Dublin-based, Sierra Leonean rapper Ahmed, With Love. has quietly carved out his niche in the process of cementing himself as one of Ireland’s most distinctive emerging artists. 

Following the release of ‘WHATCHIMACALLIT’,  Ahmed, With Love. has announced the upcoming arrival of his most extensive body of work to date: a 9-track mixtape that takes listeners on a journey through contemporary hip-hop, art rap, baile funk and world music influences. 

The mixtape COMMA, FULL STOP. drops 11 October and is available to pre-order and pre-save here. 

The unveiling is topped off by a single release and video for ‘help wanted.’, featuring fellow Dublin wordsmith Curtisy. 

The lo-fi ‘help wanted’ boasts a stream of consciousness flow as the rapper contemplates the priority-shifting moments of life; be it grief, worrying about his friends, taking care of his ego or the constant ebb and flow of his mental health. At once, Ahmed highlights a heightened inner and outer awareness as he muses about “life passing so fast that it terrifies people” and being in “a war of independence for a better state of mind”. 

The mixtape opens with the first single, ‘WHATCHIMCALLIT’, before moving onto ‘World Cup’, a sunlit cut of baile funk made in collaboration with frequent KhakiKid collaborator Chameleon (Matthew Harris). Piecing together COMMA, FULL STOP are interludes of Brazilian television, a Whatsapp message from Ahmed’s mother and his friend Eduardo (Pinheiro, of the band Burglar) speaking in Portuguese. Together, they form a portrait of the rapper’s mental process, replete with spiralling thoughts and the loose threads that keep them together, granting the mixtape a sense of fluidity and consistency. 

“For this project my strongest thread and source of thematic inspiration and creative approach is definitely from Brazilian music,” Ahmed says. “I'm a huge fan of 70s, 80s and 90s Brazilian music: bossa nova, samba, tropicalia, MPB, etc. The likes of Gal Costo, Joao Gilberto, Jorge Ben Jor, Caetano Veloso, Djaven, Tim Maia… the list goes on.”

Ahmed, With Love. wearing Limited Edition Ahmed, Le Grá. merch. Credit: Dylan George Burns

Accompanying the single and video release is the roll out of a limited number of GAA-inspired kits, entitled 'Ahmed Le Grá.', and trading cards. They are available to purchase on Ahmed, With Love.’s Bandcamp. 

Credit: Dylan George Burns

Credit: Dylan George Burns

Credit: Dylan George Burns