Mavi Returns With ‘Drunk Prayer’

After a 2 year hiatus, critically acclaimed Charlotte rapper Mavi has returned with his latest single, ‘Drunk Prayer’. The track has been accompanied by a cinematic visual directed by the artist and Jesse Fox Hallen.

Widely praised as an elite lyricist and one of the most skilled artists of his generation, Mavi is back making music after his 2022 sophomore album, ‘Laughing So Hard It Hurts’. Alongside the single, the artist has also announced an international tour and a new album, ‘Shadowbox’, which is set to drop in early August.

Speaking on the track, Mavi states:

“This song is about the themes of alcoholism, spirituality, and visibility. Being seen, being drunk, being thirsty for salvation, attention, and acclaim — and liquor. It’s about looking back at the audience, and identifying them, and then identifying myself and how seeking being seen, by an audience, by God, has affected me. There was a tweet I once read about DMX, it went something like “Crack cocaine and Christianity — I’m not sure what’s stronger”. Intoxication is an integral part of spiritual practice everywhere on earth, looking at the relationship between drinking yourself into submission and prostrating towards god. And allowing yourself to be eaten alive by an audience. There’s a clip of me throwing up, kneeling at a casket and me looking at an audience. Those are all different visions of that concept.” 

He also added about the upcoming album:

“I was really sad about the last album. I didn’t really know how to get back into making stuff into the way I like. I felt really hopeless about it, started getting really drunk, dealt with love and heartbreak, having to be there for my family. I had to come back and really learn how to make art all over again. My path back was centered around visual art, fashion, interior design, and design as an artistic framework and as an organizational force in society. A lot of the backbone of the  album came from my time with this design book, ‘The Black Experience in Design.’ The idea I gained from that is design is power. The ability to determine the order of things, the way things are supposed to be…that’s power. The orderliness in the lives of the devoutly religious became an attractive subtext during the creation of this album.”