Diplo jams Justin Bieber, Young Thug and Rich the Kid into ‘BANK ROLL’

by: Will McCarthy May 11, 2017

Recently, rap, dance, and pop music crossover collaborations have taken on the character of ensemble cast romantic comedies. Much like Valentine’s Day or Love Actually, the dominant modus operandi of DJs’ and rappers’ super collaborations today has been to shove as much star power into a studio as possible to ensure that, regardless of the end result’s quality, it will reach a vast audience.

Justin Bieber and Young Thug have both been favorites to cast in these mega-collaborations for some time. Most recently, the former took on a major part in DJ Khaled’s chart-topping hit, “I’m The One,” while the latter appeared alongside Pharrell and Ariana Grande in Calvin Harris’ crowded March release, “Heatstroke.”

Today, May 11, Diplo unveiled the newest of these mass-appeal joint efforts, “BANK ROLL,” which features vocals from both of the aforementioned artists as well as rapper Rich the Kid. For his ensemble recording, the Mad Decent label-head also includes contributions from producers Boaz and King Henry, bringing the total count of credited artists on the track to a casual seven.

Musically, the single is a high-energy, slow-rhythm hip hop track which is as cluttered as it is stirring. The amount of disjointed verses from different artists thrown into the course of a song which lies at just under four minutes in length makes it difficult to achieve any level of memorability.

That being said, he impact of the collaboration is undeniable: “BANK ROLL” has unsurprisingly amassed close to 100,000 streams on SoundCloud a mere two hours after going live. However, if quality of product is of the same importance as quantity of plays to the track’s creators, then Diplo and company may want to consider the age-old mantra, “less is more.”

In the meantime, all collaborators will undoubtedly enjoy the bank rolls that are to come of this crowded studio output.