London production outfit The HeavyTrackerz are responsible for creating the soundscapes for some of grime's biggest anthems, such as "German Whip" by Meridian Dan and "Standard" by Stormzy, but in between that they like to release their own bangers and on November 13, will release the follow-up to their 2017 debut album, Odyssey, with TRKRZ FM.
Today, following the album's first single "Sweet Like" with Big Narstie and Tulin, HeavyTrackerz return with visuals for second single "500 Likes", featuring British grime/rap legend Scorcher, alt-rap star Kojey Radical and a catchy sung hook from BBK affiliate Lay-Z.
Speaking with Complex via email, the HT crew told us: "We planned '500 Likes' over a year ago. The idea behind it all was off the back of a joke we had amongst ourselves in the studio: what people will do on social media and how much they would sacrifice for a few likes! Lay-Z was the first person we hit up after his collaboration on Skepta's LP, Ignorance Is Bliss, then we waited a whole year after we revived Scorcher's verse and, at that point, we knew we wanted to create a collaboration that most people wouldn't expect, so we had one name in mind: Kojey Radical! We hit him up on Instagram and in the studio, we did a bunch of tracks for the album but his verse on '500 Likes' just edged it for us."
The Oliver Brian-directed visuals were inspired by a '90s comedy: "Our ideas for videos are always a bit wacko, so we thought we'd come up with a Groundhog Day kinda film," they added, "where the motions and scenes would be repetitive to reflect on how we constantly scroll, tap and view pics on Instagram constantly on a daily basis."
Peep the video for "500 Likes" exclusively above, and be sure to add the song to your playlists. TRKRZ FM is out everywhere on November 13.
