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  1. Tracks
  2. Gorillaz
  3. Ascension

TRACK

Gorillaz

Ascension

Release date: 23rd March 2017

Spotify More on Gorillaz

About This Track

'Ascension' marks Gorillaz's first collaboration with American rapper Vince Staples, released as the third single from their 2017 album 'Humanz'. The track received its premiere on Apple Music's Beats 1 radio station before the album's arrival. Staples delivers verses addressing social inequality and racism over the group's production, his flow moving between apocalyptic imagery and pointed observations about police presence and systemic oppression. The refrain's repeated instruction to 'drop that ass 'fore it crash' sets hedonism against the threat of collapse, whilst 2-D's bridge shifts register entirely, moving into more abstract territory with references to conflict and sedition before dissolving into repetition. The track positions end-times anxiety as both backdrop and provocation, Staples adopting a voice that refuses to separate the political from the physical, the urgent from the profane.

"Ascension" is a track by Gorillaz, released 23rd March 2017. Full lyrics are available below. Dork has published 20 articles about Gorillaz.

About the Artist

Gorillaz

Gorillaz

Lyrics

Ascension

[Intro: Vince Staples]

You are now tuned into the tomb of Jehova

Play my tunes loud enough to shake the room, what's the hold up?

Heard the world is ending soon I assumed that they told ya 

They tryna dinosaur us so now it's time to go up

[Refrain: Vince Staples & The Humanz Choir]

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

[Verse 1: Vince Staples]

The roof is on fire, she wet like Barbra Streisand

Police everywhere, it's like a nigga killed a white man

I just wanna find a baby mama 'fore the night end

So don't be coming 'round Vince on that batter ram shit

On that 911 shit, need a misses brown as Missy

I can have some fun with, them slave bones make Grace Jones

Don't stop, bitch, stay focused, they hated on us since days of Moses

Let my people go crazy, them stars falling, don't chase 'em

[Refrain: Vince Staples & The Humanz]

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

[Bridge: 2D]

Attack on Iraq, it's on a line

Typing it fast, then it's slipping my mind

Oh, when I'm drunk, I'm spirited back

I fall in a fire then I save myself

Then I get advantage 'cause the feeling's so raw

In these times of sedition, well, nothing is dull

And I'm moving into stillness and recalling it all

And I’m a lover, just a lover, just a lover, just a lover, just a-

[Refrain: Vince Staples & The Humanz]

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

[Verse 2: Vince Staples]

All these liberated women sitting in my lap

I'm finna catch a body like I got a gun and badge

I'm finna turn {Obama} to my partner 'fore he dash

Pull up to the pad, wipe my ass with the flag

I'm just playing, baby, this the land of the free

Where you can get a Glock and a gram for the cheap

Where you can live your dreams long as you don't look like me

Be a puppet on a string, hanging from a fucking tree

(Aghh!)

[Refrain: Vince Staples & The Humanz]

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Drop that ass 'fore it crash (higher)

The sky's falling, baby

Falling, baby, falling (higher)

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

Ascension

2017
Listen
Release year
2017

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Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
Damon Albarn, The Twilite Tone, Vince Staples
Producer
Gorillaz, Remi Kabaka Jr., The Twilite Tone
Drums
The Twilite Tone
Vocals
Damon Albarn, The Twilite Tone, Vince Staples
Additional Engineering
Michael “Law” Thomas
Additional Vocals
Brandon Markell Holmes, Drea D’Nur, Giovanni James, Imani Vonshà, Janelle Kroll, Marcus Anthony Johnson, Melanie J-B Charles, Rasul A-Salaam, Starr Busby
Assistant Engineer
Casey Cuayo, Samuel Egglenton
Engineered At
4220 Feng Shui Studios
Mastering Engineer
John Davis (Engineer)
Mixing Engineer
Stephen Sedgwick
Programmer
Damon Albarn
Recording Engineer
Stephen Sedgwick
Synthesizer
Damon Albarn, The Twilite Tone
READ MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZ
READ MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZREAD MORE ABOUT GORILLAZ
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