Skepta is hands down my favourite ‘urban’ artist that the UK has to offer right now. He is incredibly forward thinking, and with each single I am reminded of just how talented he is. So much so that his latest single Dare To Dream has been both a gift and a curse to the talented young rapper.
Dare To Dream (which was produced by Agent X) got its first run-out last Saturday on Mistajam’s 1Xtra show, and within a few days it got brought to the attention of Interscope’s head honcho Jimmy Iovine. He loved the track so much that he made everyone involved in the production of the single an offer that they just couldn’t refuse.
In America the ‘hook’ more now than ever seems to be what will make or break the popularity of a hip-hop song, even for the big hitters. With that in mind Jimmy Iovine purchased the rights to the song so that it could be recycled and turned over to none other than Eminem for one of his future projects. Once you listen to this song you’ll know exactly why, the chorus is huge and fits in exactly with the kind of music that Eminem is making right now.
The news was obviously bittersweet for Skepta who no doubt would have dominated the UK charts with this track had he been given the chance. However, this kind of practice is fairly rare once the original track has been given such a large amount of public exposure, so it definitely has to be taken as a compliment. To have your song personally scouted by Iovine just re-enforces my thoughts on how talented he is.
For now Skepta will have to look for a new lead single for his new album, and I have full confidence that he will return with something just as good, if not better. Meanwhile we can all patiently wait for Eminem to spit fire over the reworked instrumental. There’s a genuine chance of a win-win situation occurring here.
You should grab this download while it’s hot, it’s the full track with no interruptions. Knowing Universal, it won’t be available for long.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
