Themselves made their debut on Anticon's 1998 breakout compilation Music for the Advancement of Hip Hop. Their first album, Them, was released in 1999 after being recorded in 1997 and 1998 (under the name Them). This was followed in 2000 by the 12-inch single Joyful Toy of 1001 Faces and another single, This About the City Too, in 2002.
In 2003 they released The No Music to mixed reviews, but the release brought increased attention to the group and to Anticon. The tracks on that album were remixed and released the next year as The No Music of AIFFS.
In 2004 they joined forces with the German band The Notwist to form 13 & God, releasing their self-titled album to favorable reviews.
Themselves returned in 2009 with a free album of sorts, theFREEhoudini, with guests such as Sole, cLOUDDEAD, Slug, Buck 65, Serengeti, Pedestrian, Aesop Rock, Alias, Passage, Mr. Dibbs, D-Styles, Busdriver and Lionesque. The album serves as Doseone and Jel's return, posse record that never was, and contribution to the mixtape medium circuit so tied to hip hop's history[http://www.anticon.com/thefreehoudini/]. This followed a month later by their 3rd studio album, tentatively titled CrownsDown[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/149246-themselves-return-from-hiatus-plan-free-mixtape].
An excerpt from the theFREEhoudini mixtape was released for download on the Pitchfork website on Mar. 2, 2009.[http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/149469-premiere-themselves-ft-aesop-rock-busdriver-why-clouddead-freehoudini-excerpt] The full album was made available on the anticon website for 90 days as a single mp3 download available to those who join the anticon mailing list[http://www.anticon.com/thefreehoudini]. A deluxe, individually numbered CD version of theFREEhoudini, featuring 15 minutes of bonus audio not available on the free version was released on 25th March 2009[https://store.anticon.com/item.php?code=abr0095]. Unlike the free version, the deluxe version also has track markers for each song.
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