The Cataracs

David “Campa” Benjamin Singer-Vine and Niles “Cyrano” Hollowell-Dhar combined their songwriting, vocal, and production talents in 2003, while they were attending high school in Berkeley, CA. Three years later, after taking their name — the Cataracs — from a line in Snoop Dogg’s “What’s My Name, Pt. 2,” they released an independent album, Technohop, Vol. 1, and produced the sparse and booming track “Blueberry Afghani” for fellow Berkeley-based group the Pack. The duo released a handful of low-key albums and mixtapes and broke through with “Like a G6,” a collaboration with Far East Movement and vocalist Dev that topped the Billboard Hot 100 in late October 2010. Dev herself released a Cataracs-produced single, “Bass Down Low,” which reached the chart by the end of the year. The Cataracs maintained their hit-making streak with Snoop’s “Wet” — yet another stripped-down, bass-heavy track — which was made for Prince William’s bachelor party and charted in early 2011. ~ Andy Kellman