Lelo: The ‘Bathing Ape’ anthem goes hard but it’s the cinematic chill visual capturing my attention

I am the type to always want to turn up but something about the way Lelo delivers a fire ‘Bathing Ape’ single turned cinematic music video? I’m here for those chill themes.

Pure fire and pure energy combined. I’m here for it. Tap in.

Fresh off his recent feature for XXL's The Break series, selling out his first ever headlining show in Los Angeles last week, and his high-profile link-up with Babyface Ray for "On The Wall", Lelo has just shared his new single "Bathing Ape" — out now via 10K Projects. An homage to the iconic streetwear brand, "Bathing Ape" arrives alongside a music video partly shot in Tokyo, Japan, at the flagship Bathing Ape store and fittingly finds Lelo asserting his own individuality and unmatched style over the track's fluttering hi-hats and ethereal synths. The song follows the announcement that his highly anticipated debut album New Detroit will arrive later this year. In addition to his recently surpassing the 1 million monthly listeners threshold on Spotify without a feature or official album out, "Bathing Ape" is the latest installment in a strong run of singles for Lelo, including "Perfect Blue", "2hollis", the Tony Seltzer-produced "Pot Of Greed", "Kudos", and "A&G", as well as the Sade-sampling "Main Event", which earned him aco-sign from Earl Sweatshirt. The track also follows his performance at Underground Sound's SXSW Floating World Fest alongside xaviersobased and Nino Paid, a recent co-sign from Pi'erre Bourne, and a string of releases, including breakthrough anthem "No contempt" (25M+ Streams) and his December EP When It's Over. It's all culminating with the forthcoming release of his debut album, a project named in honor of the New Detroit movement he's proudly leading — and a passing of the torch moment for a new generation of Motor City hip-hop.

After turning heads in the Detroit regional scene with singles like "Hughes" (2M+ Streams) and "Daybreakers", Lelo released his long-anticipated debut project Nightingale last spring and has since garnered attention for standalone releases like "No contempt", "Limbless" (6M+ Streams), and "Yoppenheimer" (5M+ Streams), as well as his four-track EP LifeAfterDogShit. Recent months have also seen him play to a sold-out crowd at Bktherula, skaiwater, and Yhapojj's Detroit tour stop, perform with Che at Zicmade's NYFW after party, and earn co-signs from the likes of LUCKI and Brent Faiyaz.