Das Racist was an American

alternative hip hop Alternative hip hop (also known as alternative rap) is a subgenre of hip hop music that encompasses a wide range of styles that are not typically identified as mainstream. AllMusic defines it as comprising " hip hop groups that refuse to confo ...

group based in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, composed of MCs

Heems Himanshu Kumar Suri (born July 6, 1985), better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper from Queens in New York City. Best known for being part of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, Suri is also the founder of Greedhead Musi ...

and

Kool A.D. Victor Vazquez (born November 16, 1983), also known by his stage name Kool A.D., is an American rapper, record producer, author, and artist. He is from the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Vazquez is best known for being a member of the New ...

and

hype man A hype man, in hip hop music and rapping, is a backup rapper and/or singer who supports the primary rappers with exclamations and interjections and who attempts to increase the audience's excitement with call-and-response chants. The hype man's ...

Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconventional style, Das Racist has occasionally been hailed as an urgent new voice in rap but often dismissed as joke rap. After rising to

Internet fame An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

with their 2008 song "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell", Das Racist established themselves as rappers with the release of their 2010 mixtapes ''

Shut Up, Dude ''Shut Up, Dude'' is the first mixtape by American hip hop trio Das Racist. It was released as a free download by Greedhead Music and Mishka on March 29, 2010. Music videos A music video was created for "Who's That? Brooown!". The video linked t ...

'' and ''

Sit Down, Man ''Sit Down, Man'' is the second mixtape by American hip hop trio Das Racist. It was released as a free download by Greedhead Music, Mishka, and Mad Decent on September 14, 2010. It gained over 40,000 downloads in its first week of release. An alb ...

''. ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally ...

'' picked Das Racist as one of fifty acts to watch at the 2010

SXSW South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

festival, and in April 2010, MTV Iggy selected Das Racist as one of the "25 Best New Bands in the World". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' declared the song "Hahahaha jk?" from ''Sit Down, Man'' one of the fifty best singles of 2010. In September 2011, Das Racist released their first commercial album, ''

Relax Relax may refer to: Aviation * Roland Z-120 Relax, a German ultralight aircraft design for the 120 kg class Music Albums * ''Relax'' (Blank & Jones album), 2003 * ''Relax'' (Das Racist album), 2011 Songs * "Relax" (song), a 1983 song by Fran ...

'', which was named in many year-end "best of" lists, including both that of ''Rolling Stone'' and ''Spin'', as well as being named by ''Spin'' as the fourth best rap album of the year. ''Spin'' also featured Das Racist on the cover of its November 2011 issue with an article written by Dap's brother, comedian Hari Kondabolu. On November 28, 2011, the group made their United States television debut on '' Conan''. At the PULS Festival, formerly known as on3-Festival, in December 2012 in Munich, Heems revealed "Das Racist is breaking up and we're not a band anymore." The next day, Kool A.D. revealed that he had left the band in October 2012, though his reasons for doing so and the status of recorded materials for the group's second album remain unknown.

History

Formation

Suri and Vazquez met in 2003 at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in Middletown, Connecticut where Vazquez was Suri's

resident advisor ''Resident Advisor'' (also known as ''RA'') is an online music magazine and community platform dedicated to showcasing electronic music, artists and events across the globe. It was established in 2001. ''RA''s editorial team provides news, musi ...

in a "students of color for social justice"-themed dormitory. However, they formed Das Racist only after both had moved to New York following their graduation from college. Kondabolu, who had met Suri when they were both students at New York's

Stuyvesant High School , motto_translation = For knowledge and wisdom , address = 345 Chambers Street , city = New York , state = New York , zipcode = 10282 , country ...

, soon joined as their

. Suri and Kondabolu are both from

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York and of

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

descent, and Vazquez is of

Afro-Cuban Afro-Cubans or Black Cubans are Cubans of West African ancestry. The term ''Afro-Cuban'' can also refer to historical or cultural elements in Cuba thought to emanate from this community and the combining of native African and other cultural el ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

descent and from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...

. Vazquez is also a member of power-pop band Boy Crisis.

Name origin

Himanshu Suri stated in an interview:

"Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" (2008–2009)

Das Racist first began attracting attention with their song "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell". In November 2008, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' called Das Racist a "funny and funky duo", placing them on a list of eight bands worth checking out. In March 2009,

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

-based

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electro ...

ian

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...

referred to "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" as "a track that will last the ages" in ''

XLR8R ''XLR8R'' (pronounced "accelerator") is a website that covers music, culture, style, and technology. It was originally also a print magazine. History and profile ''XLR8R'' was founded as a newsprint zine in 1993 by publisher Andrew Smith in Sea ...

'' magazine. ''Death & Taxes'' magazine described the song as "an

existential Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and valu ...

meditation on consumer identity in corporate America" and "both feverishly juvenile and somehow profound". After playing at the 2009

CMJ Music Marathon CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...

, ''The New York Times'' described Das Racist's set as "characteristically shambolic, and characteristically entertaining, holding together a half-hour set of half-performed songs with hyperliterate reference points and self-aware charm".

''Shut Up, Dude'' and ''Sit Down, Man'' (2010)

Das Racist's first album, the ''

'' mixtape, was released as a free download in March 2010. The mixtape received positive reviews, earning a score of 7.8 from ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...

'', and being described as "a fascinating album that attempts to write an impossibly new blueprint for rap: funny without trying to impress; proficient without having anything to prove; relevant without taking any particular scene seriously; imbued with a soulful sense of place—urban, disaffected, ethnic—but more interested in how that serves as fodder for jokes than in any big grab for meaning". For the song "Who's That? Brooown!" (which samples

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

's song "

Scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; ) is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and action describing the plot of a play, and was literally pi ...

") Das Racist released a playable 8-bit video game of Suri and Vazquez on a quest through the New York City boroughs of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, and

to find Kondabolu, referencing 1980s ephemera such as ''

Double Dragon is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals. The origina ...

'', ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'', '' Narc'', and ''

Frogger is a 1981 arcade action game developed by Konami and manufactured by Sega. In North America, it was released by Sega/Gremlin. The object of the game is to direct a series of frogs to their homes by crossing a busy road and a hazardous rive ...

''. Pitchfork named the video one of the forty best of 2010, and it was selected to screen at the

2011 Sundance Film Festival The 27th annual Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20, 2011 until January 30, 2011 in Park City, Utah, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah. The festival opened with five screenings, one from each c ...

. Six months later, Das Racist released their second mixtape ''

'' on September 14, 2010, also as a free download. ''Sit Down, Man'' received even better reviews, earning a score of 8 from ''

'' magazine, as well as an 8.7 and "Best New Music" from Pitchfork, and was downloaded over 250,000 times in the first week. Guests on ''Sit Down, Man'' include El-P, Despot,

Vijay Iyer Vijay Iyer (born October 26, 1971) is an American composer, pianist, bandleader, producer and writer based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' has called him a "social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, histori ...

, and

Chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

with production from

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD wit ...

, Dame Grease, Devo Springsteen, Sabzi (of

Blue Scholars Blue Scholars is an American hip hop duo based in Seattle, Washington, created in 2002 while the members, DJ Sabzi (Saba Mohajerjasbi) and MC Geologic (George Quibuyen), were students at University of Washington. The name "Blue Scholars" is ...

and

Common Market The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

) and

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da ( , a play on "boy wonder"), is a Jamaican-Canadian Record production, record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto raised producer has work ...

''Relax'' (2011)

Their first commercially released album, titled ''

'', was released on September 13, 2011, on Suri's own

Greedhead Music Greedhead Music is an independent record label founded by Himanshu Suri of Das Racist. Initially, Suri founded Greedhead Music as a management and recording company in 2008 to manage Das Racist. Greedhead's first releases were the group's 2010 mix ...

label. The album includes production from Diplo, El-P, Rostam Batmanglij (of

Vampire Weekend Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson ...

), and Anand Wilder (of

Yeasayer Yeasayer () was an American experimental rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2006. The band consisted of Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, and Anand Wilder. They announced their split on December 19, 2019. History Formation The band's thr ...

), as well as guest appearances from El-P, Danny Brown, Bikram Singh, and Despot. Das Racist consider ''Relax'' to be a more accessible album, and they refer to it as a "pop record". Despite receiving a middling review from ''Pitchfork'', who had lauded their previous efforts, the album has received a generally favorable response, earning an 8 out of 10 from ''Spin'' magazine, and reaching the number one spots on both the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

Hip Hop/Rap chart and the U.S. ''Billboard''

Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers are "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The Heatseekers Albums and the Heatseekers Songs charts were introduced by ''Billboard'' in 1991 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new an ...

albums chart. ''

'' included the album at No. 28 on their 50 Best Albums of 2011 list and the song "Girl" at No. 34 on their list of the best singles of the year. ''Spin'' placed the album at No. 4 on their Best Rap Albums of 2011 list and No. 16 on their list of the best albums of 2011.

Deal with Sony and second studio album (2012)

At their concert of June 9, 2012 at

Bonnaroo Music Festival The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is an American annual four-day music festival developed and founded by Superfly Presents and AC Entertainment. Since its first year in 2002, it has been held at what is now Great Stage Park on a farm in ...

, the duo stated that they would begin work presently on their second album, for which they have already written material. In an episode of the second season of '' A Day in the Life'', Das Racist were seen recording a new song, titled "People All Over the World". In July 2012, Das Racist signed a deal with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

/ Megaforce Records for their next album, and shortly thereafter, their song "Girl" appeared in a commercial for

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

Break up

In December 2012, Heems announced to a crowd at the On3 Festival in Munich that Das Racist had broken up. In response, Kool A.D. tweeted that he had left the band two months prior but had been keeping his departure under wraps. The breakup came after they had signed a record deal and were to release a "proper album", followed by a tour. Dapwell told Spin, "We had a plan to break up around May. We had just signed this record deal and we were going to put out one proper album and then go on a farewell tour, release a proper breaking up statement that could have been really funny, maybe a weird, stupid video. Now, all of that has gone to shit." Speaking to ''Rolling Stone'', Vazquez said he and Suri had been "trying to do slightly different things" professionally and artistically. Following the break-up both Suri and Vazquez both continued to make rap music. Heems released two mixtapes called "Nehru Jackets" and "Wild Water Kingdom." Both mixtapes continued his work with Queens producer Mike Finito, among other producers such as Keyboard Kid and Lushlife. Vazquez began a very prolific solo career and has released more than 60 mixtapes since the break-up. Beyond his visual art, Vazquez played live shows in support of his mixtapes "51," "19," and "63." The three tapes, named after former bus lines in the

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...

area, feature production from the likes of Amaze88 and Trackademicks. Dapwell stayed busy as well, working full-time on an active Twitter feed, as well as producing a podcast with his comedian brother, Hari Kondabolu. He also co-hosts the radio sho
Chillin' Island with Despot
and has two separate comedic television shows in development.

Work in other media

With a growing repertoire of work in media beyond music, Das Racist have been referred to as a "multimedia art project". At the end of 2010, ''Pitchfork'' honored "everything Das Racist did this year", calling attention to a column Suri wrote for ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

'' about the sitcom '' Outsourced'', their interview with ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' Deborah Solomon, and their appearance on "Our Show With Elliot Aronow" in which they stated that

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

was "clearly

Illuminati The Illuminati (; plural of Latin ''illuminatus'', 'enlightened') is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically, the name usually refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on ...

". After

Sasha Frere-Jones Alexander Roger Wallace "Sasha" Frere-Jones (né Jones; born 1967) is an American writer, music critic, and musician. He has written for ''Pretty Decorating'', '' ego trip'', ''Hit It And Quit It'', ''Mean'', '' Slant'', ''The New York Post'', '' ...

wrote a piece in ''The New Yorker'' on the demise of hip hop in late 2009, the blog ''Flavorpill'' turned to Das Racist to provide a response; Vazquez and Suri took Frere-Jones to task for presumptuously claiming authority on the matter, questioning Frere-Jones's assumptions and conclusions. In December 2009, Das Racist hosted "Minority Fest". The event, curated by the Kondabolu Brothers, featured Victor Varnado,

Jay Smooth John Randolph, better known as Jay Smooth (born 1972) is a cultural commentator best known for his ''Ill Doctrine'' video blog. He is also the founder of New York City's longest-running hip hop radio program, WBAI's ''Underground Railroad''. Sm ...

Kumail Nanjiani Kumail Ali Nanjiani (; ur, کمیل علی ننجیانی, ; born May 2, 1978) is a Pakistani-American actor, comedian and screenwriter. He is known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy series ''Silicon Valley'' (2014–2019) and for co-wri ...

Ali Wong Alexandra Dawn Ali Wong (born April 19, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She is best known for her Netflix stand-up specials ''Baby Cobra'' (2016), ''Hard Knock Wife'' (2018), and ''Don Wong'' (2022). She starred in the film ' ...

and Hari Kondabolu among others, consisted of stand-up comedy by comedians of color (many of whom went onto superstardom), musical performances, and a panel discussion concerning issues faced by

people of color The term "person of color" ( : people of color or persons of color; abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the U ...

in the arts. In the build-up to releasing ''Relax'', Das Racist hosted a radio show on

East Village Radio East Village Radio (EVR), begun in August 2003, was an Internet radio station which broadcast from a storefront studio in the East Village of Manhattan, in New York City. Originally a pirate radio station broadcasting at 88.1 MHz, the st ...

called "Chillin' Island". After releasing ''Relax'', Dap turned "Chillin' Island" into a video web series starring himself and co-hosted and produced by Heems and the rapper Despot. Chillin Island, starring Kondabolu and produced by Elara Pictures and DreamCrew, was released on HBO and HBO Max in 2021.

Style

Das Racist's unique style has a strong polarizing tendency; their set at the 2009

Pop Montreal POP Montreal is an annual music festival occurring in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in the early fall, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October. More than 400 bands are scheduled to play in more than 50 venues across the city, most ...

festival was described as "the most divisive show seen at the festival". They describe their approach to music as "'

deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essen ...

alist': sawing the legs out from under hip-hop as they celebrate it". ''

'' wrote "Das Racist's lack of piety has become an aesthetic of its own, with songs that are as much commentary on hip-hop as rigorous practice of it".

The Root "The Root" is a song by American recording artist D'Angelo. It is the eighth track on his second studio album, ''Voodoo'', which was released on January 25, 2000, by Virgin Records. "The Root" was recorded and produced by D'Angelo at New York's ...

said Das Racist could speak for both "the ‘hood or the nearest

gated community A gated community (or walled community) is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. ...

". ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'' called the duo "equal parts hip-hop and

Cheech & Chong Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo consisting of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and feature films, which were based on the hippie a ...

". In an interview with

Sepia Mutiny Sepia Mutiny was a blog and discussion forum, initially conceived by a group of mostly second generation Indian American students and young professionals in August 2004. The site had had an exponential growth rate and according to its FAQ, as of ...

, Suri described Das Racist's music:

we’re not making music that’s instantly appealing. We dabble with non-sequiturs,
dadaism Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
,
repetition Repetition may refer to: * Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...
, repetition. We make dance music while talking about not-dancey things. We say things that on the surface can seem pretty dumb but it's a mask on some
Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...
shit for actual discontent with a lot of shit in the world. Further, not a lot of people want to hear rappers talk about
Dinesh D'Souza Dinesh Joseph D'Souza (; born April 25, 1961) is an Indian-American right-wing political commentator, author, filmmaker, and conspiracy theorist. He has written over a dozen books, several of them ''New York Times'' best-sellers. In 2012, D' ...
being a punk, Eddie Said, Gayatri Spivak being dope or even know who they are. A lot of people hear ''Pizza Hut Taco Bell'' and then have preconceived notions about our entire body of work that fall pretty flat.

Discography

Studio albums

Mixtapes

* ''

'' (2010) * ''

'' (2010)

Singles

Guest appearances

* Keepaway - "Zoo Too" from ''Kompetitor'' (2010) *

Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire Hugh Anthony Allison (born 1986), better known by his stage name Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire (often censored as Mr. MFN eXquire or simply eXquire), is an American rapper. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he debuted with the release of his first mixtape ...

- "The Last Huzzah!" from ''Lost in Translation'' (2011) *

Lakutis Aleksey Weintraub (born July 15, 1985), better known by his stage name Lakutis, is an American rapper from New York. He has collaborated with Das Racist, Hot Sugar, and Kitty. He has also toured with Le1f and Antwon. Early life Lakutis was b ...

- "Wifey" from ''I'm in the Forest'' (2011) * BBU - "Please, No Pictures" from ''

Bell Hooks Gloria Jean Watkins (September 25, 1952December 15, 2021), better known by her pen name bell hooks, was an American author and social activist who was Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She is best known for her writings on ...

'' (2012) *

Action Bronson Ariyan Arslani (born December 2, 1983), professionally known as Action Bronson, is an American rapper, songwriter, chef, wrestler, exotic olive oil taster, and television presenter. Born and raised in Queens, New York, he embarked on his musical ...

& Party Supplies - "Arts & Leisure" from ''Blue Chips'' (2012) *

Big Baby Gandhi Big Baby Gandhi (birth name: Nafis) is a Bangladesh-born American rapper from Queens, New York. His first mixtape, ''Big Fucking Baby'', was released in 2011 to highly positive reception from music critics. As a result of the attention he got fro ...

- "Blue Magic" from ''No1 2 Look Up 2'' (2012) *

The Coup The Coup is an American hip hop band from Oakland, California. Their music is an amalgamation of influences, including funk, punk, hip hop, and soul. Frontman Boots Riley's revolutionarily-charged lyrics rank The Coup as a renowned political ...

- "WAVIP" from '' Sorry to Bother You'' (2012) *

Busdriver Regan Farquhar (born February 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Busdriver, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, Milo, Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, 2Mex, and Ra ...

- "Fire Hydrant" from ''Arguments with Dreams'' (2012) *

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

Z-Trip Zach Sciacca (born July 22, 1971), better known as DJ Z-Trip, is an American DJ and producer. He is a pioneer of the mashup movement. He was the 2009 recipient of the "America's Best DJ Award". As a producer he has worked with artists across di ...

- "I Like It" from ''Attack the Block'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Alternative hip hop groups American hip hop groups American musical trios Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Musical groups established in 2008 Musical groups from New York (state) Stuyvesant High School alumni Wesleyan University alumni 2008 establishments in New York City