In the days after the death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed, musicians have shared some music inspired by these current events. The latest to make their voices heard in this way are Nasty C and T.I., who have shared their new collaboration, “They Don’t.”
Nasty C sings on the chorus, “They don’t want me to sleep, they don’t want me to dream / They don’t want to see my people livin’ good and at ease / They wanna lock ’em all up and then get rid of the keys / We ain’t never free.” On his verse, T.I. directly discusses the current state of America: “Guess they’d rather see us all in civil unrest / Than to go and make some f*ckin’ arrests, f*ck is that? / Well, after that, here’s to getting exactly what you expect / How you ‘posed to serve and protect with your knee on my neck?”
A meet-up between T.I. and Nasty C has been slowly brewing for a while now. Back in late 2018, Nasty C shared a DM he received from T.I., telling him that he heard is music and that he enjoyed it. A few months later, T.I. was speaking at a press event about his relationship with African musicians, and he mentioned that he recorded a song with Nasty C. Now T.I. is set to appear on Nasty C’s upcoming album, Zulu Man With Some Power (presumably with this new song). Nasty C said of the T.I.’s guest spot on the album, “I hope it opens up a whole new lane for American hip-hop artists to interact with African hip-hop artists. In bridging those gaps, I want people to realize there are a lot more flavors here.”
Listen to “They Don’t” above.