Today, renowned artist, best-selling author, sports pundit and presenter, Guvna B announces his return with a new album titled The Village Is On Fire. Sharing the project’s first single ‘Bridgeland Road’ featuring Emmy Award winning screenwriter and actress Michaela Coel, Guvna B tells the story of being involved in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack which acted as the catalyst to create this new powerful, harrowing and uplifting body of work.
On ‘Bridgeland Road’, Guvna B details the event that took place in August 2021 with emotionally charged lyricism. Michaela’s feature encourages him to write his experience down as a tool to deal with the state of disappointment in the legal system he found himself in after the investigation was closed and the outcome is a raw and thought provoking offering that displays Guvna B’s revered rapping abilities and razor sharp flow in a way we have not heard before. There’s passion and pain in his voice but ‘Bridgeland Road’ is a song of hope and marks a new and exciting chapter for the artist as he confronts the strained relationships of our current society.
The cinematic visuals for ‘Bridgeland Road’ shot in black and white is a stark insight into the realities of life in Guvna B’s shoes. Set in the brutalist landscapes of London’s estates, he’s presented as an invisible figure to the world around him. Young kids, adolescent teens and the older generation of these environments pass him by as they do their best despite the circumstances they find themselves in and the hostility they are met with before he relives that moment he was attacked. The video for ‘Bridgeland Road’ serves as a difficult reminder that a community cannot thrive if the system is broken.
The Village Is On Fire is a 12-track commentary on London in all its agony and glory. That is to say, a record which does not preach to its East London neighbourhood about its dangers and challenges, but which instead invites those surroundings to join a conversation. This is what makes Guvna B special: he seeks an ever-closer relationship with the area he grew up in, even as it might sometimes cause him trauma. While most people flee the places - either emotional or physical - that have brought them the greatest pain, Guvna B composes his best work when he returns time and again to the site of suffering, refusing to let that setback define him. That desire and ability to find beauty in life’s ugliest phases is what sets him apart. In his latest work his craft has been honed to its highest level yet; it is a melting pot of the sounds of the city that raised him. He takes no prisoners on “U Get Me” featuring the Mercury Prize nominated Ghetts that further cements them both as grime purveyors. Feel-good vibes come in abundance especially on the soon to be summer anthem “Amplify” where he integrates his Ghanaian heritage with the help of rising star and fellow Ghanaian DarkoVibes. He expresses his frustrations on the house infused “Everyone’s A Hypocrite” whilst honouring where this all began, in the church with “Alright” featuring gospel Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Kierra Sheard.
In an often chaotic and transient world, where society is being ravaged by the cost of living crisis, Guvna B’s music enjoys a rare status: that of the anchor, the object that despite the turmoil around it will not shift. That status can only come after years of experience, dedication and sacrifice, but now Guvna B is finally here in his most accomplished form. This refinement and resilience is at the core of his very finest work to date: and, considering all of the compelling art that he has released prior to this album, that is cause for the greatest excitement.
‘The Village is on Fire’ tracklisting:
Bridgeland Road feat. Michaela Coel
U Get Me feat. Ghetts
Brother’s Keeper
Traffic
Amplify feat. DarkoVibes
Everyone’s a Hypocrite
Cased Closed
Revenge Ain’t Sweet
Alright feat. Kierra Sheard
Replay
Simple
Suits and Shirts feat. Kae Kurd
