THUMP is happy to bring you the premiere of BBC Radio 1 DJ and dancehall-loving producer Toddla T's latest track, "Acid," from his riotous Toddla T Sound project. A banging acid-meets-dancehall jam, the 303 acid stabs bring the driving Jamaican vocal sample to life. We caught up with Toddla T to chat about the story behind the video, and how the Toddla T Sound is shaping up.
THUMP: Tell us the story behind the video.Toddla T: It's actually kind of a mad one. I was in Jamaica doing some work for BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra, and I'd been speaking to my manager about maybe doing a lyric video for the track. Then we though, wouldn't it be great to find a dancer in Jamaica, have them wile out to it on camera? I had a free weekend when I was there, so I hit up some Jamaican friends of mine for local dancers. All the suggestions they sent me were brilliant, but they weren't—freaky enough. I thought, since the track's quite dark and obscure, I wanted someone to kind of carry that. Not be too choreographed or clean.I remember seeing loads of videos of Jamaican raves and stage shows with this interesting old lad in them. I asked a friend to help me find him that weekend, so she—this is mad, this—took a screen-grab of him from one of the videos, sent the photo out on her WhatsApp asking for help to find him - and about 20 minutes later, I was on the phone to him! it was wicked. I got my director to film him dancing and vibing, paid him for his time—and it was a good'un. It was such a stroke of luck video—right time right place kind of thing.Having that kind of technology to find him is mental!Totally. Being in Jamaica made it happen, but the WhatsApp thing, taking the photo from YouTube, yeah it's mental, man!The track's great. It's striking how well the vocals go with the acid sound.Yeah—it's weird how reggae and dancehall vocals on some backing tracks can sound a bit, I don't know, daft? Forced? But for some reason, the acid 303 sound works so well.What exactly is the Toddla T Sound project, and how did it come about?I got asked to support Major Lazer a few years ago, and I thought "If I'm going into it in this big, live, crazy-looking capacity, I have to bring something that can—not quite compete—but do a service to the whole atmosphere of the show." I don't want to turn up and play records. I came up with the concept of a soundsystem that brings along MCs and singers that are on the Toddla T Sound material, so it's all cohesive. There's a massive visual aspect, just make it more of a festival experience. The visual aspect of acid is so striking and bonkers, so I want to make sure that when it goes live, it definitely goes LIVE.You can follow Toddla T on Twitter here: @TODDLATToddla T Sound - 'Acid' is released on Defected Records on May 5th
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