Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
New female artists are often promoted as the protegée of a more established male (Rita Ora, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj all emerged this way), so it’s refreshing to see a role reversal in the relationship of Jidenna and Janelle Monae. R&B singer Jidenna Mobisson is signed to Janelle’s label Wondaland, in partnership with Epic Records. He first came to prominence as her duet partner on the very good single Yoga, released in March. Amazingly that was Janelle’s first ever Billboard Hot 100 hit as a lead artist, so hopefully she’s not too jealous that Jidenna’s solo single Classic Man has gone on to chart higher, so far peaking at no.23. Its popularity has been boosted by a remix featuring Kendrick Lamar, which is the version being promoted in the UK. It has been playlisted on 1xtra and was a Track of the Day on Radio 1, subsequently entering the Shazam new release top 20. Classic Man was accused of ripping off Iggy Azalea’s Fancy with rumours of a lawsuit from Fancy producers The Invisible Men and The Arcade, but in fact it is a legal sample with Iggy and her collaborators getting credit.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URiDdlAS6ls]