"Mo Bamba" is a single by American rapper

Sheck Wes Khadimou Rassoul Cheikh Fall (born September 10, 1998), known professionally as Sheck Wes, is an American rapper. He is best known for his 2017 song "Mo Bamba", which became popular in 2018. Wes is jointly signed to Travis Scott's Cactus Jac ...

. It was released on June 16, 2017, by

Cactus Jack Records Cactus Jack Records is a record label founded by American rapper and singer Travis Scott. The label's current acts include Scott, Sheck Wes, Don Toliver, SoFaygo, Luxury Tax, Chase B, and WondaGurl. The label also has their own publishing div ...

GOOD Music GOOD Music (also known simply as GOOD, stylized as G.O.O.D. Music; a backronym for Getting Out Our Dreams) is an American record label founded by rapper Kanye West in 2004. The label signed an exclusive long-term worldwide label agreement with t ...

and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. It serves as a single from his debut studio album, ''

Mudboy Mudboy ( Raphael Lyon) is an American experimental musician and artist from Providence, Rhode Island. Career Mudboy began recording experimental noise and electronic organ music in 2000 while a resident of Fort Thunder and continues to do so t ...

''. The song was produced by record production duo

Take a Daytrip Take a Daytrip is an American record production and songwriting duo composed of Denzel Baptiste (born January 9, 1993) and David Biral (born February 22, 1993). They are best known for producing singles such as Sheck Wes' "Mo Bamba", Lil Nas X ...

. The song was a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

, going viral in mid-2018, approximately a year after its release.

Background

The song is named after then-

Texas Longhorn The Texas Longhorn is an American list of cattle breeds, breed of beef cattle, characterized by its long horns, which can span more than from tip to tip. It derives from cattle brought from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas by Spanish con ...

and current

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

player

Mo Bamba Mohamed Karlakwan Damala Bamba (born May 12, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Texas Longhorns. He was highly regarded by ...

, who grew up with Sheck Wes in his home town

Harlem, New York Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

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, someone 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 YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and was directed by White Trash Tyler, Nick Walker and Wes himself. It is a music video in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and finds Wes on a basketball court.

Personnel

Credits adapted from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. * Sheck Wes – vocals * 16yrold – production * Take a Daytrip – production, recording, mixing, mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 2017 singles 2017 songs Sheck Wes songs Black-and-white music videos Cactus Jack Records singles GOOD Music singles Interscope Records singles Song recordings produced by Take a Daytrip Songs about basketball players Hardcore hip hop songs