Establishing the mood with a cerebral soundscape, trap snares and a whirring bassline, DIEZAL opens JUMANJI with subversion and an assertive energy as he shares an evocative flow with the words, “Jungle bitch she come in like JUMANJI, she a bad girl and she looking like she wants me…”
The dynamic and dimensional track is brimful of innuendos and metaphors as DIEZAL shares poetic prowess, intelligent word play and familiar concepts to bring to life the narrative of liberated yet unexpected drama inspired by wild energy and chaos with a touch of humour.
For some context, JUMANJI is a fantasy adventure film series that started in the 1990s where unsuspecting players of a relic board game go on a wild adventure as the game comes to life. The word “Jumanji” also means “many effects” in Zulu. This is brought to life with DIEZAL‘s prose, wider message and the charismatic roars that manifest with the production. It’s quite genius.
Speaking on the release, DIEZAL, who produced the record himself, confesses, “This song was made as an experiment of how versatile I can be, this song’s core is based around unexpected drama from girls, like wild creatures appearing out of nowhere, and the song also adds some humour in the midst of the chaos in JUMANJI, as with all of this madness you can ground yourself in family and food despite the chaos.”
He adds, “This differs from other [songs] as it has unpredictable energy, unique imagery and humour, this song also has my culture embedded as it mentions food and my aunty. There’s a lot of catchy and quotable lines which are easy to repeat and stick in people’s heads.”
We are enthralled by the sound design nuances, and the intricate depth that DIEZAL has gone to in order to bring this universe to life through the medium of song. It’s intelligent British rap at its finest, and we could see JUMANJI locking in some sync deals – perhaps not an iteration of the movie franchise, but maybe a teen drama like Elite on Netflix or even a future episode of HBO’s Euphoria!
On his artistry, DIEZAL says, “My journey as an artist is about owning my roots, breaking rules and proving that originality is louder than trends.” This ethos certainly manifests with JUMANJI – and we have added the track to our New Music Spotlight playlist and our TRIPPY playlist, whilst we continue to stream DIEZAL‘s growing discography, including HOW, DRAMA, and MOVE.