Following the overwhelming global success of his smash hit ‘Calm Down’, multi-award winning Afrobeats artist Rema announces his long-awaited return to music with the single ‘Benin Boys’, featuring 2023’s undisputed breakout star, Shallipopi. The single comes months after his transcendent EP ‘Ravage’, which gave fans a foretaste of what was to come and left them clamoring for more. ‘Benin Boys’ is set to drop on the 21st of June and promises to be one for the books.
With both Rema and Shallipopi coming from the same hometown, this collaboration feels fated. ‘Benin Boys’ is a homecoming song, an ode to young men who hail from Benin City, the famed capital of Edo State in Southern Nigeria. The track is rooted in the shared heritage of the two musicians, who detail their many exploits and attributes with an almost vainglorious swagger-they are untouchable and they know it.
Opening with police sirens that evoke the image of a convoy accompanying celebrated dignitaries, the song’s instrumentals are drum-heavy and hard-hitting, a befitting reintroduction to the disruptive, chaotic world of the Afrorave Lord. Rema is in fine form, dominating the track with arresting vocals delivered in his usual avant-garde style. Shallipopi comes through with his signature devil-may-care flow, showboating with witty declarations of their affluence and notoriety amongst their peers.
‘Benin Boys’ is an auspicious harbinger of what is evidently a new era for the global superstar, one that promises to be both redefining and revolutionary. With this single Rema issues a forewarning to his contemporaries-the Prince of Afrobeats is coming to shake things up once more.
