Holler Til You Pass Out with 3OH!3

Plenty of lesser bands have had equally magnanimous benefactors. What made the difference for 3OH!3 was the quality of its songs and performances. On the strength of their high-energy live shows and a thriving online following, Motte and Foreman have scored openings slots for hotshots like the Faint and booked an upcoming two-night headlining gig at the Marquis. On the Web, the duo's MySpace tracks have received well over 100,000 plays each, and they've even been flattered with several fan-made YouTube videos.

3OH!3's broad appeal can be attributed partly to the group's liberal use of humor. With tongues buried deep in their cheeks, Foreman and Motte rap and sing like gangstas, despite coming straight outta Boulder. Motte's irresistible hard-edged beats and the pair's sucker-punch vocal delivery, however, provide musical proof that they're no joke. Both bristle at being labeled a novelty act.

"We get asked the question, 'Is your music serious?'" says Motte. "I think we're serious about making music that's fun."

Still, a couple of very white guys playing with the signifiers of hip-hop culture are bound to catch some flak. Motte and Foreman have even been called racists for the way they allegedly appropriate and lampoon the culture.

"We're having fun with it, not making fun of it," replies Motte, getting his dander up again. "Just because we're making music that is fun, it doesn't mean that what we're doing is racist, contrived or dumb. If people are so musically close-minded that they can't get their eight brain cells around the challenge of integrating and reinterpreting different music, then have fun being left behind in an ever-changing world. Racist? Just because we use an 808 drum hit and we rap? Fuck that. We understand the roots of hip-hop and respect the black culture from which it came, but I've always believed that music should be inclusive, not exclusive. I think white kids doing hip-hop should be seen as an homage, not a ripoff."

Ultimately, Foreman and Motte estimate that they've only received about five pieces of MySpace hate mail. The rest of the response has been overwhelmingly positive and has led to a rapid ascent on the local scene. In the face of it, the two friends work hard to keep their musical ideas fresh. Sometimes that means drawing inspiration from their earliest collaborations.

"Our first band was called Two Lame Choads," Foreman offers. "We'd get together, and Nat would have a riff on the guitar and I would freestyle college rock — just benign Maroon 5 or Jack Johnson kind of stuff. We'd record full albums in one sitting. Sometimes we still get together and just revert to that."

That creative chemistry is the real key to 3OH!3's success. Motte and Foreman bounce ideas off each other, one-up each other and tease each other almost compulsively. Meanwhile, in the backs of their minds, both are processing how to turn the exchange into a song.

"Sean and I have been on the same mental and aesthetic page for about 13.2 light-years," Motte rhapsodizes, with complete disregard for physics.

"It feels like a second," Foreman adds, "but it's really been forever."