Sit Down, Man

Das Racist first popped up online in early 2010 with “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell,” an oddball ode to a fast food joint on Jamaica Avenue in Queens. Released only months after their debut, second mixtape Sit Down, Man reveals unexpected staying power from Himanshu Suri and Victor Vazquez. (Though the group is nominally a trio, hype man Ashok Kondabolu doesn't appear on their studio work.) The Brooklyn-based jokesters aren’t concerned with developing profound rap personas, even if they did somehow manage to get Jay-Z to drop a verse on “All Tan Everything.” Instead, Suri and Vazquez present themselves as a pair of pop culture-obsessed outsiders who probably sat in the back of class freestyling and cracking jokes. Connections to indie rock are everywhere: they reference Fleet Foxes and Grizzly Bear’s “Two Weeks” and sample Kraftwerk on the Chairlift-produced “Fashion Party.” Still, there’s plenty for hip-hop fans can sink their teeth into as well. The big highlight is “Amazing,” a spaced-out, Neptunes-style jam near the record’s midpoint. On the title track, indie rap veteran El-P hops onboard and lends a little attitude to the equation. Through it all, the duo manage to challenge the racial lines of hip-hop without really trying: just listen to “Ha Ha Ha Ha Jk?” as proof.