In one of the more interesting collaborations of 2015, Oxford indie-rockers Glass Animals have dropped a surprise single with Brooklyn MC Joey Bada$$, called Lose Control (and no, it’s not a Missy Elliott cover).
Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$’ new track, which can be streamed in full below, sees the rockers and the rapper team up over a crisp hip hop groove, with Joey spitting verses over the top. The song is the result of an ‘off day’ in New York during Glass Animal’s recent US tour, on which they hung out with the city’s very own Mr Bada$$.
Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley says he became hooked on Joey’s mixtape skills back in 2012, and has since been lucky enough to work with the rapper, with over 12 hours of tunes, dumplings and vitamin water.
“A couple months ago I heard [Joey] was into Glass Animals so I got in touch, and when I was in Brooklyn he came by the studio one night,” Bayley says.
“We’re both addicted to red vitamin water so we picked some up. Then I ordered some dumplings. Then I started playing him some sounds.
“Within an hour we had the beat and he was like, ‘I’m ready.’ He got into the booth and put down pretty much the entire thing in one foul swoop… dude is so talented. Then I hopped in and did my bit. Then I ate my dumplings.
“Hopefully we’re gonna do some more stuff together at some point.”
Joey says he and Bayley hit it off right away, and spent a solid night together perfecting Lose Control. “We were in New York and the session that was supposed to start at 11am, actually started at 11pm,” he says.
“I fuck with Dave heavy — we understood each other’s vibe straight away and worked through the night to create this fire. Nobody got hurt.”
This isn’t Glass Animals’ first foray into the world of rap — the band released their reworked cover of Kanye West’s Love Lockdown last year.
Glass Animals and Joey have also collaborated on a hip hop-centric playlist featuring the likes of Biggie Smalls, Busta Rhymes, Kendrick Lamar and A$AP Rocky, which can be streamed in full below.
Glass Animals and Joey Bada$$ were both in Australia for Falls Festival, Southbound and Field Day over New Year’s. Joey then revisited us, having just finished up touring with Listen Out festival over the weekend, after speaking with Music Feeds about bringing peace to a fucked up world.
Lose Control is available in full below, and is also out online for download and streaming.
Listen: Glass Animals & Joey Bada$$ – Lose Control
Glass Animals & Joey Bada$$ Collab Playlist
