ANNOUNCES ‘SEE US RISE AND WIN’ DELUXE EP
‘NA NA BENZ’ PAYS HOMAGE TO WEST AFRICA’S GROUNDBREAKING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS – THE NANA BENZ
French Cameroonian artist and producer JAMES BKS returns with NA NA BENZ, a commanding tribute to the Togolese women traders known as the Nana Benz who transformed wax prints into currency, culture, and power across West Africa between the 1940s and the Eighties. The single celebrates the legacy of the Nana Benz, entrepreneurs who controlled the flow of Dutch wax fabrics on the continent, and became symbols of female entrepreneurship and independence. On ‘Na Na Benz’ and its accompanying music video directed by James BKS himself alongside David Moerman, he spotlights the agency and ingenuity of the Nana Benz, and brings their story of ownership and creativity to the forefront for a new generation of those that have never heard of them, asserting that the Nana Benz story is the kind of story that he would have liked to hear when he was younger.
Written and composed by James BKS, ‘Na Na Benz’ welds the taut urgency of drill music with the hypnotic polyrhythms of Cameroonian bikutsi music, to create the hallmark blend that anchors his Afro hip hop signature sound. The track is co-produced and engineered by Roark Bailey, known for work with Playboi Carti, Kanye West, Lenny Kravitz, and SAINt JHN, and a trusted ear for James since his 2023 project Wolves of Africa Part 2. The result is percussion that bites, bass that prowls, and vocal lines that move like mantras, a kinetic anthem that mirrors the original Nana Benz blueprint – trust your taste, own your lane, scale your vision. ‘Na Na Benz’ also ushers in the deluxe version of James BKS’ See Us Rise EP from earlier this year, which arrives on December 10 and is aptly titled See Us Rise And Win.
Released back in May, the original See Us Rise EP was a powerful 7-track statement from James BKS, co-produced with JoA Touch (Wiz Khalifa, Akon, Shay) and Rorak Bailey, which threaded West African rhythms through contemporary hip-hop and afropop, while exploring themes of self-empowerment, temptation, and resilience. It came on the back of his two-part debut album Wolves of Africa and Wolves of Africa Part 2, which featured the likes of will.i.am, Idris Elba, Little Simz, Royce Da 5’9” and Q-Tip, and garnered critical acclaim and rave reviews from BBC Radio 1, Vogue Magazine, NME, and Rolling Stone, among others. With his new offering ‘Na Na Benz’, James BKS carries that momentum forward, turning heritage into an unstoppable forward march, from Cameroon to the world.
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