Relax (album)

For other albums with the same title, see Relax (disambiguation) § Albums.

Relax is the only studio album by American hip hop trio Das Racist.^[2] It was released by Greedhead Music on September 13, 2011.^[3] It peaked at number 111 on the Billboard 200 chart.^[4]

Relax
Studio album by Das Racist
Released	September 13, 2011 (2011-09-13)
Studio	See-Thru Studios, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genre	Hip-hop
Length	50:12
Label	Greedhead Music
Producer	Kool A.D. Heems Patrick Wimberly Anand Wilder Blood Diamonds El-P Diplo Dash Speaks J-La Rostam Batmanglij Francis Farewell Starlite
Das Racist chronology
Sit Down, Man (2010) Relax (2011)
Singles from Relax
"Michael Jackson" Released: August 2, 2011[1]

Production

The album is produced by Diplo, El-P, Rostam Batmanglij, and Anand Wilder, among others.^[5] It includes guest appearances from El-P, Danny Brown, and Despot.^[5]

Release

On August 2, 2011, Das Racist released "Michael Jackson", the lead single from the album.^[1] The music video for the song was premiered on September 9, 2011.^[6] Directed by Weird Days, the video references Michael Jackson's "Black or White" video,^[7] featuring the morphing faces of El-P, Despot, Lakutis, Hari Kondabolu, Mike Finito, Anand Wilder, Rostam Batmanglij, and Ben Schecter, among others.^[8]

The album was released by Greedhead Music on September 13, 2011.^[3]

The band played Late Night with Conan O'Brien on September 28, 2011.

Music videos were also created for "Brand New Dance"^[9] and "Girl".^[10]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	7.2/10[11]
Metacritic	78/100[12]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]
The A.V. Club	B+[14]
Chicago Tribune	[15]
Consequence of Sound	[16]
Los Angeles Times	[17]
MSN Music (Expert Witness)	A[18]
Pitchfork	6.3/10[19]
Rolling Stone	[20]
Slant Magazine	[21]
Spin	8/10[22]

At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[12]

Tuyet Nguyen of The A.V. Club gave the album a "B+" grade, praising Das Racist's "acutely modern sense of humor."^[14] Jesse Cataldo of Slant Magazine gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "Relax finds Das Racist operating as both consumers and creators of pop culture, spawning an endless pomo cycle of criticism and observation."^[21] Paul de Revere of Consequence of Sound called it "Das Racist's definitive album to date."^[16]

Accolades

Publication	Accolade	Rank	Ref.
Robert Christgau	The Dean's List: Christgau's Best of 2011	1	[23]
Complex	25 Best Albums of 2011	14	[24]
Rolling Stone	50 Best Albums of 2011	28	[25]
Spin	50 Best Albums of 2011	16	[26]
Spin	40 Best Rap Albums of 2011	4	[27]
Stereogum	Top 50 Albums of 2011	41	[28]

Track listing

No.	Title	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Relax"	Kool A.D. Heems Patrick Wimberly	4:29
2.	"Michael Jackson"	Kool A.D. Heems Wimberly	4:16
3.	"Brand New Dance"	Wimberly	3:01
4.	"Middle of the Cake" (featuring Anand Wilder)	Anand Wilder	3:43
5.	"Girl"	Blood Diamonds	3:23
6.	"Shut Up, Man" (featuring El-P)	El-P	4:32
7.	"Happy Rappy"	Diplo	2:21
8.	"Booty in the Air"	Wimberly	3:47
9.	"Power" (featuring Danny Brown and Despot)	Dash Speaks	4:46
10.	"Punjabi Song" (featuring Bikram Singh)	J-La	3:31
11.	"Selena"	Wimberly	2:16
12.	"Rainbow in the Dark"	J-La	3:51
13.	"The Trick"	Rostam Batmanglij	3:01
14.	"Celebration"	Francis Farewell Starlite	2:40

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes.

• Kool A.D. – production (1, 2), artwork
• Heems – production (1, 2), executive production
• Patrick Wimberly – production (1, 2, 3, 8, 11), executive production, recording, mixing
• Travis Rosenberg – pedal steel guitar (2, 8)
• Anand Wilder – vocals (4), production (4)
• Blood Diamonds – production (5)
• El-P – vocals (6), production (6)
• Diplo – production (7)
• Lakutis – handclap (8)
• Danny Brown – vocals (9)
• Despot – vocals (9)
• Dash Speaks – production (9)
• Bikram Singh – vocals (10)
• J-La – production (10, 12)
• Rostam Batmanglij – production (13)
• Francis Farewell Starlite – production (14)
• Josh Ascalon – engineering (8, 11)
• Daniel Lynas – engineering (9)
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Katy Porter – photography

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[4]	111
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[29]	1
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[30]	26
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[31]	15
US Top Rap Albums (Billboard)[32]	12