Just before playing Webster Hall's final club night alongside Skrillex and Boys Noize on August 5, Canadian producer Ekali was announced as OWSLA's newest member. Now, the budding artist unleashes his first single since signing to OWSLA/Atlantic/Big Beat.
"Babylon" featuring South Florida spitter Denzel Curry follows up on Ekali's previous remixes of Curry's "Threatz" and Flume and Vince Staples' "Smoke & Retribution." The offering once again finds the producer merging hip-hop with electronic flavor, making it a perfect play for the dance floor.
"My objective with Babylon was to create a world where rap and electronic coexisted without tipping the scales too far in either direction," said Ekali. "I was hyped on the idea of producing an entire song AROUND Denzel's story instead of having him tell his story around my beat, so I ended up producing 99% of the song after Zel had already recorded his parts."
"It's an approach to rap music that I'd never seen done before, so I wanted to know what that sounded like. Working in the room with Denzel was fast... he's a real rapper. Most of the time we spent kicking it just playing shit back and forth. He wrote and recorded his parts for Babylon in minutes."
Press play above to check it out, then see underneath for Denzel Curry's recent track, “Zeltron 6 Billion,” with Lil Ugly Mane.
Catch Ekali on tour on one of the following dates:
October 6 - Honolulu, HI - Hawaiian Brian's October 11 - Hamilton, NZ - Static Bar October 12 - Christchurch, NZ - The Foundry Bar October 13 - Auckland, NZ - Impala October 20 - Fortitude Valley, AUS - The TBC Club October 27 - Perth, AUS - Villa Nightclub October 28 - Sydney, AUS - Max Watts - Sydney November 1 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst November 2 - Santa Barbara, CA - EOS Lounge November 3 - Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory November 4 - San Diego, CA - Music Box November 5 - Phoenix, AZ - Monarch Theater November 8 - Dallas, TX - Stereo Live Dallas November 9 - Austin, TX - Vulcan Gas Company November 10 - Houston, TX - Stereo Live Houston November 11 - Pensacola, FL - Vinyl Music Hall November 12 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West November 15 - Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre November 16 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall November 17 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry November 18 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg November 21 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair November 22 - Montreal, QC - Theatre Fairmount November 23 - Toronto, ON - Velvet Underground November 25 - Detroit, MI - Magic Stick November 29 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge November 30 - Milwaukee, WI - Miramar Theatre December 1 - Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre December 2 - Minneapolis, MN - The Loft at Skyway Theatre December 3 - St. Louis, MO - 2720 Cherokee December 5 - Columbia, MO - The Blue Note December 6 - Kansas City, MO - recordBar December 8 - Denver CO - Larimer Lounge December 9 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge December 13 - Boise, ID - Reef December 14 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom December 20 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades December 22 - San Francisco, CA - Regency Ballroom December 23 - Los Angeles, CA - The Novo
