Mo Bamba (song)


"Mo Bamba" is a single by American rapper Sheck Wes. It was released on June 16, 2017, by Cactus Jack Records, GOOD Music and Interscope Records. It serves as a single from his debut studio album, Mudboy. The song was produced by 16yrold and record production duo Take a Daytrip. The song was a sleeper hit, it went viral in mid-2018, approximately a year after its release.

Background

The song is named after then Texas Longhorns and now Orlando Magic player Mohamed Bamba, who grew up with Sheck Wes in his Harlem, New York neighborhood. The two spent some of their childhoods together.
Producers 16yrold and Take a Daytrip consisting of Denzel Baptise and David Biral, who had met online, collaborated on the track's beat and composition. 16yrold invited Wes to record in the studio with them. Wes recorded the majority of the song in one take, with additional ad-libs recorded afterwards.
Baptise of Take a Daytrip looped the beat as Wes recorded his vocals. The beat cutting off at the 1:38 minute mark of the song was the result of the laptop used to record Wes’ vocals freezing. This caused concern among the producers who feared that the song would be ruined because the entire song up until that point had been recorded in one take without any issues. At the 1:40 minute mark of the song, Ali can be heard in the background saying "woah". Wes shouting out, "Oh! Fuck! Shit! Bitch!", was his actual reaction to the beat freezing by accident. Shortly after, the beat unfroze as Wes proceeded to record a new verse on the spot.

Music video

The song's music video was released on January 30, 2018 via YouTube and was directed by White Trash Tyler, Nick Walker and Wes himself. It is a music video in black and white and finds Wes on a basketball court.

Personnel

Credits adapted from The New York Times.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications