Harlem rhymer Smoke DZA and Brooklyn producer Harry Fraud teamed up again this week for the jazzy throwback joint “Heard Dat,” and today we’ve got the video for it, directed by Daniel Friedman. In it, DZA posts up on various streets, hallways, and rooftops smoking increasingly elaborate blunts and kicking confident verses about his daily travels over psychedelic screen effects. “When you hear that horn loop, it gives the track a classic feel, so I wanted to bring a classic NYC visual,” DZA says of the song and video. “We worked with live players on ‘Heard Dat,’ so the song is like a hybrid of new age mixed with contemporary sonics, and I think the video reflects that also.”
“Heard Dat” is the latest cut from a soon-to-be-released collaborative album with Harry Fraud called He Has Risen, which follows 2012’s Rugby Thompson LP, also produced by the Brooklyn beatsmith in full. “The entire album is a natural progression of both of our styles,” Fraud says. “We work together all the time, but it’s the first time since 2012 we’ve worked on one project exclusively. The last three years we developed our styles out of being pigeonholed. Smoke has his usual subject matter, but he also ventures into uncharted territory on He Has Risen. Overall I think we came with something that fits in the current landscape, without comprising what we’re known for.”
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He Has Risen is out March 4 on Surf School Recordings. You can preorder the album (which also features Snoop Dogg on the previously released “Morals”) right here. Watch the “Heard Dat” video below.
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