Vultures feat. Nickson Dufala
Kumail

Kumail, an R&B/Soul producer, composer and vocalist from Mumbai, India, now based in Lisbon, enlists the spoken word talents of Congolese chef Nickson Dufala on Vultures, taken from his sophomore album Mudbrown. The idea of being broken down, stripped bare and surrounded by people who want to take advantage, is set against finding the strength to rebuild, reclaim identity, and start afresh.

Following the release of Darlin’ and Tear It Off, Vultures feat. Nickson Dufala sets the tone of the album. Recorded first, it sparked the idea for the whole project. The lyrics, spoken in Lingala by Nickson Dufala, a chef from Kumail’s restaurant, are about his five years spent in Kinshasa and what it meant to get through them. “That time gave me everything but also stripped me bare. It’s about being constantly surrounded by ‘vultures’, people waiting to pick me apart even when there’s nothing left to pick apart. But in that same space, rebuilding myself back up and finding a new sound, a new life and freedom.”

Mudbrown refers to the river in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where Kumail lived, “that mud brown water the people say never leaves you, once you taste it. It’s about paying respect to a place that’s always gonna be a part of me, even if it gave me just as many scars as it did blessings.”

Blending his love of R&B, soul, funk, bossa nova and heavy African influences from his time in Kinshasa, Kumail flipped this into something raw and new, as he explains, “It’s not clean or perfect, it’s real. Some tracks are heavy, some are love songs, some are angry, but it’s honest.”