MUSTAFA SHARES FIRST SINGLE OF 2023

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NEW SONG AND VIDEO “NAME OF GOD” OUT NOW

Mustafa shares new single “Name Of God,” which marks the singer’s first solo single since the release of his critically-acclaimed 2021 debut EP When Smoke Rises and offers the first taste of his forthcoming debut album. Produced by Aaron Dessner, Simon Hessman, and Mustafa himself, the song arrives alongside a beautiful video directed by Mustafa that serves as an examination of his relationship with Islam, both how it has made and broken him, the fall of Sudan and as a memorial to Mustafa’s brother Mohamed, whose life was tragically taken this Summer. Mustafa’s music in the wake of When Smoke Rises explores God, love, and violence, his full human experience and life in the hood and the mosque, marking a departure from the mourning of his debut despite its continued presence in his life.

Speaking about “Name Of God,” Mustafa shares:

“I never felt like the Nubian prince my father seen in me through his tinted lens. I try their dance, their prayer- I always fall short.

& Gods name wasn’t always related to beauty for me, but to hopelessness, this Islam we share and Allah we call for while witnessing a constant violence that continues to bind us, I don’t think I ever felt completely Muslim among other Muslims,

All these sub-beliefs like borders. My aunts in all their wisdom and narrowness-one Sufi spinning into remembrance, one refuting the taking of a photograph.

When my big brother was killed in what will always feel like yesterday, knowing the suspected murderer was someone he held as a friend, someone he prayed with- it led me to believe that maybe his love was his end? Maybe where there is no love, parting from love keeps us alive? Maybe ending in love is the only way to actually begin? I don’t know. The only clear memory from the days of his death were my parents reciting in unison, “oh Allah, we accept his passing, we accept what you ordained.”

I’m desperate to love God like them.

Our faith and our hearts are too often our demise- I know a field of young niggas dreaming that can testify to this. For better or worse we’ll uncover every bone beneath our hollow laughter, our confused affection; maybe its revealed in our final gasp for meaning.

Until then.

Bismillah, In the Name of God, 10.17.23″

“Name Of God” marks the first taste of Mustafa’s forthcoming second body of work. It follows Mustafa’s contribution to Metro Boomin’s 2022 “Walk Em Down (Don’t Kill Civilians)” alongside 21 Savage. The success of that track earned Mustafa his first Hot 100-charting song.

Listen to and watch “Name Of God” above now, and stay tuned for more news from Mustafa soon.