Premiere: Scribz Riley Connects With Headie One For New Single “Impress Me”

Scribz Riley is the songwriter-producer behind some of your favourite songs and you probably didn’t know it. The former grime MC from East London has worked with everyone from H.E.R. and Chris Brown to Cardi B and J Hus on their albums, snatching two Grammy awards along the way, but for the past twelve months Riley has been sharpening his own artistry both as a rapper and singer, and just last month released his solo debut “East Side“, a soulful ode to the place he will forever call home.

Despite the growing accolades for his musicianship, in-demand Riley hasn’t forgotten his UK roots and has teamed up with top driller Headie One for his new single “Impress Me”. Bar a few lines from Riley near the end of the song, his strings-led R&Drill production gives the stage to Headie to bar off about the people—love interests, mainly—that can’t look beyond the drippy rapper lifestyle. Moral of the story: beware of the leeches!

“I was a fan of Headie’s from ‘Know Better’ times,” Scribz Riley tells Complex over email. “We linked up in London, ran through some ideas and this beat just stuck. Headie started vibing on the beat and, pretty quickly, we got the majority of ‘Impress Me’ down. The concept speaks for itself, but for me, it’s a reflection of the world today, where a lot of people feel the pressure to impress one another.”