Flatbush Zombies is an American rap trio hailing from the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, consisting of MCs Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice, and Erick the Architect, who also serves as their producer. The group is recognized as forerunners of psychedelic rap and for their success as an independent act throughout the 2010s. Their music often explores themes of mind expansion, social injustices, consciousness, and spirituality.

Having grown up on the same block since childhood, Erick and Meech bonded early over music, video games, and shared influences before Meech later met Juice in junior high school. By the time Erick had begun seriously making music as a teenager, both rapping and producing, Meech and Juice would frequently spend time around his beats—Meech often freestyling and Juice contributing his own verses. With Erick initially anchoring the trio through production, the three formally became Flatbush Zombies in 2010 and released a handful of songs online, finding success with their 2011 viral hit “Thug Waffle” and its psychedelic music video.

Building off the hype they were quickly generating, the Zombies released their debut mixtape D.R.U.G.S. in summer 2012. They followed up with their seminal mixtape BetterOffDEAD (2013), a project that marked Erick’s full integration as a rapper within the group alongside his continuing role as producer, and collaborated with fellow Flatbush-based psychedelic rap duo The Underachievers for an EP titled Clockwork Indigo (2014).

Having amassed a cult following over the past five years, Flatbush Zombies released their highly anticipated debut album, 3001: A Laced Odyssey, in 2016. The album received critical acclaim, praised for its vivid storytelling and dense production, and debuted at number 10 on the US Billboard 200, a notable achievement for an independent release. They followed up with their sophomore album Vacation in Hell in 2018, a more ambitious project that showcased a wider range of styles and featured numerous guest artists. Shortly after, Flatbush Zombies united with The Underachievers and Joey Bada$$’s Brooklyn collective Pro Era as the supergroup Beast Coast to release an album titled Escape From New York (2019).

Flatbush Zombies released an EP titled now, more than ever in May 2020. Later that year, they collaborated with producer James Blake for a standalone single titled “Afterlife” and announced they were developing a collaborative album with Blake. However, for unknown reasons, the album never came to fruition; the group’s members instead spent the next few years developing solo projects to establish themselves individually.

In 2025, after each Zombie had released their own solo album, Erick openly expressed a desire to continue working solo, citing creative differences. As a result, Meech and Juice officially regrouped as 2DEAD BOYZ to continue collaborating while Erick furthers his solo career. Meech shared later that year that him and Juice aren’t ruling out the possibility of another Flatbush Zombies album eventually, though it probably shouldn’t be expected anytime soon:

We’ve been in a group together for 15, 16 years, and we all have different soundscapes, different things we want to tackle musically. It’s hard to do that on an album every single time with a bunch of people. I think we’ve done more than anybody can even imagine. Maybe that’s why we’re chillin’ right now. We can take a little break and then figure out what we want to talk about as a group together, when the time is right and if the world really needs it.