In this week's print section of the Houston Press, we wrote:

In the late '80s and early '90s, at hip-hop's height as a civil-rights megaphone for groups like Public Enemy and N.W.A., racial issues and their close cousin, ethnic pride, were often only referred to in black terms.

So when two white kids who loved hip-hop as much as any others attended a Public Enemy show, Chuck D and company's venting their frustrations with white society as the crowd roared its approval rubbed these two Irish-descended youths the wrong way.

The color combo of white and green was about to find its own place in hip-hop, if only for a brief period of time. With N.W.A.'s "Fuck Tha Police" and the FBI's equally vehement response still fresh, Erik Schrody -- better known today as Everlast - and his House of Pain partner, Danny Boy O'Connor, broke out with "Jump Around."

When you look at the hypersensitive race relations landscape of that era, fresh off the heels of the Rodney King beating, one probably never expected an Irish duo to take hip-hop by storm on MTV, go multiplatinum and be nominated for a Grammy (Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group), of all things.

But House of Pain did just that and put their cultural identity on the map. Or did they?

After interviewing House of Pain, we called our friend in California, who is much older than our brother but slightly younger than us. We thought he might be more appreciative of the interview with the group.

She responded, "Yeah, they were Mexican, weren't they?"

Jesus Christ.

House of Pain performs with with Big B and Dirtball, 8 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483 or www.warehouselive.com.