Watch out now! Popular ’90s hip-hop outfit The Beatnuts will be starring in Deez Nuts, a play written and conceived by ego trip’s Sacha Jenkins. XXLMag.com recently chopped it up with Sacha to speak on the project.

According to Jenkins, Deez Nuts follows a journalist as he interviews Psycho Les and JuJu outside of a Bodega in Queens. It will feature live performances by the group as well as a full cast of actors.

Like the fictional writer in the play, Jenkins grew up in the same area as The Nuts. He says the show was inspired by his love for the group and their shared Queens upbringing.

“It’s one thing to be a fan of The Beatnuts,” he explained, “but it’s another to sort of be from the neighborhood and understand the people they’re name-checking, the references, the bodegas and all of the things they’re talking about in their music. I wanted a way to sort of bring that to life that goes beyond just listening to the music itself.”

Although adored by fans for both their work on the mic and behind the boards (The Beatnuts have production credits for a slew of artists including Big Pun, Ghostface Killah, Fat Joe, Mos Def and Common, among others), Sacha believes their ethnicity plays a factor in why the group was never able to garner wider success.

“I do feel to a certain extent that The Beatnuts have been overlooked because they are Latino,” he said. “And I’d love to see them get the respect that they deserve.”

Deez Nuts is set to run from October 1 through the 3 at the Ohio Theatre Soho on Wooster Street. A part of the Hip Hop Theater festival, the show is being produced by Live-N-Direct rap promoter Peter Oasis and presented by Red Bull. Fans can visit HHTF.org for more information and to purchase tickets, which are on sale now. –Jesse Gissen

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