Lakeith Stanfield Returns To His Hip-Hop Roots Alongside Tune-Yards (Video)

Before Lakeith Stanfield was an actor best known for his roles as “Darius Epps” in Donald Glover’s FX comedy Atlanta, “Cassius ‘Cash’ Green in the sci-fi comedy Sorry to Bother You, Civil Rights activist “Jimmie Lee Jackson” in Selma, and a young “Snoop Dogg” in Straight Outta Compton, Stanfield rapped as part of a Hip-Hop duo MOORS. Alongside producer HH (Hrishikesh Hirway), MOORS was conceived during Standfield’s time shooting for the breakout indie drama movie, Short Term 12, in which the two emailed ideas back and forth with each other for a few years, before ultimately recording and releasing a self-titled EP in 2014. The EP showcased HH’s Electronic-tinged, dreamy production, and Stanfield’s poetic, often political bars.

However, since 2014, Lakeith Stanfield has been presumably busy with his acting career, and HH took time to host popular music podcast Song Explorer. MOORS was left on the back-burner – until this week, that is. The duo made their return with a new track titled “Mango,” featuring Indie Pop duo Tune-Yards, surprising old fans and introducing a new Stanfield realm to newcomers.

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Tune-Yards are Lakeith linked up after the success of Boots Riley’s Sorry To Bother You, in which Tune-Yards scored. “We met at the Sundance premiere, and Lakeith was really into the score, so we talked about collaborating,” vocalist Merrill Garbus recalls in a statement published at Paste. Garbus also revealed the MOORS track was recorded in Tune-Yard’s own Oakland home studio.”He had really specific ideas about the track, different characters he wanted to give voice to, and we worked together to keep amping up the weird,” she continued. “Times are weird. Lakeith is reflecting his universes and creating new ones — it’s fascinating and important, and we’re grateful and lucky to be a part of amplifying his voice.”

Lakeith Stanfield can also be heard rapping on the first track of The Coup’s Sorry To Bother You: The Soundtrack. No word on an upcoming album by MOORS, but for now, enjoy the RUFF MERCY animated video for “Mango” above.