Marsha Ambrosius has released the first single from her upcoming Dr. Dre-produced album Casablanco — listen to it below
The song is called “The Greatest” and finds the former Floetry singer showcasing her impressive vocal range while detailing a passionate love affair.
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“You said the day I met you that you’d never let me go/ Enchanted by your passion, I’m enamored, got me wanting you/ And the things you do to me/ You’re by far,” she belts out.
Marsha even flexes her rapping skills, spitting a few bars in the third verse: “This’ll be me saying, ‘What’s up?’/ Bossed up, bringing the pain before the glow up/ Done growed up, but I never changed, I am evolving/ Claim it, who the greatest? Mama, I made it.”
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Backing Marsha’s emotive lyrics is jazzy, orchestral production that contains a sample of Ahmad Jamal Trio’s “I Love Music,” which was famously flipped on Nas‘ “The World Is Yours.”
In addition to Dr. Dre, the song was produced by Dem Jointz, Focus…, Trevor Lawrence Jr., Erik “Bluetooth” Griggs and Marsha Ambrosius herself.
On Thursday (November 30), the British-born singer took to Instagram to share a teaser for “The Greatest,” showing her gushing over her new material while in the studio with Dr. Dre and co.
“I’m telling you now: I’m backing this shit up 100 percent that I’m excited,” she declares confidently, as Dre says: “Aww shit!”
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Casablanca has been years in the making, with Dr. Dre first revealing that he was working on Marsha Ambrosius’ new album back in 2021.
“I just finished recording an album with Marsha Ambrosius,” he wrote on Instagram at the time while sharing a photo of a live orchestra. “I had a blast!! This is some of my best work!!”
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Marsha echoed that sentiment in her own post, writing: “I just finished recording an album with Dr. Dre ‘Casablanco’ I had an amazing time!! This is some of my best work!!!”
During a listening event for the project earlier this year, she shed light on the making of Casablanco and described it as a “trauma bond” between her and Dre.
“End of 2020, Dre and myself were going back and forth, shooting each other ideas,” she said. “And January 2021 happens and I’m pretty sure everyone got the text alert. Sorry to bring up your personal but we all saw it. It was Dr. Dre’s brain aneurysm and I remember my heart stopped and I’m calling everyone.”
She continued: “I’m like, ‘Yo fool, what happened?’ [They’re like] ‘Everything is okay. Relax, calm down. Dre is okay.’ I get a call from Dre and by February 2021, I was out working with him. So his rehab, his rehabilitation and resurgence back into wanting to make music to make people feel good was what I needed. Ultimately, what he needed. And this album was kind of our trauma bond in some way.”
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Dre, who was also in attendance, added: “And the way it started out was she actually flew down to work on some songs for me. And all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Okay, let’s work on some songs for you. Let’s work on three or four songs.’ And all of a sudden, that turned into an entire album over a two-week period.”
A release date for Casablanco has yet to be announced.
