diff --git a/octodns/provider/rackspace.py b/octodns/provider/rackspace.py
index 12b2c54..e370315 100644
--- a/octodns/provider/rackspace.py
+++ b/octodns/provider/rackspace.py
@@ -130,17 +130,9 @@ class RackspaceProvider(BaseProvider):
     def _delete(self, path, data=None):
         return self._request('DELETE', path, data=data)
 
-    @staticmethod
-    def _as_unicode(s, codec):
-        if not isinstance(s, unicode):
-            return unicode(s, codec)
-        return s
-
     @classmethod
     def _key_for_record(cls, rs_record):
-        return cls._as_unicode(rs_record['type'], 'ascii'), \
-            cls._as_unicode(rs_record['name'], 'utf-8'), \
-            cls._as_unicode(rs_record['data'], 'utf-8')
+        return rs_record['type'], rs_record['name'], rs_record['data']
 
     def _data_for_multiple(self, rrset):
         return {