British grime legend and media personality Big Narstie crashes back into mainstream consciousness with a brand new, monumental hit single “Groundwork” featuring the biggest artist in the world right now in Ed Sheeran and New York rap icon Papoose, released on 26th of August.
Joining forces with Ed Sheeran the #1 Spotify artist in the world and Brooklyn OG Papoose, the unorthodox trio come together for a unique collaboration in a nostalgic frame of mind, navigating their way over a catchy, synth-laden soundtrack, sharpened by slow tempo percussive elements. All three artists showcase their individual flows, kickstarting with Narstie’s trademark slouchy yet explosive bars, balancing out Sheeran’s smooth vocal chorus before Papoose brings a taste of what America’s finest has to offer. Three legendary artists, at the top of their respective fields coming together for an explosive statement of intent.
With his first Cover story with ASBO Magazine published this year, There is perhaps no bigger personality across screens and radio right now than Big Narstie – the rapper has swiftly developed his ‘The Big Narstie Show’ to BAFTA-winning levels and late last year saw the start of his weekly national radio show on BBC R1Xtra, with Ed as one of his first guests. As the BAFTAs, RTS Awards and National Reality TV Awards mount up, Big Narstie delivers another captivating collaboration, reinforcing his reputation in the UK landscape.
A key influence within the first wave of Grime and UK in the early 2000s, Big Narstie has since clocked collaborations with global superstars including Ed Sheeran, Robbie Williams and Enter Shikari, whilst being named Best Grime Act at the Urban Music Awards five times, heralded as NOISEY’s Man of the Year and Personality of the Year at GRM Daily’s Rated Awards. With an Official UK Top 10 hit «When The Bassline Drops« with Craig David already under his belt, Big Narstie continues to hold sway over pop culture, amassing close to 100M Spotify streams and 44M views on YouTube and cementing his name in the upper echelons of the rap world as one of its most unorthodox and compelling stars.
Ed Sheeran is internationally recognised as pop star of the 2010, a singer, songwriter who seems to acknowledge no boundaries between styles or eras. From the start Sheeran has seen success, with his debut album, landing at #5 on the Billboard 200, with the album’s lead single “The A Team” reaching #16 on Billboards Hot 100 and earning him his first career GRAMMY nomination. Two years later and his album X was his first to top the Billboard 200, as well as winning Album of the Year in 2015 at the Brit Awards and Best Male Solo Artist. X was the second biggest-selling album in the world in 2015, coming in behind Adele’s LP 25. In 2017, Sheeran dropped “Shape Of You” which hit #1 spots throughout the world and to this day has clocked a colossal 3.2B Spotify streams. Since, the British artist has delivered more albums and singles including international hit “Galway Girl” in 2017 when he was also awarded an MBE, as well as his most recent album, which included “Bad Habits” topping every chart bar in the US. Heralded as Spotify’s #1 artist, with over 81M monthly listeners and totalling well over 10B Spotify streams, Ed Sheeran is widely accepted as one of, if not the biggest artist in the world right now.
Brooklyn-born rapper Papoose first made a name for himself on Kool G Rap’s 1998 album Roots Of Evil and has since become one of the prolific artists to come out of America. From appearing on Busta Rhymes Top 20 pop-charting single “Touch It” to releasing his acclaimed LP The Nacirema Dream featuring the likes of Mobb Deep, Erykah Badu and DJ Premiere, the in-demand rapper has cemented himself as one of the most recognisable talents in the US exemplified by his and his wife, Remy Ma’s appearance on VH1 reality show Love & Hip Hop: New York.
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