Southeast Asia’s hip hop rising stars, Def Jam’s Yonnyboii, ZynAkal and Asyraf Nasir recently collaborated to complete a spectacular new track called, ‘Tak Sangka’. Composed and written by the three friends themselves, ‘Tak Sangka’ which also translates to ‘unexpected’ (in Malay) sees the participation of SeaTravel as co-producer and arranger alongside Yonnyboii himself.
Great news is that ‘Tak Sangka’ can be streamed on all digital platforms now. The track depicts the unexpected feeling of realizing their dreams particularly in music and refers to the process of chasing their ambitions without any doubts. This also leads to the unexpected comments from naysayers who didn’t believe in them before and are now acknowledging their gifts and success.
“I think this is an interesting song and I have never done anything like this before. The lyrics were written based on today’s society who are somewhat fake and pretentious which I expressed in the track. I hope music lovers will be able to embrace this concept and accept our debut collaboration,” said ZynAkal.
Sharing similar thoughts is Zyn’s fellow partner in crime Asyraf Nasir. “The song is fresh and truly in-your-face. Dashed with our uniquely fortified characters, it creates this special sense of excitement urging you to jump as high as you can with an inexplicable adrenaline rush. It is a statement song so if anyone wants to express themselves this is the track.”
“At first we were just toying with the idea of coming out with a K-pop inspired track but Zyn’s opening and Asyraf’s idea development, along with my involvement led to the creation of an all-new and truly unexpected ‘Tak Sangka’. Working with both of them was amazing and we hope the song will reach a million views on Youtube,” cited Yonnyboii about the ground-breaking project by Def Jam Malaysia.
Like all of Def Jam Malaysia’s products, ‘Tak Sangka’ also features an animation-concept music video, aptly produced considering the world’s current situation. It features the animated characters of the three stars and is directed by Thaqif Saadon with assistance from Hakeem Roshdi. Produced by Atypical Visual and Studio Firepulse under the art direction of Imran Mansur, it also sees the participation of Sabrina Sofiadin as graphic designer.
“Interestingly, all of us worked fully online with every single crew member and artiste involved. This included the part where we had to get reference footages from Yonny, Asyraf, and Zyn to create and mimic their facial expressions, lip syncing as well as their original acting excerpts. All communication had to be done via Discord and WhatsApp calls. Several acting scenes and camera movements were limited via video calls but they still managed to give us the energy and character play perfectly,” explained Thaqif Saadon who directed the video.