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LaKeith Stanfield is returning to his music roots with the release of his new single, “Fast Life,” featuring Kid Cudi. The record and accompanying video mark his official Def Jam debut and pave the way for his long-awaited new album (slated to be “coming soon”).
Of the record, Stanfield told VIBE, “I originally wrote and recorded this song about 7 years ago. My life was turbulent, exciting, and sad. This song explores that feeling in my journey.”
“Fast Life” is somewhat of an introspective look into his life when “things started popping off” for Stanfield. He explained, “It was just like a barrage of different things coming from different directions [and] I didn’t really know how to deal with it. It was a lot of money, a lot of fame, a lot of accolades coming at once. I went from anonymity to n****s running up on me, like, ‘What’s up, Get Out?’”
The adjustment ultimately ended with a stint in rehab, and now, Stanfield feels the journey has been “surreal” considering he’s been able to “turn that negativity into something positive.” The latter is what he intends to do with his music, noting, “I want to alchemize and make the negative stuff, give birth to something a little bit more positive.”
Courtesy of Def Jam
During a private screening back in August, the acclaimed actor revealed that music was actually his first love. “I’ve been doing it since I was 11. I’ve always loved music,” he explained before confessing that when he’s traveling, filming, or in the in-between, he’s always working on his music.
Stanfield teased, “I rap, I sing, I scream until I don’t have a voice,” and with “Fast Life,” he feels, “It’s time to share, it’s time to let it out.”
Described as “hypnotic as it is hedonistic,” the visual is a short film directed by Jeymes Samuel (The Harder They Fall, The Book of Clarence) with narration by Taraji P. Henson and cameos from Madeline Brewer, John Boyega, David Oyelowo, Jimmy Akingbola, and Stanfield’s wife, Kasmere.
On his synergy with Samuel, Stanfield labeled it “weird in a beautiful way.”
He shared, “[He] just has a great imagination. And he was just like, ‘How do we take it to the next level? How do we lather it in some elements of creepiness, and embed some deeper meaning?’ I had a really great time when I’m working on ‘The Harder They Fall,’ ‘The Book of Clarence.’ So I just asked him would he come on to this, and he was like, ‘Yeah.’ So, we just ran with it.”
Derek White/Getty Images
Stanfield also spoke about his friendship with Cudi and how the rapper ended up on the record. He considered Cudi to be a “great man and gracious artist,” adding, “He and I both speak out hearts — so I approached him with the record when revisiting it for official release. I’m grateful he joined me.”
He later confessed that Cudi had a “magnetism toward [‘Fast Life’]” and joked that he “did that verse in five [minutes].” Stanfield quipped, “I’ve never seen no s**t like that in my life […] He just hummed three different tunes. And he was like, ‘Yeah, all right, cool. You know I’m going to do this quick, right?’ And in five minutes, he was done […] I didn’t believe it at first. Then, I sat with it, and it’s one of the most beautiful aspects of the album now.”
This first iteration of his music is “all about getting through the hard s**t,” with Stanfield explaining: “When you can reflect, there’s a certain beauty to the struggle, and I talk about that in this first installation. As I move forward, I just grow and I progress […] And you coming with me on the journey because we all live a fast life. This s**t’s short.”
The full 18-minute visual will be out very soon, but for now, the four-minute teaser can be viewed above.
