Less than a year on from the massive success of his acclaimed debut album Hypertension, which garnered over 250 million global streams and birthed hit singles including New Born Fela, Contraband, and Philo, independent Afrobeats superstar, and Dangbana Republik president Bella Shmurda is excited to announce his upcoming new EP titled DND with features from Tiwa Savage and Pheelz.
The abbreviation ‘DND’, which means “Do Not Disturb,” perfectly captures Bella Shmurda’s frame of mind for 2023, as he enters a unique new musical universe in his already revered discography – a universe he began teasing at the start of the year, with songs like NSV and Ara that have combined for over 50 million plays online.
To accompany the announcement of his upcoming DND EP, which is set for release on July 26, Bella Shmurda has unveiled the EP lead single and title track DND featuring award-winning afropop sensation Lil Kesh. Produced by Rewardbeatz, Bella’s DND single is an infectious jam that is just right for this summer weather. With its lush Afrobeats and Amapiano fusion sensibilities, DND offers the perfect soundscape for Bella Shmurda to share his “do not disturb” manifesto, as it relates to not wanting anybody to take his attention away from his leading lady, while Lil Kesh does what he does best and delivers a racy and unskippable guest verse.
Speaking about the inspiration behind DND and how the track came together, Bella Shmurda says, “Rewardbeatz crafted the instrumental and recorded a demo in the studio with Lil Kesh. Kesh then sent the draft to me to check it out and see if I liked the track. I listened to it and immediately started recording what I was feeling at the moment, and that’s how ‘DND’ was born. The song perfectly captures my current headspace, where I don’t want to be disturbed, while I do things my own way”.
Bella Shmurda shot to fame with the breakout single Vision 2020 – the success of which led to his cult-classic debut EP High Tension in 2020, and things haven’t been the same since. He followed up that project with the well-received High Tension 2.0 EP in 2021, and last year’s critically acclaimed debut album Hypertension.