Krishna rap: Yes, its time has come

AT a moment in pop musical history when hip-hop’s foremost MC (Eminem) is white, reggae’s most high-profile performer, Matisyahu, is a Hasidic Jew -- and musical genres are defined by color and creed less and less -- it was probably only a matter of time before the pop canon opened to include a Hare Krishna rapper.

Enter Jason Fladlien, 23, out of small-town Iowa, a sexually abstinent, teetotaling vegetarian better known by his misleading nom de rap, Straiht Wikid Crew. He makes feel-good hip-hop intended to be an antidote to wickedness.

Fladlien’s debut album, “Kali Yuga Demolition Vol. 1,” released last month, draws upon such musical touchstones as Insane Clown Posse, Digital Underground and the Beastie Boys. Thematically, however, the CD references the holy Indian Vedic Scriptures that call for the destruction of the age Kali -- that is, present day social tumult and bad attitudes. Urging peace among men and promoting spiritual deliverance, think of Straiht Wikid Crew’s album as a kind of a Nirvana-themed “Straight Outta Compton.”

Or, as the Cedar Rapids Gazette put it: “On ‘Kali Yuga Demolition Vol. 1,’ rapper Jason Fladlien easily exceeds the humorously low expectations that accompany being a Hare Krishna rapper from rural Iowa.”

-- CHRIS LEE