“See, I’m goin’ on a world tour and if it’s loyalty that you ask me girl, then I’m here for it” – Manu Crook$ on his new track “Fuego.”
And he’s not wrong. Currently, on a six-date tour of Canada, Ghanian-raised Manu Crook$ is about to hit Europe. The Mood Forever World Tour is also stopping by Brighton in the UK, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Paris and Berlin before heading back to London to round it out on June 4.
The tour is based around 2017’s Mood Forever EP, which was released independently to all digital outlets alongside a vinyl edition put out by Adelaide heavyweights Golden Era Records. Manu will then make it back to Australian shores in time for the annual Splendour In The Grass festival alongside Kendrick Lamar, Hilltop Hoods, Lorde, Miguel, Lil Xan and a bunch more.
One of the best examples that not all hip-hop from Australia is “Aussie hip-hop”, Manu rides the 808 heavy production of DOPAM!NE and Miracle with a very precise and intentionally choppy flow, his voice acts like a percussion instrument as well as a language carrier. The tracks are busy and interesting but also full of just enough space and each element to the song has the room to breathe around the vocals.
One of the most impressive elements to his music is that fact that he not only knows where to rap, but he knows where not to. Not many young artists can make a pause between bars work to their advantage as it often comes off sounding like a flaw, but Manu does it in such a way that it emphasizes both the previous and the coming bar without infiltrating the rhythm, which helps the listener interpret the lyrics, right off the bat.
To hear what all the fuss is about the Crook dropped a video for “Different League” on April 5th and has also dropped a new single called “Fuego” which premiered on BBC Radio in the UK and Triple J in Australia last night and will be available across all digital platforms by the time you read this.
