Track of the Day: MuRli feat. Jafaris - 'Rocks'

After the release of his long-awaited EP, The Sky Has Windows, earlier this year, Narolane Records artist MuRli has collaborated with Dublin hip-hop act Jafaris on new single 'Rocks'.

Album track 'Rocks' blends a smooth flowing beat with a layer of ethereal backing track, paired-back guitar and Jafaris' and MuRli's complimentary vocals.

The duo dropped a music video directed by Steve Hall to go along with the tune, which opens to MuRli sitting at a desk surrounded by crumpled up papers, filtered in black and white and featuring plenty of psychedelic visuals.

The song follows hip-hop star Jafaris' most recent collaboration with Stockholm-based dance artist Hellberg on house anthem 'SNEAKY SNEAKY'.

Tallaght-raised, Zimbabwean-born Percy Chamburuka, aka Jafaris, began touring with Irish rap duo Hare Squead in 2015. He then went on to play the role of Ngig in romantic coming-of-age musical Sing Street in 2016, before releasing his debut single, 'Love Dies', in 2017. Jafaris went on to release his debut album Stride in 2019 which was beloved by critics and went on to achieve major success.

His 2019 collaboration with Joy Crookes, on lo-fi beat 'Early', currently has over 19 million streams on Spotify. He returned in 2020 with new EP I Love You But I'm In A Bad...Mood as well as putting his remixed stamp on Denise Chaila hit 'Anseo'.

Limerick rapper MuRli began writing lyrics when he was 13 and went on to release his well received debut EP Surface Tension in 2015. He then went on to form part of band Rusangano Family with producer mynameisjOhn and God Knows, with the trio later releasing Let The Dead Bury The Dead - which won Best Irish Album of 2016 at the RTE Choice Music Prize Awards.

MuRli's 2022 EP The Sky Has Windows was his first new solo project since 2020's Till The Wheels Fall Off after collaborating with Gemma Dunleavy, Denise Chaila, God Knows and many more. He also worked on the Kobina collaboration's Ra Gerra project back in 2021, featuring focus single 'Energy'.

Revisit our 2020 interview with Jafaris here and December 2020 chat with MuRli, God Knows and Denise Chaila here.

Watch the music video for 'Rocks' below: