The French production duo announce their forthcoming debut EP Noveau Né via this collaboration with the Malian rap star.
Badd Lime comprises Benjamin Dupuis and Antoine Delavaud. Dupuis has toured Europe as an engineer and road manager for the likes of Staff Benda Bilili, Totó la Momposina and Bamba Wassoulou Groove, while Delavaud built his musical foundation in the classical discipline, expanding to work in pop, funk and electronic music over the years. The duo was born during the height of the 2020 pandemic, when Dupuis found himself with an overwhelming urge to get creative and reached out to Delavaud for his trusted musical opinion.
The pair speculatively contacted Ami Yèrèwolo, and were delighted to get instant feedback. “Within a couple of days, Ami had taken our tracks to a studio and laid down her ideas. Without any direction, we really had no idea what she was planning to do, but the energy she brought to ‘Niafiyé’ exceeded all expectations,” says Dupuis. The track takes its name from a phrase in Yéréwolo’s native Bambara language, “Nè y’a fi yè”, which means “I told you”. “In the lyrics, I am calling out the people who betray and tarnish the names of other people to get ahead”, the Malian rapper says.
Alongside Ami Yèrèwolo on the forthcoming EP Noveau Né, Badd Lime assembles new talents from the Malian and Senegalese hip hop scenes such as Reenfly, Kal B and Laye Lodia along with veteran Malian singer Ya Ka Madou. The project will be released on Real World X, a new imprint of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records.
Listen to “Niafiyé” in our Pan African Rap on Spotify and Deezer.
