Breezy Ideygoke of Sim Simma Soundsystem Drops New Single, ‘Black Dùbh’

Earlier today, Afro-Irish rapper Breezy Ideygoke released his razor-sharp new single ‘Black Dùbh.’

The track begins with a sample from jazz icon Nina Simone’s ‘Brown Baby.’ “I want you to speak up clear and loud / Brown baby,” Simone sings, and Ideygoke answers her call, coming in hot and fast over a teeth-rattling bass line.

The song’s title riffs on ‘Dùbh’—the Gaelic word for ‘black.’ In doing so, it asks us to critique the historic anti-Black racism that has plagued Ireland even as the nation diversifies.

Throughout the track, Ideygoke attacks white privilege, inequity in the criminal justice system and direct provision—a system for accommodating Irish asylum seekers that many argue subjects them inhumane conditions and de facto segregation.

But much of Ideygoke’s critique centers on the role of technology in perpetuating racism. “They don’t mind that the algorithm ain’t for us,” he raps, before calling out performative activism with the line “seen a lot of posting, not much listening.”

Ideygoke explained in a press release that “systematic racism is being implemented with the use of technology. Not understanding how algorithms are manipulated to choosing to be ignorant to what comes up on your phones news feed or watching Netflix.”

“Remind yourself of where we are from, the power we possess and understand how it to be used in the fight for equality,” he added.

Ideygoke released his first album, AfroBreeze, in 2017. He’s also toured and released music with Sim Simma Soundsystem, a Dublin-based hip-hop collective of which he is a member.

‘Pass the Aux Cord,’ a track off the collective’s debut album of the same name, has been played more than 67,000 times on Spotify.

Listen to Breezy Ideygoke’s new single, ‘Black Dùbh,’ on Spotify below.

https://open.spotify.com/track/55yUcrt1Jg7AKSgW9EC6de?si=Cw5Sf6UURsuhlkYQaFiLWA