Punjabi-American rapper, founder of Greedhead Music, and native New Yorker, Himanshu "Heems" Suri launched his solo career while a member of alternative hip-hop group Das Racist. In 2012 under rap name Heems, he released two solo mixtapes, Nehru Jackets and Wild Water Kingdom. After Das Racist split in late 2012, Heems headed to Bombay and began work on his official debut solo effort. The album was released in in 2015 and coincided with an exhibition of the rapper's artwork at the Aicon Gallery in New York City. Both the LP and the exhibition shared the same title, Eat Pray Thug.