| Acclaimed rapper and producer team Smoke DZA and Harry Fraud are joining forces once again for their forthcoming album, He Has Risen. Following in the footsteps of their 2012 collaborative album, Rugby Thompson, the New York natives are kicking off 2016 with their first single “Morals” featuring Snoop Dogg, who brings his signature flavor to the track. “We only wanted one person on this album and that was Snoop because he’s someone both of us grew up listening to heavy, notes Harry Fraud, while Smoke DZA adds that “Snoop is one of my favorite artists ever. It was the first cassette tape I ever purchased and I finally got the chance to work with him.” The track premieres via The FADER, who labels the song as “an anti-snitching PSA… backed by a hazy, snarling Fraud beat.” As Smoke DZA and Harry Fraud’s second project together, He Has Risen is slated for release on March 4th via Fraud’s Surf School Recordings.
The two met in 2011 via a mutual friend and worked together on their first album together, Rugby Thompson, which XXL praised as “an album that not only strips [DZA] of an unfair ‘weed rapper’ label, but is also probably the best rap album to come out of New York this year.” Fraud and Smoke DZA value a creative process that many in the internet age lose sight of – they create everything in the studio together, rather than exchanging beats and verses through email. “Nowadays people do songs together before they even meet each other,” says Smoke DZA. “For us, every record was us two sitting in the room, making it from scratch… Harry regards the producer as the guy in the room who gets there before anyone else and stays longer than anyone else. From inception to execution.”
Harry Fraud has an impressive track record in collaborative records with various artists, such as Flight 2011 with Chinx, Cigarette Boats with Curren$y, which was awarded XXL’s 2012 EP of the Year; Saab Stories with Action Bronson, and The Appetizer with French Montana. The Brooklyn producer has also joined forces with Wiz Khalifa, Rick Ross, Talib Kweli, Sam Smith, and more in his long line of work. Smoke DZA has an equally impressive resume, having worked with Big K.R.I.T., Wiz Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, and others, while also being the founder of the Smoker’s Club and having his first commercial solo release receive the High Times Doobie Award for Hip Hop Album of the Year in 2011. Together, Smoke DZA and Harry Fraud will make a triumphant return with their second project, He Has Risen, on March 4th.
Check out the premiere at The FADER: https://www.thefader.com/2016/02/05/smoke-dza-snoop-dogg-morals
Pre-order He Has Risen on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/zfokrpk
Smoke DZA x Harry Fraud – He Has Risen tracklist:
01 – Badabing’s Theme
02 – Heard That
03 – The Plot
04 – Morals (ft. Snoop Dogg)
05 – Stage Five Steamer
06 – It’s Real
07 – 100K
08 – Go Get It
09 – Morningside Sunset |
