun, though. Some kids take it too seriously, and that’s fine. And for those who take it less seriously and just want to have fun with it, that’s fine too."

Although "Want" hasn’t exactly been resonating with the New York hip-hop intelligentsia, the hard-partying college kids nationwide seem to be "feelin' " the 12-song set.

It’s not hard to see why, either, with songs such as "Starstrukk" perfectly fusing the pulsing electro energy of acts such as Justice with melodic, anthemic emo-vocal stylings. It could be music dreamed up by some boutique advertising agency specializing in Generation Y, except the songs are authentic and catchy-as-all-get out. 

“Starstrukk” even turned up on a recent episode of "The Hills," and you can bet the piano-driven "Still Around" will turn up in some dreadful forthcoming teen movie/television project within the next six months.

Motte and his mustachioed rapper Foreman have been spending a fair amount of time in Los Angeles, recently recording with noted songwriter/producer Dr. Luke (a.k.a. Luke Gottwald, the man behind massive international hits such as Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend").

So, will the new material go over well with the kids smoking kush -- and God knows what else --inside some of CU's finest dorm rooms back in Boulder?

"College kids have always been coked up there, so probably," Motte said. 

3OH!3 is currently on a headlining tour (they have a San Diego engagement Dec. 12) and will open for Katy Perry’s European jaunt in early 2009. Here is some never before seen footage of 3OH!3 live  in New York during this year’s CMJ, courtesy of Atlantic Records.

-- Charlie Amter

Photo by Sarah Cass