Natural, refreshing, stimulating. That’s how Tifa and Kabaka Pyramid’s recent collaboration no doubt has listeners feeling. Titled Mr Rastaman, the track which was officially released just over a week ago, exudes positive energy and is a well-needed dose of musical goodness.

In fact, so utterly captivating is the single that music lovers expressed that it has re-injected something that has long been missing from local productions — tasteful, masterfully crafted lyrics.

The latter is something Tifa is especially proud of. The entertainer, who has been relatively silent on the local music scene, said as a writer, she was in sheer awe of Kabaka Pyramid’s lyrical prowess. So much so that what was supposed to be just a listening session for the ‘rastaman’s’ latest album blossomed into a beautiful love song.

“It was during the pandemic, like the end of 2020 and Kabaka was like ‘Tifa, you should come to the studio and hear some stuff that I’m doing, just vibe’. When I got to the studio, I didn’t know it was Gong’s (Damian Jr Gong Marley) studio. She admitted that she was intrigued by the work environment.

“He (Kabaka) played a couple of tracks off the album because it was basically almost complete at that time and I guess he valued my ears, so he was just asking if I liked it. Then he played the beat for this particular track and it was dope. So mi come up wid di chorus and whisper it to Kabaka and he loved it. We found di chorus and the rest was just history. We built the song and voiced it that same night.”

Describing the feature as one of the most natural collaborations of her career, Tifa said she knew from the start the song was special.

“I basically went in to listen to his album and me and him end up a do a song. The vibe and energy was just right. It was the easiest thing writing with Kabaka because things just come natural to him,” she said. “You could tell from just the writing session that people would love the track. I was just in awe watching him at work. He just spews lyrics. You’ll catch an idea or a melody and he just takes it to a whole new level.”

Admitting that a Tifa/Kabaka fusion would perhaps seem peculiar to the average person, the entertainer said she’s overwhelmed by the support the song has received so far.

“Usually these collabs don’t come around a lot because people would look at me as secular and him the ‘Rasta, revival’ kind, but what we had was a natural respect for talent,” she said. “Him rate weh me bring to the table and mi rate weh him bring so everybody just respect each other and we ended up with a banging track.”

Kabaka shared similar sentiments as he bragged about the ‘sexiness’ Tifa brought to the track.

“I loved the vibe writing and voicing this one with Tifa. She sparked the inspiration with the first line in the chorus and we just went in from there. All the sexiness is from Tifa not me. I’m not one of the ‘sexy Ras dem,” he laughed.

“All jokes aside, it was a nice challenge to show a more playful side of me while still highlighting Rastafari livity in a relatable way. I think we hit the nail on the head.”

Now, all Kabaka wants is for people to enjoy listening to the track as much as he enjoyed curating it.

“I try not to put expectations on music, I just let the people decide what they like. The most we can do is present it to the world as much as possible. It’s going great so far! Let’s just say nuff Rastaman stock gone up!”

The official video for the track has also been getting heavy rotation on social media.