IKEBE 3000
Blaqbonez, Asake
I made the first version in June (2026) in my friend’s studio in Lagos. The studio didn’t have air conditioning. It was
so hot in there that we had to take off our T-shirts while recording. Maybe that heat contributed to making it a hit
haha. I didn’t send the song to Asake until August. We were on the phone one day, talking about how crazy our collab
“Chanel” was going and we had a light bulb moment about how crazy it would be to do it again. We both felt we could
create another magic, but we wanted to make the next record bigger and take it in a different direction. “Ikebe 3000”
was going to be more of a party record, something more dancey. So I sent him the song, and he loved it. He was in LA at
the time, just after one of his shows. I woke up to him calling me and playing the verse he’d just recorded in the
studio. I was shocked. I’m thinking; he’s on tour right now! How did he finish a show yesterday and still managed to
record this verse today? The whole thing happened in less than 24 hours after I sent him the song. Just like we did with
“Chanel,” we kept “Ikebe 3000” under wraps until release. After making the song, we planned the music video and flew to
London to shoot it. Honestly, when I started making the earlier version, I’m not sure we knew just how crazy the song
would turn out to become. We were simply locked in the studio, trying to create something different when we stumbled on
the Gqom (South Africa) sound and we put our spin to it. One thing I find interesting is that “Ikebe 3000” is actually
Asake’s favourite collaboration out of all the songs we’ve made together.
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