| “ | Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha, ho-ho-ho, ha-ha! |
„ |
Controllah is a song by Gorillaz featuring Brazilian funk artist Jefferson Cristian, better known as MC Bin Laden, and the twelfth track from the band's eighth studio album, Cracker Island.
The song was revealed a few days prior to its official release, on the 23rd of February 2023, during a listening party for the album in Mexico.
Background and Recording[]
During an interview for the Spanish edition of the Rolling Stone magazine on October 2021, Damon Albarn stated he was interested in working with more Latin American artists, citing MC Bin Laden — presented to him by UK rapper Slowthai — as an example.[1] Later, while Gorillaz were in São Paulo to perform at the MITA Festival during the Gorillaz World Tour 2022, Albarn told a Brazilian fan that he had tried to contact Cristian but wasn't able to.[2] Cristian became aware of this, and tried to contact Damon himself but was continuously being left on read. It was only after he reached out to Damon on Instagram that they finally got to talk to each other and organize a collab.
The two of them, along with the rest of the Gorillaz band, met at the Estudio Rockit! in Rio de Janeiro (where the band would also perform during the tour) on the 19th of May 2022. Together, they ended up recording two songs during an encounter that lasted seven hours; the first one was a mix between elements of "festa junina" ("june celebration") — a traditional Brazilian multicultural celebration — and sampled the demo track Shaga Laga, from the Demoz LP, which evolved into an underground funk song with an aggressive and accelerated flow and explicit lyrics, to which Damon responded: "Yes, this is exactly what I want, this is it!"[3]. The second one had a "relaxed" feel to it, was composed of a beat that Damon made right at the occasion, featuring verses by Bin Laden and Damon sung on their respective languages, with lyrics about drinking something but not knowing what the contents of said drink are - which later became Controllah. Christian wrote down his lyrics for this song in the span of 20 minutes, while Damon improvised his on the spot.[4].
Controllah ended up being released on the deluxe version of Cracker Island on February 2023, reaching the #15 spot on Brazil's Spotify charts during the occasion. [5] The other song was set to release around mid-2023, but so far this has not come to fruition.
Music Video[]
Thumbnail for the music video
- Main Article: Controllah (Music Video)
A few days after the release of the song, on the 5th of March 2023, a semi-official music video for the song, featuring Bin Laden himself, debuted on GR6 Explode's YouTube channel, a Brazilian record label and video production company. While the video was approved by Gorillaz, it did not actually feature any of the band's real-life or virtual members, and had little to no references to the band either.
The recording of it was somewhat improvised, as the original idea for the video was to include the animated illustrations of the fictional characters as well, but this was not approved by the band. As such, they had to record it on their own with no involvement from Jamie Hewlett or their creative team. The music video was produced by GR6 Filmes and was organised, shot and edited in less than a week.
Lyrics[]
MC Bin Laden & Damon Albarn are sampling "Shaga Laga" From Gorillaz Demoz LP
Damon and Bin Laden recording in Rio de Janeiro
Controllah
[2-D]
Controllah
Controllah
Controllah
[MC Bin Laden]
Quando eu era mais novo me diziam que eu não batia muito bem da minha mente
Me chama de louco ou de delinquente
Mas é o flow que te deixa inconsciente
Toma hit, de repente
Faz o drink, brinda com a gente
E os moleque 'tá vivendo uma vida consequente viajando pro fundo do futuro subconsciente
Foi por causa dela que eu entrei na cena
Foi por ela mesmo que eu saí da cena
Se eu tô em silêncio, quem ama é o sistema
E sabe que eu sou moleque problema, vai
Toma lá, toma cá
Tenta vim pra trocar
Se eu tiver sonhando, não precisa me acordar
Tô vivendo o passado no presente, e o presente no futuro
E o futuro pisando no ar
O que tinha no meu copo, eu tô querendo saber
Elas quer o meu corpo, e eu querendo prazer
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
[2-D]
The waves of Rio
Crash through my mind
The truths we carry
And those we leave behind
(Controllah)
[MC Bin Laden]
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ha, Ho-ha
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha, ho-ho-ho (Controllah)
Ho, ho, ho, ho
O que tinha no meu copo, eu tô querendo saber
Elas quer o meu corpo, e eu querendo prazer
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Tô em todo lugar, não dá pra controlar
Ho-ho-ho, ha-ha
Ho, ha
(Controllah)
[2-D]
The waves of Rio (Controllah)
Crash through my mind (Controllah)
The truths we carry
And those we leave behind (Controllah)
Video[]
Availability[]
- Cracker Island (digital deluxe edition).
Trivia[]
- In contrary to popular belief, Controllah is not actually the first Gorillaz song to directly feature a Brazilian collaborator, as the 2005 b-side Samba At 13 featured the Paraiso School of Samba, an UK-based organization which also consists of Brazilian musicians. It is, however, the first Gorillaz song to be recorded in Brazil, at the RockIt Studio in Rio de Janeiro.
References[]
|