lojii & Swarvy ‘due rent’

Like most people in the country, I have been following the media coverage of the election pretty closely. It’s becoming slightly tiring to think about all the time, but I will say Jeremy Corbyn smashed it last night when he went head to head with a red-eyed and rather manic looking Jeremy Paxman. Anyway, to get away from the relentlessness of election coverage, I want to share a story from the first day my cat Ethel came to stay with me, last Monday. She woke us early, clambering over our still sleeping bodies to drag her whiskers across my face and cry for her breakfast. I obliged, as any good cat owner would do, and began unloading the washing machine as she ate. As me and my partner were sat drinking the first coffee of the day, we watched in cautious anticipation as Ethel sat in the litter box, for what would be her first poo of her stay. I knew from an episode of QI that most mammals take around 12 seconds to relieve themselves, and when she had been in there for over a minute, I knew something was wrong. She began howling, clearly having trouble going to the toilet, and she jumped out of the litter box mid-poo, dragging her bottom on my newly cleaned floors. As I picked her up to put her back into her litter tray, sed poo slipped out and onto my freshly washed bed sheets on the kitchen floor – oh the joys of pet ownership. Now back to the more serious matters highlighted by the new track ‘due rent‘ from collaborative hip-hop duo lojii & Swarvy (a rapper and LA producer respectively). Concerning themes of police brutality, rent bills and struggling to find work as a young black man, lojii interweaves the stories of his modern life with his ancestors’ struggle ‘picking cotton in the fields’. His emotive vocal delivery is highlighted by the sublime production, featuring modulated jazz flute samples, dissonant strings, and chopped and screwed beats that give the track a sense of movement. Thought-provoking and cleverly crafted, this is an absolute must-listen. Enjoy.