The World Cup kicked off in Qatar earlier today, a country notable for its many human rights violations that have rendered many musical artists, such as Rod Stewart and Dua Lipa, reluctant to offer their services in creating the next big World Cup anthem out of a fear that doing so would encourage accusations and presumptions of the artists’ culpability and acceptability of those acts. Other artists, such as Lil Baby and Nicki Minaj, do not hold those same reservations. Following Lil Baby’s World Cup Anthem released earlier in the festivities, global artists Nicki Minaj, Maluma and Myriam Fares have collaborated on the newest anthem called “Tukoh Taka,” released on Friday, November 18.
According to Tom Breihan of Stereo Gum, “Tukoh Taka” is, at the very least, better than that Lil Baby song. It’s a supremely slick house track from producers Play-N-Skillz, Massari, and Gordo. (You might know Gordo as the EDM producer once known as Carnage, who recently helped Drake put together his house experiment Honestly, Nevermind.) The track has three massive singers delivering verses in a bunch of different languages. In her verse, Nicki Minaj slides in bits of Spanish and patois. She’s joined by the Colombia reggaeton star Maluma and the Shakira-esque Lebanese singer Myriam Fares.
Watch the three artists foster a celebration in anticipation of the World Cup in the official music video for “Tukoh Taka” below or at this link.
In other news, M.I.A. has recently teased a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat on M.I.A.’s forthcoming album.
Earlier this year, Nicki Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, was sentenced to home detention after failing to register as a sex offender. Learn more about it here.