Zebrahead

About

Few bands blend rap and punk as naturally as Zebrahead, the five piece from La Habra, California who have been at it since 1996. Drawing early inspiration from Fugazi and the Descendents, they built a sound around the interplay between a rapper and a vocalist, a dynamic that set them apart from the ska punk crowd dominating their local scene at the time. Their song "Check" ended up on the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 soundtrack, and they scored a genuine radio hit with "Get Back", which cracked the top 40 on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. Over thirteen studio albums, the band has shifted through heavier punk territory and back, always keeping that hip hop energy in the mix. They built a particularly devoted fanbase in Japan, where MFZB went gold and Waste of MFZB topped the Billboard Japan chart. They also performed "His World", the theme for Sonic the Hedgehog 2006, and released Panty Raid, a full covers album of songs originally by female artists. The current lineup has rapper Ali Tabatabaee anchoring things alongside vocalist Adrian Estrella, who stepped in after Matty Lewis departed in 2021.