Death Grips bucked and snarled to life with last year’s “Full Moon (Death Classic),” a debut single that grasped the dayglo backpackers by their meaty cheeks and spewed venom all over their dopest ironic tees. Stefan Burnett, Zach Hill, and Andy Morin instantly capitalized on their initial outburst with both a well-oiled publicity campaign and a debut LP — April’s Exmilitary that blew most of us sideways and confirmed that hip-hop had stepped back another few paces from ringing that heavy death knell. Exmilitary was so good and so genuinely bonkers it wound up on countless best of 2011 lists and allowed for the trio to emerge with one of the more important debuts of last year and as one of the better live acts currently gracing your local watering hole.
Now news comes that Death Grips has inked a sweet deal with Columbia/Epic to release two new LPs in 2012. The Money Store is due April 24 and will include the songs “Blackjack” (see below) and “Get Got.” No Love is due later this fall. The video for the “Get Got” single (now screening at the Chocolate Grinder) features what appears to be homemade special effects and Stefan Burnett roaming the city and performing live. The move to a major label has already divided the group’s devoted fan base (if the snide, snarky comments on YouTube for the new single are any indication) but its always interesting to see how groups react to both a little major label shoving and the almighty dollar; here’s hoping they don’t fuck it all up.
• Death Grips: http://thirdworlds.net
• Epic/Columbia: http://www.sonymusic.com