Flying Lotus taps Denzel Curry for ‘Black Balloon Reprise’

With the release of his next studio album, Flamagra, just days away, Steve Ellison—known commonly as Flying Lotus—has shared his next single before the drop: “Black Balloon Reprise” featuring Florida’s own Denzel Curry.

Curry announced on Twitter that this single will complete his “Black Balloon” song trilogy, with the first two (“BLACK BALLOONS” and “THE BLACKEST BALLOON”) being found on his 2018 album, TA13OO. Each of the three songs alludes to themes of fear and negativity, as Curry raps on the third in the series, “Lies are on the rise/increase to bigger size/Hard to victimize when evil’s idolized.”

Flying Lotus dedicated the beat for the single to Madlib and Egon, founder of Now-Again records, writing on Twitter, “When I was in college I heard [Quasimoto’s] ‘Come on Feet’ it re-lit my love for sampling and eventually changed my world. Love to you legends.”

Since beginning his career at the ripe age of 16, Curry has defined his reputation as a versatile rapper, lending his vocals to a myriad of different styles across his own releases as well as features in the realms of jazz, EDM, trap, and more.  This latest single with Flying Lotus affirms Curry’s interest in the boom-bap sound, a style that is a cornerstone of Flying Lotus’ catalog.