Blog November 15, 2016
Blitz the Ambassador Returns With "Heaven," Featuring Tumi
Masterful Ghanaian rapper Blitz the Ambassador just announced a new album, Diasporadical, and dropped a blazing hot lead single, "Heaven" via Okayplayer, featuring South African MC Tumi Molekane, former lead singer of Tumi and the Volumes.
The beat, by Brooklyn-based producer Chris "Optiks" Jones, starts with a chill, half-time cha-cha before busting into what is now a classic Blitz formula: a mix of boom-bap beats, Afrobeat horns, and a shout-along hook. Blitz drops his first verse of alert lyrics, delivered with characteristic energetic vocal dexterity. He shouts out African revolutionary activists Ken Saro-Wiwa and Steve Biko, disses the international forces that murdered them and ties it all together with his Afrocentric historical consciousness: "From Joburg to Ferguson/It's all the same system." Tumi takes over the second verse with a raspy drawl, overlapping and playing with the rhythm until the music fades before a triumphant final chorus.
If this tune is any indication, Diasporadical will deliver in classic Blitz style: fresh beats with touches of pan-African music history, catchy hooks, great guest spots and collaborations, and messages that connect on both sides of the Atlantic ocean. We can't wait to hear more, in the meantime, check out Blitz's beautiful video work on the Diasporadical Trilogia, completed earlier this year.
