Death Grips

About

Death Grips is an experimental hip hop group ^[1] originating from Sacramento, California, consisting of drummer Zach Hill, producer Andy “Flatlander” Morin, and vocalist and frontman Stefan “MC Ride” Burnett.^[2][3] The group grew popular in Internet-based music circles for their combination of noise music, industrial music and hip hop. The group’s rise in popularity is mainly credited to the users of 4chan/mu/ board.

Online History

Death Grips released their first single, “Guillotine (It Goes Yah)”, originally from their mixtape Exmilitary, on August 3, 2011.^[5]

The single received positive reviews. The video garnered over two and a half million views, remaining their most popular song to date.

Soon after, the group signed with major label Epic Records. Their album The Money Store was released on April 21, 2012 to heavy acclaim. Pitchfork^[6] gave the album an 8.7 and labelled the album Best New Music. /mu/-based music critic Anthony Fantano gave his first perfect score^[7] to the album.

No Love Deep WebARG and Leak

After the release of The Money Store, the group suddenly cancelled all of their scheduled concerts. Later, they announced on Facebook that the cancellations were due to the fact they were working on a new album called “No Love” (later named No Love Deep Web). A few hours later, a thread was anonymously posted on /mu/ (which later was revealed to have been made by band’s producer Flatlander) with an edited photo from a Pitchfork article, and a link to an encrypted photo only accessible by Tor Network. Those who followed the photo found a note reading “NO LOVEDEEPWEBCOMING OCTOBER23 M0RE TO COME”, along with an unmastered version of The Money Store.

No Love Deep Web was scheduled for release on October 23, 2012. However, on September 30, 2012, Death Grips announced that Epic delayed the release indefinitely. The next day, the band leaked the album to several sources, including Soundcloud and BitTorrent. Epic immediately suspended their contract^[8].

Disbandment and Jenny Death

After the release of their third studio album, Government Plates, on November 13, 2013, and the first half of their album The Powers That B (subtitled Niggas on The Moon), the band posted an image to Facebook and Twitter with handwritten note. The note announced the release of the second half of The Powers That B, subtitled Jenny Death, would come soon. It also claimed that the band had broken up.

“We are now at our best and so Death Grips is over. We have officially stopped. All currently scheduled live dates are canceled. Our upcoming double album The Powers That B will still be delivered worldwide later this year via Harvest/Third Worlds Records. Death Grips was and always has been a conceptual art exhibition anchored by sound and vision. above and beyond a ‘band.’ To our truest fans, please stay legend.”

On December 9, 2014, the band unexpectedly released the first single from Jenny Death, titled “Inanimate Sensation” on their official YouTube channel.

On January 14, 2015, the band released a surprise album^[9] titled “Fashion Week”^[10], consisting entirely of instrumental tracks with titles referencing the Jenny Death When] in-joke (see below).

On March 12, 2015, Death Grips announced that Jenny Death would be released the following Tuesday. The album was leaked onto 4chan’s /mu/ (Music) board on March 19, 2015.^[9]

Related Memes

No Love Deep Web Album Cover Parodies

No Love Deep Web Album Cover Parodies are parodies of No Love Deep Web‘s album cover, which features an image of Zack Hill’s penis with the name of the album written on it. The parodies are often used when discussing the album, especially on web sites that would consider the original album art to be offensive.

Noided

MC Ride uses the term “Noided” in two Death Grips songs,“I’ve Seen Footage” and “Hacker”. The word is an abbreviation of “paranoided”, meaning feeling paranoid, or being influenced by constant beliefs of persecution. The word is normally used as a shout-out to the group, normally in the form of the hashtag or the phrase “Stay Noided”.

Jenny Death When

Jenny Death When is a phrase used by fans who have become impatient for the release of the group’s upcoming album Jenny Death. The phrase was referenced by the group on their 2015 release Fashion Week, which featured a track listing where each track name ended in a letter spelling out the phrase.

Search Interest

External References