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Rap Trio Das Racist Break Up

Brooklyn MCs confirm split that happened two months ago

Dapwell, Kool AD and Heems of Das Racist perform during the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago.
Roger Kisby/Getty Images
December 3, 2012 8:50 AM ET

Brooklyn rap trio Das Racist have broken up, MCs Heems and Kool A.D. said over the weekend. The group had been scheduled to perform Saturday at a festival in Germany, but after Heems (Himanshu Suri) took the stage alone for a solo set, he told the crowd, "I'm going to do some Das Racist songs, but Das Racist is breaking up and we're not a band anymore."

Q&A: Das Racist's Heems on His 'Wild Water Kingdom' Mixtape, Identity Politics

Kool A.D. (Victor Vazquez) later confirmed the split on Twitter when he wrote, "For the record i quit das racist 2 months ago and was asked by our manager not to announce it yet. apparently @HIMANSHU wanted to do it tho." Suri responded, "hah dag, my bad dont even remember saying that shit." Neither offered a reason for the split.

Suri and Vazquez met when they were students at Wesleyan University in Connecticut and started Das Racist with hype-man Dapwell (Ashok Kondabolu) when they reconnected in Brooklyn after college. After releasing two mixtapes in 2010, Das Racist released its lone official album, Relax, in 2011. 

Although the group continued to perform this year, Heems and Kool A.D. kept busy with their own projects, including various solo mixtapes and other collaborations.

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