Kelela & Tink – “Want It”
Yours Truly’s “Songs From Scratch” series, which pairs unfamiliar collaborators and puts them in a studio together, has been responsible for some truly great pieces of music. Last time around, it was Starlito and Ryan Hemsworth’s “Can’t Get Over You.” This time, the series pairs two R&B singers with very different ideas of the genre. L.A.’s Kelela comes from the icy, experimental edge of R&B, where it starts to overlap with leftfield dance music; her mixtape Cut 4 Me was one of last year’s best. Her voice, pointed and poised, floats above her tracks. Meanwhile, Chicago’s Tink is equally comfortable singing and rapping, and she brings an earthy, guttural, physical intensity to everything she does. She’s not above the track; she’s right down there in it. On their new track “Want It,” they find common ground, their voices beautifully interweaving on a track from DJ Dahi, who produced Drake’s “Worst Behavior.” Listen to it and check out a making-of video below.
For more of those collabs, check out the “Songs From Scratch” website.