Vampire Weekend's name is derived from lead vocalist Ezra Koenig's amateur film of the same name. The band gained focus via a variety of blogs, such as Stereogum. The band claims to be influenced by both African popular music and Western classical music, describing their genre of songs as "Upper West Side Soweto", with such material as "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" referencing Congolese soukous music.

The members of the lineup met during attending Columbia University; they then self-produced their first album after graduation at a time of concurrently working full-time jobs. Koenig and drummer Chris Tomson first joined efforts as members of the comedy-rap group "L'Homme Run". They are managed by Ian Montone, who also manages The White Stripes. They are signed to XL Recordings, of which the band said in an interview: "Before any labels had contacted us, we actually mentioned XL as the kind of label we'd ideally like to end up on. Just going on their roster alone, they obviously have good taste and support their artists well."

In 2007, Vampire Weekend's song "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" was ranked 67th on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best music of the year. In November 2007, they toured the United Kingdom with The Shins. They were declared "The Year's Best New Band" by Spin magazine in the March 2008 issue, and were the first band to be shot for the cover of the magazine before releasing their debut album.

The band's debut record Vampire Weekend was gave us January 29, 2008. It was a success in the US and UK, peaking at number 15 on the UK copies Chart and number 17 on the Billboard 200. Four singles were gave us from the record; during "A-Punk" peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart and number 55 on the UK Singles Chart, "Oxford Comma" peaked at number 38 in the UK. "A-Punk" was ranked the 4th best song in 2008 on Rolling Stone's list of Best songs in 2008.