Heems

Himanshu Kumar Suri[1] (born July 6, 1985),[2] better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper from Queens, New York City.

[5] Suri graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 2003, where he met Das Racist band member Ashok Kondabolu,[6] and was the vice president of the student council when the September 11 attacks happened two blocks away.

[11] Das Racist first found success on the internet with their 2008 song "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell", and then quickly established themselves within the underground rap scene with their 2010 mixtapes Shut Up, Dude and Sit Down, Man, both of which earned them critical acclaim, including Pitchfork's designation of "Best New Music" and national tours.

[21] The album was recorded in Mumbai and Brooklyn, and includes collaborations with Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange), Rafiq Bhatia, Gordon Voidwell, Boody B, and Harry Fraud.

[22] Barring a few features, after an eight year hiatus from music, in 2024, Suri released two albums — both on his new record label Veena Sounds, and jointly with Mass Appeal India[23] — Lafandar with Chicago-based producer Lapgan (which has features from Kool Keith, Open Mike Eagle, Quelle Chris, Your Old Droog, Saul Williams, Blu, Sid Sriram, Cool Calm Pete and Sonnyjim) and Veena, with production and features from Sid Vashi, Vijay Iyer, Ram Dulari, Lapgan, Cool Calm Pete, Mr. Cheeks and Navz-47.

In 2010, Das Racist performed as a part of the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial celebration, curated by California artist Martin Kersels.

"[37] He performed alongside former Das Racist member Ashok Kondabolu (Dapwell), Greedhead rapper Le1f, and psych-dance band Prince Rama.

[42] In 2013, Heems made his acting debut along with R&B artist Kelis in "Brazzaville Teen-Ager," a short film which starred and was written and directed by Michael Cera.

[43] In 2015, he played a supporting role as rascally ad agency employee named Reny in Benjamin Dickinson's Creative Control,[44] which premiered at SXSW 2015, where Heems also performed.

In the aftermath of the death of Osama bin Laden, Suri collected and retweeted racist tweets, drawing attention to the prevalence of xenophobia and Islamophobia in the celebratory national mood.