Cigarettes & Cush
by Stormzy (featuring Kehlani)

Album: Gang Signs & Prayer (2017)
Charted: 30
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Songfacts®:

  • Here, Stormzy pays homage to his lover Maya Jama who is an English broadcast journalist of Somali-Swedish descent. He raps about lazy Sundays spent smoking with his girl. The MC explained to The Fader:

    "I was trying to make a slow jam, and this beat felt very free-spirited and lazy and nice. It sounded like Sunday. It just reminded me of being with a female and smoking bud and being mad chilled. Our generation know about being with your partner and having weed, and that being, not the basis of your relationship, but a very integral part of it. I was like, that's something I know a lot of people can relate to, I would just love to make a tune that resonates like that."
  • Stormzy is aided and abetted by Kehlani and an un-credited Lily Allen. He explained:

    "I was like, This just needs the simplicity of a beautiful vocal. And who has a beautiful vocal? Kehlani. She's a friend of mine, and someone I'm a big fan of. Lily Allen's on the song as well, but no one knows it because we weren't allowed to credit her. But she sings the hook with me; she's the high-pitched vocal. The riddim sounds like LA, the sun shining - but it sounds so British, because of the way I'm saying the hook. And Lily has that - I love it when singers sing in British accents. I feel like our accents are so nang."
  • Stormzy portrays a smooth dealer in the song's music video. His love interest is played by Andrea Ali, who previously featured in Tom Odell's "Life Around Here" clip.

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