Das Racist

Das Racist
Das Racist performing at Governors Ball in New York City in 2011
Background information
Origin	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Genres	Alternative hip hop
Years active	2008 (2008)–2012 (2012)
Labels	Greedhead Music, Megaforce, Sony Music Entertainment
Members	Heems Kool A.D. Ashok "Dapwell" Kondabolu

Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, New York City, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (aka Dapwell). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconventional style, Das Racist has been both hailed as an urgent new voice in rap and dismissed as joke rap.

After rising to Internet fame 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 and Sit Down, Man.Spin picked Das Racist as one of fifty acts to watch at the 2010 SXSW festival, and in April 2010, MTV Iggy selected Das Racist as one of the "25 Best New Bands in the World".Rolling Stone 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, 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.