Portuguese and Angolan duo Batida apresenta IKOQWE may only be in their infancy as a partnership, but as individuals producer Batida and rapper Ikonoklasta have long and seasoned careers of their own. Batida is one of Portugal's most revered producers, having played an essential role in exporting local music to the rest of Europe and beyond, while Ikonoklasta has been working at least as long, both as a celebrated MC, but also by living up to his name as a tireless political activist. They first revealed the partnership back in 2018, but besides the occasional YouTube or SoundCloud upload, "VaiVai" marks their official debut single.
Held together by a bass-heavy backbone, "VaiVai" is a heady melting pot of all the intertwining sounds that pulse through the Portuguese city streets, from homegrown rap and techno to the imported sounds of Kuduro of Angola. The entire country is teaming with countless different genres and subgenres, yet somehow IKOQWE have found a way of sewing them all together for something surprisingly cohesive and doubly potent.
Although they've both been doing just fine on their own, "VaiVai" has us hoping they see the strength in numbers, because this could be the beginning of something huge.
