UK rap fixture Skepta and rising Nigerian singer Portable‘s distinct personalities are on display in their surprising link up “Tony Montana.” The collaboration feels unexpected but not unwarranted, given that Skepta’s background is Nigerian as well, having even been made a chief in his parent’s home state of Ogun.
On the song, Skepta raps readily over African drums and shakers, with the beat by Jae5, the British producer who helmed key tracks at the center of Afroswing, the UK’s hip-hop/Afrobeats hybrid. In English, Pidgin and Yoruba, Skepta spits celebratory rags-to-riches bars like “Yeah, I remember, nigbati ebi n pami / Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we drink garri / Now they wanna snap pictures, I live flashy / Who gon’ stop me, huh? Ewo pelu tani?” Portable takes the hook, where his Tony Montana reference seems to lean more into the storied ascent of the famous, fabled drug lord than the gruesome means by which he got there. “Big Smoke pulu tobacco,” he sings, nodding to Skepta’s nickname and label.
Their look and persona make for an amusing juxtaposition in the music video: Skepta, tall, crisp, and stately, maintains his cool even as he does a slight two-step, while Portable, much smaller, with hair cut into vibrant pastel sections, dances much more liberally. In a scene where the pair enjoy a lit but elegant all-white party, Portable, having spent the evening at the center of the floor, leads the crowd in the chest-puffing dance move he’d been hitting vigorously throughout.
Skepta is a staple in UK grime, whose 2016 album Konnichiwa won the Mercury Prize that year. He announced his forthcoming sixth album, Knife and Fork, in January. Portable is a street-pop artist with a reputation of hotheadedness, best known for his popular 2021 high energy track “ZaZoo Zeh” with Nigerian rapper Olamide and dancer Poco Lee. He released an EP, Tony Montana of London, last month.