Kojey Radical Returns With New Single Rule One Featuring Bawo
Monday, 02 June 2025
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Saskia Kovandzich
Ending a three-year hiatus, Kojey Radical is back with a new single.
Built on atmospheric production from Swindle, Owen Cutts, and Ashton Sellars, the reflective Rule One delves into themes of love, money and respect, and finds the multi-hyphenate teaming up with fellow London artist Bawo.
Marking the beginning of a new chapter for the Mercury Prize-nominated rapper, it arrives with an accompanying one-take shot video, directed by Relta. Radical said:
"Rule one is definitely one of my favourite songs on the project. After being gone for so long this record felt important. Setting the rules early. I’ve always been inspired by what came before me, trying to find ways to honour the genre that afforded me a life. I fell in love with Southern hip hop as my original introduction to rap, alongside NY hip hop and I’ve always wanted to pay homage in my own way. Linking up with Bawo felt necessary, he’s quickly become one of my favourite artists of the past five years because of his uniqueness. Bawo is 100% and that's needed in music."
Relta added: "I’ve admired Kojey’s work for almost 10 years now - longer than I’ve been directing. So I suppose it makes sense that I placed a lot of importance on this project. Thankfully I had the most wonderful team around me who made my somewhat ambitious creative come to life.
"We built three adjoining sets, each with their own tones & emotional weight. The song felt militant & authoritative to me, and being Kojey’s first release in several years, I was keen to have his performance shots feel just as impactful, seeing him training in a surreal space & powering the surrounding rooms. I also loved the way Kojey paid homage in the song and we managed to sprinkle in a couple more nods in the video, as well as seeing the next generation taking notes themselves.
"The entire video was shot in an intense three-hour window and looking back it’s all a bit of a blur, but I couldn’t be happier with how it came together."
Details on the follow-up to Kojey's 2022 debut album, 'Reason To Smile', are to be revealed soon.
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