Biography
Das Racist's roots trace back to the period when its members shared a dorm themed around "Students of Color for Social Justice," an arrangement that later struck observers as fated. Although MCs Victor Vazquez and Himanshu Suri had first crossed paths years before, the Brooklyn trio only surfaced on the wider music scene in 2008 once the offbeat single "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" gained traction as a YouTube phenomenon. Joined by their hype man Dap, also known as Ashok Kondabolu, the group crafts a sound that simultaneously mocks and celebrates hip-hop by weaving druggy nonsense, social commentary, and obscure pop-culture allusions into a pointedly self-aware whole. Two self-released mixtapes appeared in 2010: Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man, the second of which came out through a partnership with the Mad Decent label and included a track produced by its influential head, Diplo. Not long afterward, the collective revealed plans for a debut album, Relax, slated for Greedhead Music, the imprint overseen by Himanshu Suri; the project reached listeners in September 2011.
Albums
