Los Angeles, CA (Top40 Charts/ Nappy Roots Entertainment) The new internet single "These
Walls (Revisited)" produced by Kanye West, with co-production from Michael A. Smith and Jonathan Hay, is now available as a free download for a limited time. The promotional single released in conjunction with
Nappy Roots Entertainment Group and Hoopla Worldwide can be found at www.thesewallsrevisited.com
Vice President of
Nappy Roots Entertainment Group, Jonathan Hay, explains, "We've had this song with
Kanye West for exactly ten years now. I've wanted to re-produce this song for a long time because I've always felt it was never done justice by us. I'm not saying this because I'm biased, but it has always been one of my favorite
Kanye West tracks of all-time. It desperately needed to be revisited. I'm sure Kanye will be much happier with the song this time around."
Ten years ago, superstar
Kanye West was in the studio with the Grammy-nominated
Nappy Roots for the follow up to their Atlantic Records debut Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz - one of the biggest selling rap albums of the year. West was producing a song for their next album and was in the studio to help them choose a track to write to and record. While listening to several of West's productions, the group ran across an instrumental that immediately jumped out to them, but to their dismay, West told them that he already had plans for that song and he intended to keep that track for his own Roc-A-Fella Records debut album The College Dropout. The guys continued to press on about how much they wanted that particular song and tried to convince West to let them to use it on their album instead of "These Walls", but West stuck to his guns. That track later became one of his career-defining singles "
Jesus Walks".
The multi-platinum group finally settled on the instrumental for "These Walls" and eventually released it on Wooden Leather, but over the years, everyone within the group felt the completed song lacked the vocal approach the track deserved and the song has never garnered much attention.
"These
Walls (Revisited)" offers a glimpse into the future of
Nappy Roots and one of the directions their own independent record label is headed with Louisville, Kentucky based company, Hoopla Worldwide. The song showcases recording artist Renzo Charles and singer/songwriter/musician, Michael A. Smith, both of whom have other upcoming collaborations with the hip-hop group. Michael A. Smith recently shot a 1920's Boardwalk
Empire inspired music video in New York City with
Nappy Roots member, Buffalo Stille, for a single produced by Trakksounds (Bun B, 2 Chainz, Chamillionaire), which is slated to be released in the upcoming weeks.
Buffalo Stille, who wrote the hook for the original
Kanye West recording, said, "Jonathan Hay approached me with this concept years ago to redo this song and I was all for it, as I've always known it could've been better. This is one of my favorite hooks I've ever written and I like it even more since it's been revisited. It was great to work with Kanye and I'd love to work with him again. This is a great ten-year anniversary record. "
Smith comments, "I love everything Kanye does, so I was excited about getting to work on this. We spent a lot of time on this production and I think it came out better than everyone imagined. Doing that guitar solo with Buffalo Stille's rap verse was such a blast. Getting to work on this with Buffalo while on a video set in New York for another song we have coming out was a great experience." Buffalo said, "I feel the guitar solo and rap combo couldn't have come out any better and, in my opinion, is the cornerstone of the song.
The video for "These
Walls (Revisited)" was shot in Owensboro, Kentucky with well-known speed painter
Aaron Kizer, who paints a portrait of Kanye West. The original painting from the video will be auctioned off for charity in the upcoming months.
The free download and all the press materials for "These
Walls (Revisited)" are available at www.thesewallsrevisited.com. It is encouraged for all media, radio programmers, club DJs and everybody else to take advantage of this internet single and add it to their playlists.
