Birmingham artist T8PES drops new single
He includes Ed Sheeran among his supporters, and music fans can hear just why with the latest release from Birmingham's T8PES.
The alt-electronic hip hop MC and producer has declared it is "time to rage against the machine again" as Hope & Pray is released via Soulfire Records.
And T8PES, real name Jimmy Davis under which he used to perform and write material, says his latest track "is a scathing attack on political apathy, consumerism and privatisation in an increasingly despairing world".
T8PES' reputation for writing hard hitting, issue-led lyrics was a big influence musically on a young Ed Sheeran and he added that his latest release sees him "setting his sights on social injustice" and calls it a "soundtrack to the unsettling times we live in".
"Hope & Pray is a rallying cry and wake up call to the people of the world that we can no longer stand by and watch as our planet is torn apart and our society wrecked by power-hungry, money-obsessed governments and corporations," he said. "But also, it shows that we have a responsibility to ourselves to start facing the truth of what living in this kind of system is doing to us internally. It is killing our inner spirit on a number of levels."
The song also features the "beautifully delicate" vocals of fellow Brummie songstress Holly Fitzgerald. It can be heard on T8PES' Spotify page, and a full-length, intimate, black and white video to accompany the song has also been released and can be seen on the YouTube channel for its creators GlobalFaction.
And next month, T8PES will be celebrating the launch of his as-yet-untitled debut album - which features Hope & Pray - with a headline show at The Castle & Falcon in his home city on April 26.
Fore more on T8PES, and updates on the forthcoming record, you can find him on Facebook @t8pes and Twitter @tapesmusic
