
(Orienteer) Denzel Curry and producer Kenny Beats return to announce their forthcoming new album ii, arriving on August 21st via Loma Vista Recordings. Alongside the announcement, the duo also shares a new single and accompanying video from the project. "DIFFERENCE," featuring Yebba, sets the tone as the first taste of their new chapter and the long-anticipated follow-up to their acclaimed 2020 joint project UNLOCKED.
Across nine tracks, ii finds the pair of visionary artists refreshed and at their most focused, including features from JPEGMAFIA, Westside Gunn and Yebba. While the new project demonstrates the clear-eyed focus they've developed in their time apart, the unbridled energy of their chemistry remains present. In the years following UNLOCKED, Denzel and Kenneth have solidified themselves in veteran roles as trusted authorities and generational groundbreakers running point on the lively creative worlds around them.
Speaking on the duo's collaborative evolution Kenneth shares, "The work Denzel and I do has never been easy, which is why it's so rewarding. We've started every project on opposite sides of a coin and fought our way to the center. When I hear this album I hear the growth and the fight in equal parts."
The follow-up to their acclaimed collaborative UNLOCKED project is the product of two artists who have both grown substantially in their careers since its release. Describing their dynamic and creative process, the duo circles a relative working romanticism not void of its own clashes. Despite longstanding friendship outside of the studio, the pair found themselves facing new challenges amidst the highs and tense moments of making the record. Both driven and strong-willed, they often disagreed, nearing the point of blows before settling back into productivity and care for each track. Their trust in one another's greatness is tried and true, ultimately leading the push to a singular body of work that harkens back to the basics - no mixed beats, just an SP-404 beat machine and a cheap mic as tools of the trade. Hard-fought lessons over years of experience bring a mutually fortified knowledge together in their new work and the duo's passionate collisions have resulted in bringing the music to new heights for an instant classic record. Mutual admiration beyond any familiar caricatures of themselves helped the duo to push their pen further than ever. While sometimes boisterous yet constantly dynamic, ii marks Denzel's most personally lyrical and cumulative songwriting thus far. As such, Curry and Blume present their latest with a refreshing honesty and thoughtfulness that's rare to find on the surface.
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