Tagging the artists on my Instagram story was a hassle today! After 49 days we have a song with a whopping FIVE artists on the roster. Nile Rodgers & CHIC are the revamped version of the disco powerhouse CHIC, founded by Nile Rodgers back in 1976. Under this new moniker, they have released the 2018 album It’s About Time, performed on the BBC to bring in the New Year, are embarking on a 2019 tour and are even up for a Brit this week for Best International Group.
Having made some of the most iconic disco and funk music of all-time, the release of their first album since 1992 was premiered with this single, Till The World Falls. They clearly mean business, bringing in some very talented new-age musicians in Mura Masa, Cosha and Vic Mensa. Mura Masa is a British DJ and producer hailing from the Channel Island of Guernsey and, even at a young age, has a strong lineup of collaborations, including Nao, Jay Prince, Charli XCX, Christine and the Queens and even A$AP Rocky on his smash hit Love$ick (which itself was an already-released beat from Mura Masa entitled Lovesick Fuck which was released as part of his 2015 EP, Someday Somewhere).
Vic Mensa is a Chicago rapper who helped found hip-hop collective SAVEMONEY, alongside Chance The Rapper and previously featured Joey Purp, amongst others. He signed to Roc Nation in 2017 after some high profile features, including working with Kanye and Sia on his The Life Of Pablo track, Wolves. Kanye also featured on Mensa’s own U Mad, whilst a lot of crossover work with Chance The Rapper bolstered the rapper’s profile, with his projects Innanetape (2013), There’s Alot Going On (2016) and Manuscript (2017) all receiving positive feedback from critics and consumers.
Cosha is arguably the least well-known artist on here, but she has a history with fellow featured artist Mura Masa. She is a 22-year-old Irish vocalist who, under the pseudonym Bonzai, was Mura Masa’s live singer for all of his shows between 2015 and 2017, the period where he really exploded and started getting radio plays. Having previously sung back up vocals for Nao in 2014, she is now releasing music as Cosha, with her cleverly named debut album R.I.P Bonzai releasing last year.
All of these artists come together to revitalise the disco genre and repackage all that was good about it for a modern listener. There is still a deep love for disco and wider 80s music, with dedicated club nights and radio stations aplenty, but it is a genre and style that has found it hard to adjust to the rise of electronic and hip-hop music. Nile Rodgers and CHIC’s decision to bring in a hattrick of young artists with core, dedicated fan bases that are at the cusp of the shifting culture of popular music is genius. The song has the obvious stamps of disco, with the song opening with Nile Rodgers and CHIC to bring in hardcore disco-heads, whilst the song progresses into Vic Mensa’s verse to show young music fans who aren’t used to an 80’s sound that it is a versatile and upbeat style.
You might think that the song’s impressive lineup stops at the featured artists. As well as featuring Vic Mensa and Cosha on vocals and Mura Masa and Nile Rodgers on production, Anderson .Paak helped to write it and when it premiered on Later… With Jools Holland, Nile Rodgers brought out Mura Masa and Nao to perform the track. It is a great record and is a sign that Nile Rodgers, as he has done his whole career, is willing and incredibly able to bring his sound to whatever is trending in music on a global scale.
Spotify Playlist Link: https://spoti.fi/2CKuVex
A Song A Day 