Riz MC (Riz Ahmed) shares new track ‘Mogambo’

We last heard from Riz Ahmed, musically at least, with 2016’s ‘Cashmere’ LP with Swet Shop Boys, the year he also released his ‘Englistan’ mixtape.

He’s now returned with a new song as Riz MC - the furious ‘Mogambo’. Taking inspiration from the villain in Bollywood classic ‘Mr India’, the track is socially conscious in the most dangerous way possible, bemoaning those who “bring a tweet to a gunfight”. It’s brilliantly exciting stuff.

The track also comes with a stunning video filmed in Pakistan and directed by Bassam Tariq in Pakistan. Speaking of the clip, he says: “Our initial idea was a glamorized and intentionally composed video that challenged ideas of masculinity but after looking back at footage Riz and I shot in Pakistan, we realized that there is a raw energy that we can never recreate. So we decided to make the footage work and embrace the pedestrian nature of it.

“It’s tough for my ego to put something out that feels rough around the edges but throughout the edit the footage kept telling me that we are enough to keep viewers interested. We don’t need to be flashy to have people like us. We are perfectly imperfect - shaky compositions and soft focus and all.”

Riz MC is set to play two live shows next month, first in New York at PUBLIC on the 13th, and then in London at Village Underground on the 17th.

Watch the ‘Mogambo’ video below.