Since causing a stir with their highlife-fuelled debut single 'This Is London' in 2016, Makola's output has been sporadic but consistent in its quality.
Tracks like the Black Lives Matter-inspired 'Black Man Statues' and last year's 'Dat Guy Fawkes' show a duo with something powerful to offer. This year it seems their plan is to knuckle down and focus on building momentum with a sustained set of releases over the coming months, starting with the lockdown-inspired 'Coffee'.
"Since 'This Is London' we haven't released much for various reasons", says rapper Kwame Mensah. "This year we decided we're just going to put out stuff, regardless of the situation or opinion. Obviously, the coronavirus has happened, and then the lockdown happened as a result of the coronavirus, and then we wrote 'Coffee'".
"We thought, well it's happening now, we can't really sit on this kind of track, it's very current, it's happening, so we had to just put it out", he goes on. "So that's exactly what we did. We put it out, zero preparation, no plan really, we just put it out there".
As for the thinking behind the track, he says: "Lockdown for most people was a depressing experience. Isolation and boredom. So we wanted to provide a shot of positivity. You know, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel kinda thing, see the positive side. I'm hoping that we learnt something as a people, that we learn something from it, and we come back better people. I can only hope for that".
Look out for more new music from Makola in the near future, but for now, watch the video for 'Coffee' here: