Slick Rick, hip-hop’s greatest storyteller, and The Black Eyed Peas – whose crossover over appeal has generated sales of more than 40 million units worldwide – share a new song and video, “Constant Part 1 & 2,” released globally today across all DSPs. Rick, who celebrates the 30th anniversary of his landmark The Great Adventures of Slick Rick in November, appears in the video.
“Constant Part 1 & 2” is the fourth Black Eyed Peas (sans Fergie) single this year. Directed by will.i.am and Ernst Weber, the clip marks the first Slick Rick-Black Eyes Peas collaboration. In the past, the band sampled the emcee’s song “The Ruler’s Back” for (2005’s “Don’t Lie,” as well as “Children’s Story (2010’s “The Beginning) and “The Show” (2015’s “Yesterday”). “Constant” interpolates a line from Rick’s classic “La-di-da-di,” and a conscious message is delivered via warm, jazzy boom-bap and hip-house.
Earlier this year Kanye West and Nas exchanged verses about police brutality over Rick’s four-word sample from “Children’s Story,” (“Cops shot the kid…”), which has become the most sampled song in hip-hop history.
