Das Racist Breaks Up (videos)

It’s a sad week for Pizza Huts and Taco Bells. Das Racist, the endlessly irreverent slacker-art-rap outfit behind “Combination Pizza Hut & Taco Bell” and “Rainbow in the Dark”, has called it quits. Heems announced the news at what would have been a group performance at Munich’s On3 Festival, telling the crowd, “I’m going to do some Das Racist songs, but Das Racist is breaking up and we’re not a band anymore.” Bandmate Kool A.D. later tweeted that he left the band two months prior, unbeknownst to fans:

The Village Voice asked Das Racist in 2009, “Is this a joke that everyone thinks is a graduate thesis, or vice versa?” Kool A.D.’s all-caps reply seems to sum up the group’s fortuitous existence: “WHY ARE YOU VALIDATING THE FALSE DICHOTOMY OF JOKES VS. SERIOUS SHIT? ” As we reflect on the end of what often seems like a shockingly successful joke-rap prank, here’s a glimpse back at the earlier highlights from Das Racist’s career: