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The Many Crime Stories of Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro has appeared in virtually every sort of film imaginable but none so frequently as movies about cops, gangsters, thieves, and other criminal types. Part of what makes looking at De Niro’s crime movie work as a whole is the way it reflects his versatility as an actor. Drop him in the part of a by-the-book cop and he can give a stock character dimension and life that it might not have had on the page. His breakthrough came playing an out-of-control low-life but he’s just as skilled at depicting a life of crime as a profession like any other (with the occasional armored car robbery thrown in now and then).

Below you’ll find 15 of De Niro’s most memorable crime movies but consider the order of this list somewhat arbitrary. Of course, they’re up on top, but do you really need anyone else telling you that Goodfellas and Heat are great movies? You already know that. So read this instead as a kind of survey of De Niro’s life of crime that advances from supporting roles in ensemble pieces and low-key gems you might have mentioned through to the aforementioned landmarks.

If you’ve missed any of these, they’re all worth your time, both for De Niro’s performances and other qualities. And if you haven’t seen the towering classics in a while, consider this a reminder that they’re classics for a reason.

Cop Land Robert De Niro
Miramax

Cop Land (1997)

Run Time: 116 min | IMDb: 7/10

Playing an internal affairs cop doing his best within some pretty strict limitations, De Niro’s an essential part of the sprawling ensemble assembled for James Mangold’s drama about corrupt New York cops and the New Jersey town they call home. De Niro’s narration opens the film and explains the rules of the game to Freddy Heflin (Sylvester Stallone), the hearing impaired cop who might be the key to bringing down the bad guys. By 1997 De Niro had played a dizzying array of roles but his history with movies about crime in New York — even if he more often played characters on the other side of the law — let him easily slip into the part of a frustrated honest cop grown jaded by experience but not willing to surrender. The mustache helped.

Mad Dog and Glory Robert De Niro
Universal Pictures

Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

Run Time: 97 min | IMDb: 6.2/10

Cop Land wasn’t the first movie to turn De Niro’s history of playing outlaws on its head. He’d played a bounty hunter in Midnight Run (look for that a little later on this list) and had a memorable, if brief, role in Backdraft as an arson investigator. But none played against his skills embodying tough guy gangsters quite as dramatically as this darkly comic romance in which he plays Wayne “Mad Dog” Dobie, an introverted crime scene photographer who saves the life of a gangster (Bill Murray) and receives the company of the beautiful Glory (Uma Thurman) as a “gift.” Directed by John McNaughton from a script by Richard Price, it finds De Niro playing a character struggling to find the strength he bottled away years ago — and worries he might have lost for good.

A Bronx Tale
Savoy Pictures

A Bronx Tale (1993)

Run Time: 121 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

De Niro made his directorial debut with this well-observed expansion of Chazz Palminteri’s autobiographical coming-of-age story, which Palmintieri first staged as a one-man show. Here he plays Sonny, a neighborhood gang boss who takes a liking to the son of a local bus driver (De Niro) that effectively develops into a battle for the kid’s soul. De Niro gives himself the less flashy role and serves as the story’s moral center, but only up to a point. That his character isn’t always right, particularly about race, gives the film a richness a simpler morality tale wouldn’t have. Sometimes the devils and angels on our shoulders swap places making them hard to tell apart.

Jackie Brown Robert De Niro
TWC

Jackie Brown (1997)

Run Time: 160 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

Other stars might have been hesitant to take on supporting parts after achieving the level of acclaim and demand De Niro reached in the ’90s. And while he didn’t lack big roles in that decade, De Niro could just as often be seen showing up for a memorable scene or two in films like Marvin’s Room and Sleepers. He found one of his most memorable supporting roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction follow-up, an Elmore Leonard adaptation in which he plays a just-out-of-prison criminal who might have lost a step or two over the years (and might end up paying the price for it).

Analyze This
Warner Bros

Analyze This (1999)

Run Time: 103 min | IMDb: 6.7/10

De Niro will undoubtedly be remembered as one of his era’s greatest dramatic actors, but he’s amassed an impressive list of comedy credits over the years too (and some not-so-impressive ones, but let’s focus on the positive). Directed by Harold Ramis, Analyze This hands De Niro the plum part of a mafia don whose panic attacks lead him to seek the help of a psychiatrist (Billy Crystal). Yes, this premiered the same year as The Sopranos but the similarities end with the premise. Ramis specialized in comedies about men in crisis and that specialty — to say nothing of De Niro and Crystal’s winning rapport — serves him well here.

Casino
Universal Pictures

Casino (1995)

Run Time: 178 min | IMDb: 8.2/10

Martin Scorsese’s second collaboration with journalist and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi plays like an expansive companion piece to their first team-up, Goodfellas, with De Niro again playing a character who treats organized crime as just a more openly violent variation on American capitalism. This time it’s Sam “Ace” Rothstein, a buttoned-up oddsmaker given control of the Tangiers Casino by the Chicago mob. But once there he finds the casino business — even with its carefully implemented methods of security and control — offers too many x-factors for anyone to predict (including Sharon Stone as the self-destructive femme fatale with whom Rothstein falls in love). There’s a lot going on in the movie, but it’s Rothstein’s descent from a cool, calculated card shark to a whale throwing good money after bad that gives the film its shape.

cape fear
UNIVERSAL

Cape Fear (1991)

Run Time: 128 min | IMDb: 7.3/10

De Niro is as much a force of nature as he is a man in Scorsese’s remake of a 1962 thriller in which he plays Max Cade, a convicted criminal hellbent on vengeance on the public defender Sam Bowden (Nick Nolte) who intentionally botched his trial. Barbaric but single-minded with a brain and body honed by his years in prison, he focuses on destroying Bowden’s family by first tearing it apart. He’s like a storm, finding weak spots as he batters away, then letting the fullness of his fury burst forth.

Midnight Run
Universal Pictures

Midnight Run (1988)

Run Time: 126 min | IMDb: 7.5/10

It’s hard to get the balance right when making an action-comedy but the best make it look easy. Midnight Run works in part because almost everyone around Charles Grodin, who stars opposite De Niro as the wily on-the-lam mob accountant Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas, doesn’t play the material for laughs. De Niro’s Jack Walsh, a determinedly professional bounty hunter, is the movie’s tough guy and ultimate straight man, a character whose terse, no-nonsense attitude meets one challenge after another from a hyper-verbal, all-nonsense antagonist. De Niro never looks like he’s having fun and that’s half of what makes the movie so funny.

Mean Streets
Universal Pictures

Mean Streets (1973)

Run Time: 112 min | IMDb: 7.2/10

Martin Scorsese’s breakthrough movie does a lot to tell you who De Niro’s “Johnny Boy” is by the way it surrounds him as he enters the movie. The action slows down, the lighting turns ominous, and the Rolling Stones’ “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” fills the soundtrack. But it’s De Niro’s wordless work in that moment that tells viewers who he is, from the wildness in his eyes to his slouching posture as he walks with a woman on both arms. This guy is trouble. And that’s the part he plays so memorably in the film, which doubled as De Niro’s own breakthrough.

robert-de-niro-in-once-upon-a-time-in-america-jpg.jpeg
Warner Brothers

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Run Time: 251 min | IMDb: 8.3/10

Spaghetti western master Sergio Leone’s final film is a decades-spanning, elegiac mood piece about squandered opportunities and lost lives in the form of a lush gangster film. The film often asks for sympathy for the devil. De Niro’s Noodles is a romantic but also a rapist and abuser. The film ultimately plays like a long descent into hell against the backdrop of a changing America, however many layers of gauzy nostalgia Leone wraps around it.

Untouchables Robert De Niro
Universal Pictures

The Untouchables (1987)

Run Time: 119 min | IMDb: 7.9/10

De Niro’s early performances were defined by a feeling of lived-in intensity as if he were building a character from the inside out. (He told Sergio Leone he wasn’t sure about taking a part in Once Upon a Time in America because he needed a year to prepare for every role.) With The Untouchables he seemingly found a different way of working, playing the infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone as a man of grand (sometimes violent) gestures and outsized passion. It’s a big performance, but never a cartoonish one. When Capone cries at the opera he looks like a monster who’s not quite gotten rid of his human heart.

the-irishman-final-trailer-feat-jpg.jpg
Netflix

The Irishman (2019)

Run Time: 209 min | IMDb: 7.8/10

De Niro’s late-career filmography is, put charitably, a bit inconsistent in quality but the bright spots sometimes shine even brighter when surrounded by titles like The War with Grandpa. With The Irishman, however, he found the sort of autumnal role that had eluded him for much of the ’00s and ’10s, reuniting with Martin Scorsese for the story of Frank Sheeran, who claimed (somewhat questionably) to have been the mob hitman who killed Jimmy Hoffa. The facts matter less, however than the film’s depiction as a man who, only at the end, sees how hollowed-out his existence has become by a life of violence in the service of powerful men. The film offers a sweeping alternate history of decades of American history in high Scorsese style, but it’s the gutting, funereal final stretch that makes it extraordinary.

e720493f42693230f8218ad30e1c1c07.jpg
Paramount

The Godfather: Part II (1974)

Run Time: 202 min | IMDb: 9/10

For Francis Ford Coppola’s sequel to The Godfather, De Niro had the unenviable task of playing a role originated by Marlon Brando. De Niro makes some nods to Brando’s work with his mannerisms and delivery, but his performance never feels like an impersonation. It’s a portrait of the don as a young man, an origin story whose golden hues serve as an ironic contrast to its bloodshed and the knowledge that all of Vito Corleone’s dreams will disappear and his rise will lead to his family’s fall.

goodfellas_primary-1.jpg
WB

Goodfellas (1990)

Run Time: 146 min | IMDb: 8.7/10

De Niro’s Jimmy “The Gent” Conway is rarely the focus of Scorsese’s gangland epic and that fits both the character and De Niro’s approach to the role. De Niro plays Conway as a man who stays alive by staying quiet and keeping cool, content largely to remain in the background while his flashier companions live the high life. It’s not a flashy performance and that’s the point. He’s a man who understands the system and, ultimately, a man who will do whatever it takes to keep the system from breaking down.

heat_de_niro-jpg.jpeg
Warner Brothers

Heat (1995)

Run Time: 170 min | IMDb: 8.3/10

With Michael Mann’s Heat De Niro found an opportunity to expand on the idea of a criminal whose identity mirrors his occupation as Neil McCauley, a thief whose commitment to avoiding attachment approaches zen-like extremes. His code is simple: “allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in thirty seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner” and the cool detachment of De Niro’s performance — one deepened by its flickers of passion and regret — perfectly match Mann’s filmmaking style. It’s an instance of a director and star being locked into their material to an almost scary degree. And, really, that could just as easily be said of everyone else in the cast from co-star Al Pacino on down, but it’s De Niro’s work that gives the film its haunted heart.

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Arctic Monkeys Give ‘Body Paint’ Its TV Debut With An Electric ‘The Tonight Show’ Performance

Ahead of the release of their upcoming album The Car, Arctic Monkeys dropped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night. The band debuted the first live TV performance of their next single, “Body Paint.” Lead singer Alex Turner takes viewers on a nearly five-minute sonic roller coaster ride, as he dons sunglasses under the stage’s yellow lighting. “If you’re thinking of me, I’m probably thinking of you,” he sings, before a brief guitar and piano instrumental transforms the song. By the song’s end, the audience erupts in cheers.

After performing a teaser of the song during their NYC concert last week, which had a strict no-phones policy, Arctic Monkeys dropped “Body Paint” earlier this week. The release comes complete with a music video that was directed by Brook Linder and was filmed between London and Missouri. Turner serves as solo writing credits for the song — which James Ford produced.

According to a press release (via Rolling Stone), their new album has Arctic Monkeys “running wild in a new and sumptuous musical landscape” and “contains some of the richest and most rewarding vocal performances of Alex Turner’s career.” The rock group recorded their seventh record between London’s RAK Studios, Suffolk’s Butley Priory, and Paris’ La Frette.

Watch Arctic Monkeys perform “Body Paint” above.

The Car is out 10/21 via Domino. Pre-order it here.

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Alex G Gives A Vulnerable Performance Of ‘Miracles’ On ‘The Late Show’

After unveiling the movie score We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, Alex G prepared to release a new album for his discography, God Save The Animals. He previewed the LP with some of the most compelling singles of the year: “Blessing,” “Runner,” “Cross The Sea,” and “Miracles.”

He brought “Miracles” to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night in a clean, vibrant performance that captured the emotional weight of the song. He sounds identical to the recording as he sings earnestly: “How many more songs am I supposed to write?/ Before I can turn it off and say goodnight.” It’s a naturally vulnerable and intimate moment, surprisingly devoid of any onstage antics that the singer is known for.

About working with Alex G for the horror film score, director Jane Scoenbrun said in a statement, “I love horror films, but it was also important to me that my film feel more than just scary. I wanted it to feel gentle, sad, personal, and homemade: the kind of ‘horror’ movie that might make you cry. When Alex’s gorgeous, emotive ‘Main Theme’ enters during our opening credits (and then recurs in mutated forms throughout the movie), it’s meant as a signal to the audience of exactly this ambition.”

Watch his performance of “Miracles” above.

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Some ‘Stranger Things’ Fans Are Convinced That Jeffrey Dahmer Was In Season 4 (He Wasn’t)

Despite (or possibly because of) the backlash, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is the biggest thing on Netflix. A whopping 196.2 million people watched the Ryan Murphy-created series, about the serial killer who murdered seventeen people, in its first week of release, the streaming service’s biggest audience since Stranger Things returned for season four. Some fans think there’s a connection between the two shows.

Fox News reports that “fans of Stranger Things started a TikTok conspiracy that late serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is in the background of one of the scenes from the show’s fourth season.” The clip is taken from an episode early in the season, showing Max getting off a school bus while a nerdy-looking guy with glasses and blonde hairs walks around her. This poor extra, like wholesome Joe Pera, is being compared to a cannibal.

The comments section is filled with people commenting “OMG,” with one writing, “it was a reference I’m almost sure.” There were some commenters, however, who were quick to point out it wasn’t possible and that the guy they see on screen looks like any other teenager from the 1980s, with one saying everyone else in the comments section were reaching.

Here’s the TikTok in question:

Stranger Things season four takes place in 1986, when Dahmer was in his mid-20s. Also, he didn’t live in Indiana. Also, Stranger Things isn’t real. Also, even Dahmer, monster that he was, would not have worn those terrible shorts. Otherwise, sure, maybe it’s him.

(Via Fox News)

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Dave Navarro Is Missing Jane’s Addiction’s Tour Due To Long COVID He’s Been Dealing With For Nearly A Year

For almost a year now (since last December), Dave Navarro has been dealing with long COVID, which it turns out will keep the Jane’s Addiction guitarist from participating in his band’s upcoming tour with Smashing Pumpkins that launches in a few days.

Navarro revealed the news in a statement shared on Jane’s Addiction’s social media pages, noting, “I had hoped for a full recovery by October but I am still very fatigued and will not be able to join this leg. I am personally gutted as our original bass player has returned, Eric Avery. We wanted to bring you the original line up but that will have to wait until I am recovered. While the band is touring, I will be working on some new Jane’s material in the studio here in LA.”

Concertgoers will still get to see a strong guitarist on stage, though, as taking Navarro’s place will be Troy Van Leeuwen, currently of Queens Of The Stone Age and formerly of A Perfect Circle.

Navarro concluded, “I truly wish the band well on this tour and I am confident they will bring everything to make it a fabulous show! Go get em guys! Maybe I can get to a show one night and watch my own band for the first time ever.”

The guitarist first opened up about his battle with long COVID back in May.

Read the full message below.

“To all of the Jane’s Addiction fans attending the Jane’s/Smashing Pumpkins ‘Spirits On Fire’ tour, I am sorry to have to say that I will not be attending due to my continued battle with Long Covid that I have been dealing with since last December.

I had hoped for a full recovery by October but I am still very fatigued and will not be able to join this leg. I am personally gutted as our original bass player has returned, Eric Avery. We wanted to bring you the original line up but that will have to wait until I am recovered. While the band is touring, I will be working on some new Jane’s material in the studio here in LA.

In the meantime, the great Troy Van Leeuwen will be filling in for me. He has been in such bands as Queens of the Stone Age, Failure, A Perfect Circle, Eagles of Death Metal & The Damned just to name a few.

He is a great guy and I am honoured to have him help make this tour happen. Though I am saddened to not make this tour I am focussed on making a full recovery and re-joining the guys when I am able.

I truly wish the band well on this tour and I am confident they will bring everything to make it a fabulous show! Go get em guys! Maybe I can get to a show one night and watch my own band for the first time ever.

Thank you for understanding,

Dave Navarro.”

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Kesha Tried To ‘Distract Everyone From My Titties Falling Out’ At The Taylor Hawkins Tribute And Damaged Her Vocal Cords

We’re now a few days removed from the Los Angeles edition Taylor Hawkins tribute concert, still in the digestion phase of the many highlights the 53-song show yielded. Kesha was part of both the LA event and the first one in London earlier this month. At both shows, she sang a song with Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal: T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution” in London and David Bowie’s “Heroes” in LA. During the more recent performance, Kesha had a wardrobe malfunction and actually managed to injure herself during it.

Sharing a photo of herself from the show, Kesha wrote on Instagram yesterday (September 29), “So. in the middle of my wardrobe malfunction I decided to distract everyone from my titties falling out by singing rly. Loud. And today I found out I hemorrhaged one of my vocal chords. Soooo. I’m posting all the pics from the f*cking moment bc. This was quite a moment.”

Before her performance, Kesha addressed the crowd, saying (as ET notes), “I feel really special to be here with all of you guys, because Taylor meant something different to each and every one of us. To some, he was a f*cking hero. He was a f*cking icon. He was a friend, he was a father, he was a husband. And for tonight, I just want to say, Taylor, you’re going to live with us for f*cking ever and ever.”

Earlier this month, following her appearance at the London tribute, she explained her inclusion in the show, saying, “I’m sure I seemed like one of the more random choices to take part, but I’ve been friends with the band for ages. I remember when ‘Tik Tok’ first came out [in 2009], I met [Foo Fighters] backstage at Madison Square Garden and I was definitely having some real imposter syndrome. Taylor, his wife Alison, Dave [Grohl], and Pat [Smear] all really took me under their wing and reassured me, ‘You’re good; you’re home.’”

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Freddie Gibbs Says The ‘Best Thing’ Jeezy Did For Him Was Show Him That He Could ‘Be A F*cking Boss’

While Freddie Gibbs may not have a whole lot of kind words to say about Benny The Butcher, he managed to shout out someone who helped him in his early career beginnings. On a track called “Rabbit Vision” from his new album, Soul Sold Seperately, Gibbs recalled wisdom shared to him by Jeezy.

On the J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-produced track, Gibbs raps “Me and Jeezy still ain’t spoke in years / But I got love for him / Could’ve talked it out, but I spoke out, I let it get to me / Showed me I could be a f*cking boss, best thing he did for me.”

Gibbs and Jeezy had been publicly beefing for nearly a decade, following Gibbs decision to leave Jeezy’s CTE imprint, however, Gibbs has long been open to repairing their relationship.

In 2020, Jeezy addressed Gibbs on “Therapy For My Soul,” a track from his album, The Recession 2, on which he said, “When that sh*t went down with Gibbs, I couldn’t trust him / Invested my hard earned money, tied up my bread / But he gon’ try to tell you I’m flawed, that’s in his head.”

At the time of writing, Jeezy had yet to respond to Gibbs’ words.

Check out “Rabbit Vision” above.

Soul Sold Separately is out now via Warner Records. Stream it here.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Roddy Ricch Shares ‘Stop Breathing,’ A Boastful New Single

Roddy Ricch is continuing to offer fans new music. Just months after the release of his latest EP, The Big 3, Roddy is gearing up for his new mixtape, Feed Tha Streets 3. Earlier this month, Roddy shared the G Herbo and Doe Boy-assisted “Ghetto Superstar.” Tonight, he has shared his latest mixtape cut, “Stop Breathing.”

The song is a braggadocious anthem, on which, he proudly displays his jewelry, and of course, his high fashion.

“Look out the window, what do I see? / A couple yachts, they got some thots that trot the seven seas / Got CC’s and Louis V’s outta every season / Corner me please, four G’s make them stop breathin’,” he rap-sings on the chorus.

In the song’s accompanying video, Roddy guides viewers through a day in his life, as he boards jets, dons fresh Louis Vuitton, and hits the stage with Post Malone during his “Twelve Carat” tour.

Back in August, Roddy shared an update on the mixtape in the form of a since-deleted open letter on Instagram. He noted that he was in a good place mentally, after having deactivated social media earlier this year.

“Been working hard on this Feed Tha Streets 3 album, getting back to my regular regimen and also been happier than I’ve been in a long time,” he said. “I understand things have escalated quickly and God has taken us to places we never would’ve imagined possible but I’m here for every challenge and obstacle. Thank You to everybody whose [sic] stayed supportive of me through all the glorious moments and all the hard times.”

Check out “Stop Breathing” above.

Feed Tha Streets 3 will arrive later this year via Atlantic.

Roddy Ricch is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

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Trippie Redd Mourns A Lost Love On His New Song, ‘Save Me, Please’

Trippie Redd is gearing up for the release of his new mixtape, A Love Letter To You 5. Tonight, he has shared the visual for his new song, “Save Me, Please.” On the lush, guitar-driven track, Trippie grieves a lost love and expresses willingness to change.

“I’m tired of the fighting / I’m tired of the crying / Please, please come back in my arms / Oh, I’m tired of trying / I’m tired of dying / Please, please save me from myself,” he sings on the song’s chorus.

Back in August, Trippie teased A Love Letter To You 5 in an interview with Montreality, and revealed that it will be the last installment in the series, and will feature more of Trippie’s signature sound.

A Love Letter to You 5 is gonna be, if not the best body of music I’ve ever did, one of them. For sure,” he said. “This is the last one. This the last A Love Letter to You so…I done put my all into it. I’ve been working on this for like, three to four years. Dropping projects, but still having music tucked to the side for this project.”

He continued, saying, “Nothing is experimental. I’m not trying to be experimental with this project. I’m really just tryin’ to, you know, just drop straight Trippie Redd hits. That being said, every song on here gotta go crazy ’cause if it don’t, then f*ck me.”

Check out “Save Me, Please” above.

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MIA Puts Herself First On Her New Single, ‘Beep’

Ahead of her hotly-anticipated sixth studio album, Mata, MIA has shared another heater. On her latest single, “Beep,” the Sri Lankan artist continues the mood of self-love she set on her song, “Popular,” and puts herself first.

She opens the song, delivering her signature brand of rap-singing, as she says, “When I meet face to face / Yeah don’t be late / Talkin on the phone / Yeah I’m not gonna wait / When you gotta tell me you better locate.”

On the infectious chorus, MIA, raps “Yeah I’m tryna come through / beep beep / Yeah I’m bringing someone new / beep beep.”

As of now, MIA has not shared an official release date for the album, though she did threaten to leak it if it wasn’t out by the end of September.

In an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, she detailed some of the album’s themes, saying, “I think there’s a bit of a battle on the record. That there is a bit of a clash, but the clash is like your ego and spirituality. Those are the clashes. Because as a musician, you need some ego, otherwise you can’t do it. Also the genre of music that, genres I should say, is all very much like egocentric. It’s not like I’m an artist that came through gospel or something. For me, it was like to have that journey, and also, it was a significant time to discuss like Islamophobia…talking about wars in the Middle East, and things like that.”

Check out “Beep” above.