The influential experimental hip-hop group Death Grips appear to have confirmed that they have split up for good.
The trio – made up of producers Zach Hill and Andy Morin and vocalist MC Ride – have been largely dormant since the release of their 2019 EP ‘Gmail And The Restraining Orders’, and now it seems we have confirmation of their demise.
A direct message involving Morin has been leaked online, in which he states, “yeah it’s over”. Referring to MC Ride by his real name Stefan Burnett, he added: “Stefan doesn’t want to do any more. But truthfully none of us can ever predict what will happen with the group.”
death grips officially broke up today is a very sad day o7 pic.twitter.com/9Wd4UN9A3K
— sand underman (@sand_underman) February 8, 2025
The Sacramento group broke through in 2011 with their mixtape ‘Exmilitary’, followed a year later by debut album ‘The Money Store’. They would wind up being signed to a major label deal with Epic Records, but were swiftly dropped when they leaked their second album ‘No Love Deep Web’ as a free download in breach of their contract.
They briefly split up in 2014, around the release of their sprawling double album ‘The Powers That B’, before reuniting a year later and embarking on a world tour. Two further albums followed – 2016’s ‘Bottomless Pit’ and 2018’s ‘Year Of The Snitch’ – while ‘Gmail And The Restraining Orders’ was released as part of Warp Records’ 30th anniversary celebrations.
Their music was defined by a punk ethos and an ability to embrace a broad array of genres and styles, from industrial to lo-fi to noise to dark electronic. Their highly chaotic and physical live performance style also caught the attention of music fans early on.
NME caught the group’s performance at Pitchfork Paris in 2012, writing: “Ride presses play on the computer and starts to stretch. Hill squats behind his kit and hammers a few bars. The crowd look worried. That’s because Death Grips’ music has a physical effect on your body. They grab you in the gut with churning gutter-synths, and the offbeat drums hurt parts of the brain you never knew existed.”
There had been some hint of possible new material in 2022 when the group shared a short, 15-second clip of music on social media, but no project ever materialised from it.