What yallz think of this? Get at us on Twitter (@Shemspeed). Das Racist is an American rap group based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, composed of Queens-born Himanshu Suri (aka Heems), and San Francisco-born Victor Vazquez (aka Kool A.D.), joined by hype man Ashok Kondabolu, known as Dap, for live performances and in music videos. Known for their use of humor, obscure references, and unconventional style, Das Racist has been both dismissed as joke rap and hailed as an urgent new voice in rap. After rising to Internet fame with their 2008 song “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”, Das Racist established themselves as credible rappers with the release of their 2010 mixtapes Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man. Spin magazine picked Das Racist as one of 50 acts to watch at the 2010 SXSW festival,[6] 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.
Shemspeed is an independent recording label and promotional agency highlighting cross-over music artists with positive and unifying messages. Founded by Erez Safar, an American-Israeli DJ/Producer, Shemspeed promotes over 15 dynamic artists representing a wide range of genres including hip-hop, reggae, and rock. These artists include Y-Love (revolutionary Jewish hip-hop), Diwon (Yemenite / Sephardic hip-hop, Israeli music and more), DeScribe (soul-awakening dancehall, hip-hop, & soul), and Electro Morocco (Israeli rock, dance music.) Shemspeed artists, collectively showcasing the diversity in world Jewish music, have performed with musicians as varied as Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, Idan Raichel and Eminem; they’ve been profiled in Rolling Stone, SPIN, The New York Times and XXL; and they’ve been seen and heard around the world on various TV appearances (Conan O’Brien, CBS and BBC World) and global radio. Shemspeed’s mission is unifying people through culture and education, celebrating diversity and common ground. By way of this work, we add a public Jewish voice to multi-cultural, inter-faith, creative and collaborative bridge-building.