Don't Go

Album: Black and White (2011)
Charted: 1
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Songfacts®:

  • The third single from English rapper Wretch 32 finds him in more of a mellow mood after the more gritty and clubby sounds of his previous two releases. He told Digital Spy: "This third single isn't the easiest or most obvious choice, but I think it's starting to connect with people, which is all I want to do really. This type of sound is what I was known for making on my old CDs and mixtapes. I like heartfelt music, but I wanted to initially come out with something for the clubs and festivals."
  • The song features the soulful vocals of Josh Kumra, who is a singer-songwriter that hails from Swindon.
  • Speaking to The Sun, Wretch compared the lyrical skill of him and his Hip-Hop contemporaries to the original Bard. "Shakespeare was an expert at storytelling, coming up with similes and metaphors," he said. "The ability to be speaking about one thing, while actually referring to something else, is one thing that he did brilliantly. And that's what a good rapper should be able to do. We're always using double meaning," Wretch added.

    Wretch went on to explore the similarities between him and Shakespeare, stating: "Take my track 'Don't Go', which was, on the surface, a love song. But I actually wrote it about my love for music. At first, when I told people that, they didn't get it at all but, after a few listens, it clicked. And that's something that Shakespeare started."
  • Wretch 32 was sent Kurma's chorus to see if he could collaborate any verses to it. Though the hook is a familiar narrative of love in difficult times, the rapper came up with some rhymes about music. "The first thing that came into my head when I heard Josh's vocals was, 'This is how I feel about music: you are the only thing I need to get by,'" he told The Telegraph.

    "People are naturally going to think it's about a girl or a relationship," Wretch added. "I thought it would be interesting if I could make it feel like that for them, but speak about what it's like for me."

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