Earlier this year, the Virginia singer/rapper formerly known as Big Baby DRAM quietly changed his name on streaming services to his government-issued first name Shelley, although he generously tagged himself “FKA DRAM” so fans could still find his catalog. However, he hadn’t released any new music under his rebranded moniker until his label, Love Renaissance (or LVRN), issued its first-ever holiday album, Home For The Holidays, last month. Today, the label shared the first video from the project, which features Shelley and newcomer Young Rog covering José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.”
Featuring a quick intro by LVRN’s resident DJ Kitty Cash, the video documents the two crooners recording their rendition in a thoroughly decorated studio complete with Christmas trees, stockings, and fairy lights. Shelley — who’s recently taken to filming cooking content for his Instagram throughout the pandemic — looks like he’s been baking some cookies for Santa and his labelmates, wearing a printed apron and holding a blunt as he embellishes Rog’s mellow take on the holiday standard. Fittingly, the production still features a subtropical flair, with bossa nova percussion and a soft, Spanish guitar backing the singers’ smooth vocals.
Other standards that appear on Home For The Holidays include “Santa Baby,” sung by Summer Walker, “This Christmas,” by Eli Derby, and Shelley’s second take on “The Christmas Song” after he dueted the song with his mom on his own holiday EP in 2017. Meanwhile, 6lack and Summer Walker take a turn on James Brown’s “Santa Claus, Go Straight To The Ghetto” with “Ghetto Christmas,” while rappers Westside Boogie and OMB Bloodbath put a ratchet twist on a classic with their irreverent “12 Days Of Bhristmas.”
Check out Home For The Holidays here.