Jamaica Av 160th St 02 - Pizza Hut Taco Bell

"Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" is a 2008 song by American hip hop group

Das Racist Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconv ...

. It was first released free on their

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

page.Still Rapping, No Longer Racist
by Laura Nahmias; in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

''; published December 25, 2012; "Suri and Vasquez had released a song through their Myspace page called 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell'" The song is about two people (

members Himanshu "Heems" Suri and Victor "Kool A.D." Vazquez) on their cellphones, trying to find each other in "the combination

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

and

Taco Bell Taco Bell Corp. is an American multinational chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired ...

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Fulton Street and Broadway, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's ...

;" its lyrics consist primarily of the phrase "I'm at the Pizza Hut / I'm at the Taco Bell / I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell".

History

The song is based on a phrase that Vazquez had included in the

stream-of-consciousness In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. It is usually in the form of an interior monologue which i ...

song "I Zimbra", from his 2006 self-produced album ''The Electric Kool A.D. Acid Test''. During an early Das Racist show at

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, he used the phrase while

freestyling Freestyle rap, also simply known as Freestyle, is a style of hip hop music where an artist normally improvises an unwritten verse from the head, with or without instrumental beats, in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure ...

, and received a strongly positive reaction, so he kept repeating the line. Suri joined in, and soon so did the entire audience. At this point, the performers decided that their newly-created song was worth recording. To accompany the lyrics, Suri chose a beat by Khalid "Le1f" Diouf, who he and Vazquez had met when all three were attending Wesleyan, and who at the time was only 17.Too Gay for Hip-Hop? Le1f Takes On Traditionally Homophobic Genre: His single 'Wut' is the buzziest rap song of the summer. But is the music world really changing enough to bring mainstream success to this aggressively out New York artist?
by Melissa Leon; in ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

''; published August 10, 2012 Diouf had derived the beat from the 1991

Masters at Work Masters at Work is the American garage house production and remix team of "Little" Louie Vega and Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez. The duo has produced music together under the names MAW, KenLou, Sole Fusion, Hardrive, and Nuyorican Soul. They have bee ...

single "The Ha Dance (Pumpin' Dubb)". They recorded the song in

Patrick Wimberly Jonathan Patrick Wimberly (born May 29, 1983) is an American record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and mixing engineer best known as being one-half of the synth-pop duo Chairlift. The band parted ways in 2017 so Wimberly a ...

's basement, in a single take, "mov ngback and forth on one mic

ophone OPhone, or OMS (Open Mobile System), is a mobile operating system running on the Linux kernel. It is based on technologies initially developed by Android Inc., a firm later purchased by Google, and work done by the Open Handset Alliance. The OPh ...

,'We Knew Things Were Different For Us': Heems On Rap, Race And Identity
on ''

Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...

'' (

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

); published March 13, 2015 as part of a session with four other songs. Das Racist aims for sincere, surreal
by

Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...

; at the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''; published October 14, 2011; p. 10 Wimberly, who had introduced himself to Das Racist after watching them perform the song at the

Galapagos Art Space Galapagos Art Space was an arts center that moved from Williamsburg to DUMBO in Brooklyn before moving to Detroit, Michigan where it planned to operate as Galapagos Detroit. Its status is currently unknown. Robert Elmes founded Galapagos Art Spac ...

, has since credited the song with having convinced him that he wanted to be a producer. He asked them to not make the song publicly available until he had had the chance to implement

audio post production Audio post-production is all stages of audio production relating to sound produced and synchronized with moving picture (film, television, or video). It involves sound design, sound effects, Foley, ADR, sound editing, audio mixing, mastering, ...

; instead, they posted it online immediately. The song has a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

of 130 bpm.

Reception

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' lauded it as "just a funny, stupid, silly, brainy, knowing song all at once" that "retains its inner

Cheech and Chong Cheech & Chong are a comedy duo founded in Vancouver and consisting of American Cheech Marin and Canadian Tommy Chong. The duo found commercial and cultural success in the 1970s and 1980s with their stand-up routines, studio recordings, and fea ...

and still seems leagues smarter for it"."Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (Wallpaper. Remix)"
reviewed by Scott Plagenhoef, at ''

''; published June 7, 2009; retrieved October 26, 2024 The '' Tribune Business News'' likewise invoked Cheech and Chong, but suggested that the song may lead listeners to wonder if Das Racist may instead be "a couple of avant-garde

dada Dada () or Dadaism was an anti-establishment art movement that developed in 1915 in the context of the Great War and the earlier anti-art movement. Early centers for dadaism included Zürich and Berlin. Within a few years, the movement had s ...

ists taking on corporate America"Sophomoric Yet Significant
by Shea Connor; in the

McClatchy-Tribune Business News McClatchy Media Company, or simply McClatchy and MCC, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law. Originally based in Sacramento, California, United States, and known as The McClatchy Company, it b ...

; published October 21, 2011 despite "seem(ing) like one of

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American comedian, actor, musician, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. ...

's gag groups".Music roundup: Das Racist not a typical rap group
by Mike Osegueda; in the

; published March 24, 2011 ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' found it to be "one joke repeated ad nauseam", but also "(h)ilarious, impossibly catchy and a statement about late-capitalist nausea""Essential Das Racist", in ''

''; issue 1139; published September 15, 2011; p. 38 and "weirdly mesmerizing,"HOT LIST
in ''

''; issue 1082/1083, (Jul 9-Jul 23, 2009); p. 20 referring to it variously as a "stoned spoof"Sit Down, Man
by Jon Dolan; in ''

'', issue 1115, (Oct 14, 2010): p. 100 and "retarded genius".HOT LIST
in ''

'', issue 1115 (Oct 14, 2010): p. 26 Rob Harvilla of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' said it "deftly locates the fine line between stupid and clever, and snorts it", and notes that its repetition of the line 'I'm at the Pizza Hut / I'm at the Taco Bell / I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' "passes from grating to absurd to hilarious to poignant to transcendent" and is "either very, very meaningful or completely meaningless."A Chat with Das Racist, the Geniuses Behind "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell"
by Rob Harvilla, in ''

''; published June 17, 2009 Alex Moore of '' Death and Taxes'' called it "both feverishly juvenile and somehow profound" and "an existential meditation on consumer identity in corporate America", praising the lines "I got that taco smell" and "I got that pizza butt" as "beautifully executed".Song of the Day: Das Racist
by Alex Moore, at '' Death and Taxes''; published April 6, 2009; via

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

noted its "skinny laptop beat", and felt that its themes include "the ubiquity of corporate culture, the limits of cellphone communication, how funny life gets on weed, ndhow screwed up life gets on weed", proposing that the song's success is the result of the timing of the rappers' interplay on the track.Who's That? Brooown!
by

; originally published at

Barnes and Noble Barnes & Noble Booksellers is an American bookseller with the largest number of retail outlets in the United States. The company operates approximately 600 retail stores across the United States. Barnes & Noble operates mainly through its B ...

, December 26, 2012; archived at RobertChristgau.com Drew Hilliard of ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' emphasized that " pending on whom you asked, (the song) was either a commentary on the pointlessness of big box consumer culture, or ..just pointless".Eat Pray Shrug: Heems Is Getting His Shit Back Together, But Doesn’t Care If You Care
by Drew Hillard; at ''

''; published March 13, 2015 Ashante Infantry of ''

The Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

'' observed a similar reaction.Das Racist: Are we missing something? Group has critics, but not fans, scratching their collective heads
by Ashante Infantry, in ''

''; published January 27, 2011 The ''

Hartford Courant The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is advertised as the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven and ...

'' identified it as "a sort of slacker mantra for whatever social commentary you care to project over it", but also conceded that "maybe it's just a goof".DAS RACIST GETS SERIOUS: WITH 'RELAX,' RAP GROUP THAT GREW OUT OF WESLEYAN BIDS TO SHATTER OLD STEREOTYPES
by Eric R. Danton; in the ''

''; published September 11, 2011 ''

'' dismissed it as "a lovably dumb slice of pop-rap" which "earned (Das Racist) a reputation as a

novelty act "Novelty Act" is a novelette by Philip K. Dick. It involves a dystopian future in which the characters' lives are based on entertaining the First Lady of the United States First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) is a title typically hel ...

,"A Rap Crew Defies Its Name
by Nick Neyland; in ''

''; published September 12, 2011 while ''

The Capital Times ''The Capital Times'' (or ''Cap Times'') is a weekly newspaper published Wednesday in Madison, Wisconsin, by The Capital Times Company. The company also owns 50 percent of Capital Newspapers, which now does business as Madison Media Partners. ...

'' described it as "a disposable novelty"REALLY, DAS RACIST HAS SERIOUS SIDE
by Andy Downing; in ''

''; published October 13, 2011 that is "either (a) a razor-smart commentary on America's culture of consumption, (b) a brainless, repetitive throwaway or (c) some combination of the two".DAS RACIST SHOW FALLS SHORT
by Andy Downing; in ''

''; published October 20, 2011

Analysis

The journal ''

New Literary History ''New Literary History: A Journal of Theory & Interpretation'' is a quarterly academic journal published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It focuses on the history and theory of literature, and key questions of interpretation. The journal has re ...

'' called it "purposefully inane", but noted that its "nonsensical lyrics are subject to strict structural constraints".Singing Nonsense
by Rossen Ventzislavov; in ''

''; Vol. 45, Iss. 3, (Summer 2014) A rhetorical analysis in '' The Tartan'' claimed that the song's popularity derives primarily from three factors: first, the presence of

repetition Repetition may refer to: *Repetition (rhetorical device), repeating a word within a short space of words *Repetition (bodybuilding), a single cycle of lifting and lowering a weight in strength training *Working title for the 1985 slasher film '' ...

, for whose value ''The Tartan'' cited ancient Roman orator

Quintilian Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (; 35 – 100 AD) was a Roman educator and rhetorician born in Hispania, widely referred to in medieval schools of rhetoric and in Renaissance writing. In English translation, he is usually referred to as Quin ...

; second, the song's use of a "socioeconomically loaded location" which enables "audiences to identify with the common man"; and third, "

semantic Semantics is the study of linguistic Meaning (philosophy), meaning. It examines what meaning is, how words get their meaning, and how the meaning of a complex expression depends on its parts. Part of this process involves the distinction betwee ...

confusion"—not only does the pronoun "I" in the phrase "I'm at the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" mean different things depending on whether Suri or Vazquez is the one saying it, so does "the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell", as evidenced by the fact that the two men are unable to locate each other.A rhetorical analysis of Das Racist
by Will Penman, in '' The Tartan''; published September 9, 2012 ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' suggests that the popularity also depends on the fact that the names of the two restaurant chains have the same number of syllables: "If the song took place at a combination Taco Bell and

Long John Silver's Long John Silver's, formerly known as Long John Silver's Seafood Shoppes and sometimes abbreviated as LJS, is an American chain of fast-food restaurants that specializes in seafood. The brand's name is derived from the character of the same n ...

, it would never work."The Oral History of Das Racist’s “Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell”
by Nitish Pahwa, at ''

''; published September 8, 2023 In ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'',

Sasha Frere-Jones Alexander Roger Wallace "Sasha" Frere-Jones ( né Jones; born 1967) is an American writer, music critic, and musician. Frere-Jones was pop critic of the ''New Yorker'' from 2004 to 2015. In January 2015, he left the ''New Yorker'' to work for ' ...

assessed the more intellectual and political lyrics of Das Racist's later mixtapes, and declared that "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell" is "the kind of thing Das Racist might make fun of",BLACKLISTED: Pop Music
by

; in ''

''; Vol. 86, Iss. 37, (Nov 22, 2010): while

Andrew Marantz Andrew Marantz (born September 26, 1984) is an American author and journalist who writes for ''The New Yorker''. Education and career From 2002 to 2006 Marantz was an undergraduate at Brown University, receiving a bachelor's degree in religion an ...

posited that it is "in part, a parody of the hip-hop tradition of alluding to specific locations."ORIGIN STORIES: Signage Dept.
by

, in

; Vol. 89, Iss. 24, (Aug 12-Aug 19, 2013) In ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'',

Lizzy Goodman Lizzy Goodman is an American journalist and author. She has written for NME and Rolling Stone. In 2022, the film '' Meet Me in the Bathroom'', based on her book, was released. Books *'' Meet Me in the Bathroom'' (Dey Street Books HarperCol ...

declared it to be "(g)leefully stupid" but "also a subversive commentary on mind-numbing mall culture";Brooklyn Top 40: A highly subjective ranking of the songs that define the sound of right now.
by

; in ''

''; published November 16, 2009 similarly, in ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932 by P. Varadarajulu Naidu. It is headquartered in Noida, owned by the ''Indian Express Group''. It was later taken over by Ramnath Goenka. In 1999, eight y ...

'', Nandini Nair stated that it "might sound like catchy twaddle" but is also "a commentary on the prevalence of commercialisation and the illusion of choice."That’s Racy
by Nandini Nair, in ''

''; published January 7, 2012 Comedian

Hari Kondabolu Hari Karthikeya Kondabolu (born October 21, 1982)Beem, p. 38 is an American stand-up comedian and writer. His comedy covers subjects such as race, inequity, and Indian stereotypes. He was a writer for '' Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell'' and ...

—brother of Das Racist

hype man A hype man, typically in hip hop music, is a backing vocalist who supports the primary performer with exclamations, interjections, or ad-libs in an attempt to increase an audience's excitement or engagement. Origins Early hype men included Keef C ...

Ashok Kondabolu Ashok Kumar Kondabolu (born 1985), also known by his stage name Dapwell (or Dap), is an American actor, writer, and internet personality. A graduate of Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, Kondabolu was first known for being a member of the influe ...

—has asked " sit simply a funny song about two friends going to the wrong fast-food restaurant, or

oes Oes or owes were metallic O-shaped rings or eyelets sewn on to clothes and furnishing textiles for decorative effect. Made of gold, silver, or copper, they were used on clothing and furnishing fabrics and were smaller than modern sequins. They wer ...

it say more about the state of American culture? Does the repetition in the song symbolize the Mobius-strip repetition of chains that appear throughout the country? Or something more?"Das Racist Cover Story: These Colors Don't Run
by

; in ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

''; published October 17, 2011

Legacy

A 2009 remix of the song by Wallpaper. similarly received widespread praise. Wallpaper. and Das Racist get the dancefloor munchies
at the ''

SF Weekly ''SF Weekly'' is an online music publication and formerly alternative weekly newspaper founded in the 1970s in San Francisco, California. It was distributed every Thursday, and was published by the San Francisco Print Media Company. The paper ha ...

''; published June 24, 2009 In 2010, Suri attributed much of the song's success to the "millions or billions of dollars

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

have been spent to make 'Pizza Hut' and 'Taco Bell' the recognizable names they are today”, saying that the song "is an infectious

meme A meme (; ) is an idea, behavior, or style that Mimesis, spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme. A meme acts as a unit for carrying c ...

largely because it references a meme already proven to be infectious." As well, he described how Das Racist's manager was approached by "someone from

Yum! Brands Yum! Brands, Inc. (sometimes called simply Yum!) is an American multinational fast food corporation. It is a spin-off of PepsiCo, after they acquired KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell. PepsiCo divested the brands in 1997, and these consolidated as ...

who supposedly loved the song but felt the name of our band would be a 'problem' for marketing"; he emphasized that "(t)his is fortunate because my financial situation would not have afforded me the moral fortitude I would've needed to say no to money from Yum! Brands."Das Racist: Thanks, Internet! - Brooklyn's finest have a few thoughts on their online celebrity
by Himanshu Suri, Victor Vazquez, and Ashok Kondabolu; in ''

''; published January 19, 2010 In 2013, New York graphic designer Jason Shelowitz included the song in an art project whereby he posted mock

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

s bearing rap lyrics at the locations mentioned in those lyrics. The song saw a resurgence in popularity in 2020, on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, where it accompanied "more than 400,000 videos"50 of the biggest TikTok songs and sounds of 2020 and where they came from
by Connor Perrett and Palmer Haasch; at ''

Business Insider ''Business Insider'' (stylized in all caps: BUSINESS INSIDER; known from 2021 to 2023 as INSIDER) is a New York City–based multinational financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Inside ...

''; published December 29, 2020 about experiencing combinations of various things, such as

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

and depression.

References

External links

* {{Das Racist 2008 songs Pop-rap songs Pizza Hut Taco Bell Songs about New York City Novelty songs

History

Reception

Analysis

Legacy

See also

References

External links