Sampling is an art. Whether it’s a vaguely familiar beat that takes you back to the 80s or a distinctive melody turned on its head, a good sample taps into a listener’s memory and transforms it into something fresh. For British rapper Sliime, sampling is a way for him to build on his Bangladeshi heritage, effectively taking his roots and reshaping them to reflect his multifaceted cultural identity. Almost all of Sliime’s music is structured around a sample of a classic Bengali song, instilling a piece of his South Asian audiences’ upbringing in his work whilst simultaneously platforming his own distinct culture for other British listeners.
What sets Sliime apart from other artists is the cheeky way he references Bengali culture in his music. With a playful mix of love for his background and some classic British humour, Sliime’s music is quintessentially diasporic. Rather than picking one culture or the other, he paved the way for himself in the music industry by mixing both together.
His latest single, 'All Types (Lilabali)', follows the precedent he has set with the rest of his discography. The song's music video finds us in London, as a rickshaw tears through the streets with a traditionally dressed young woman hanging off of it. It cuts between shots of beautiful brown women, Sliime rapping, and men waving a green and red Union Jack that integrates the colours of the Bangladeshi flag.
The song samples 'Lilabali Lilabali', a Bengali wedding folk song. The original folk tune is an ode to a bride, performed by her bridesmaids as they get her ready for her wedding. Sliime takes a vocal sample from this tune and embeds it within a trap beat, opening with the lines “Acha, brown and bad, now I make her my wife.” The rest of the song is a tribute to South Asian women and Sliime himself and overflows with witty lines about his culture.
It’s frankly just fun to watch brown women be uplifted in this way, especially in direct relation to our South Asianness. Lines like "henna on fleek” and “American weed in my bifta, love this money I might do up a rishta” inspire a chuckle, but they’re also novel, especially in the UK rap space. As silly as it may sound, “henna on fleek” is absolutely breaking new ground.
Follow Sliime here.
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