The Nigerian superstars new collaboration with Shallipopi marks his first musical release of 2024.
Rema performs during 2024 Dreamville Music Festival at Dorothea Dix Park on April 7, 2024 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Prince Williams/FilmMagic
After scoring one of the biggest Afrobeats crossover hits in U.S. history with his Selena Gomez-assisted “Calm Down,” Nigerian superstar Rema is gearing up to enter a new era.
On Thursday (June 20), the Billboard Music Award winner unleashed his first musical release of the year — a new collaboration with Shallipopi titled “Benin Boys.”
Across heavy drums and stirring background strings, Rema and Shallipopi trade verses that flex their “big money” and exalt their status as two of the world’s hottest young stars. The new collaboration arrives alongside a DK-helmed music video that finds the two stars decked out in their freshest fits in a series of scenes, including a neon-drenched night club, a private jet and on top of what appears to be a church.
On Tuesday (June 18), Rema earned a pair of ASCAP London Music Awards: song of the year and top streaming song, both for “Calm Down.” Last year, “Calm Down” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent a record-setting 58 weeks atop U.S. Afrobeats Songs. The infectious Afrobeats track also reached No. 1 on the all-genre Radio Songs chart, making history for a song by an African lead artist. “Calm Down” served as the second single from Rave & Roses, Rema’s debut studio album, which reached No. 81 on the Billboard 200 and No. 2 on World Albums.
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Outside of a few solo tracks on the deluxe version of Rave & Roses, including “Charm” and “Reason You,” Rema’s recent releases have largely been collaborative. Among those collaborations are tracks with Feid (“Bubalu”), Ice Spice (“Pretty Girl”) and, of course, the “Soweto” remix (with Victony, Tempoe and Don Toliver), which reached No. 65 on the Hot 100. Fans last heard Rema on his own tracks via last October’s Ravage EP, which include the fan-favorite “DND.”
“Benin Boys” marks the first official release for Rema as a newly-minted Interscope Records artist through the label’s UMG-assisted partnership with Mavin Global.
Stream “Benin Boys” now.
