Ibrahim Maalouf Releases New Single ‘Money’ Feat. Erick The Architect

Award winning trumpeter and composer Ibrahim Maalouf today releases the new single ‘Money’, featuring Erick the Architect (Flatbush Zombies, Beast Coast). The track is the latest outing lifted from Maalouf’s forthcoming seventeenth album Capacity To Love, scheduled for release November 4, 2022. The new project follows close on the tail of Ibrahim’s widely praised album released with Angelique Kidjo, Queen of Sheba, and a sold-out show at London’s Barbican in July. The new single arrives ahead of run of 8 North American tour dates, beginning in Montreal on September 23 and visiting Quebec City, Toronto, Boston, New York, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco. ‘Money’ is now streaming on all platforms from here, with the video available here.

‘Money’ - which rails against the systems which keep some people controlled by others in service to money – sees Erick’s sharp flow meet with the quarter-tonal, Arabic hallmarks of Lebanon-born Maalouf’s playing. Speaking about coming to collaborate with Erick the Architect, Ibrahim says; Over the years, I had been trying to get in touch with Erick. I am a big fan of Flatbush Zombies and listened to them a lot. When it came to my attention that my management team at Quincy Jones Productions had started to work with Erick as a solo artist under the name of Erick the Architect, I seized the opportunity and asked the label to work out something so we could be introduced to one another. One day, we finally met. I presented this track to him and explained my vision for it; it was about having our actions controlled by others in the name of money. I wanted to make a song about that. The idea was to imagine people as pawns, controlled and exploited, like in The Matrix. Erick was immediately on board with the concept.

Says Erick; While I was in Paris for a show, I met up with Ibrahim in his studio and we made our first song together. There was a special energy about working alongside Ibrahim, and I wanted to see if we could make some magic, again. He then played me the instrumental for ‘Money' and gave me a bit of the premise of what he was imagining for the song.  I loved his enthusiasm and direction - it inspired me. The perspective I wrote from was an individual who believes he can control anything, much like the attitudes of people with a bunch of money (Laugh). My favourite part of the record is when I switched my flow up at the end when things go a bit haywire. I wanted to write a song like this because of what it represents.  If you exploit anything you worked hard for, you may even turn on yourself. 

Born in Lebanon and raised in France in a society increasingly polarised by such issues as race and migration, for Maalouf his forthcoming album Capacity To Love is an anthem for inclusivity, shared identity and reconciliation. A new chapter in Ibrahim’s career that explores art, innovation and collaboration through music and his long-standing love of hip-hop.

About Ibrahim Maalouf

Musician, film score composer and multiple award-winner (Victoires de la Musique, Césars, Lumières) Ibrahim Maalouf has become one of the greatest international classical trumpet players and most popular jazz performers in his native France. Last year he appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert alongside Jon Batiste, who presented him as a living legend of jazz.

He has sold out the Volkswagen Arena in Istanbul, the Lincoln Jazz Center in New York City, as well as the Kennedy Center in Washington. In 2016, he became the first jazz musician in history to have sold out the largest concert venue in France, the AccorArena of Paris Bercy. Scouted by living legend Quincy Jones and described by the New York Times as a “virtuoso”, Ibrahim has worked over the years with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Angélique Kidjo, Melody Gardot, the Kronos Quartet, Trilok Gurtu, Josh Groban, Marcus Miller and Salif Keita.

Following the terrorist attacks of 2015, Maalouf was invited by Sting to play alongside him at the reopening of the Bataclan, paying tribute to Tignous - one of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists killed during the shooting - at his funeral. He also honoured the memory of all victims of the 2015 terrorist attack by taking part in a national tribute by composing a hymn sung by young artist Louane. A compelling artist and a symbol for intercultural dialogue, in 2021 he was chosen to perform the French national anthem to 6 million viewers on July 14th in front of the Eiffel Tower.