R-Mean, also known as Armin Hariri, has carved out his place in the music world as an American-Armenian artist and co-founder of Pentagon Records in Los Angeles. R-Mean has dedicated his songwriting to informing others about world issues and is well-known for his song “Open Wounds”, which was written to build awareness around the 1915 Armenian Genocide. He has also collaborated with multi-platinum artist The Game on their song “Lost Angels."
Rapper Blocboy JB is most well-known for his song “Look Alive” with Drake, released in 2018. He was later named one of XXL’s 2018 Freshman Class after releasing his mixtape Simi in May of that year. These two artists came together to release their new single “Enemies” on January 8th, collaborating alongside Canadian duo S4G4 and Toronto-based producer Rah Sound.
According to an exclusive quote, R-Mean says of the collab: “I know working with someone like Blocboy JB is unexpected for an emcee like myself. But that's what I like to do more and more moving forward. Collaborating with both legends and the new generation. I feel like I've evolved so much as an artist and songwriter that I found my balance to the point where I can create incredible records with any type of artist and still be me. Dropping joints with Method Man or Styles P and then doing something with a Blocboy JB really just shows my range as an artist.”
When recalling how he and Blocboy JB came to work on the song, he says, “I met Blocboy at the studio through a mutual friend and the first thing he said is "R-Mean what we doing?" I played him a couple beats and as soon as he heard the beat for "Enemies" he walked into the booth and killed his verse. Then I followed suit. The producer Rah Sound, who's also from Toronto, got S4G4 to do this epic hook on it and the rest was history. I think this song is really something special. We shot the video last year right before Covid hit and I'm excited we finally releasing it.”
Press play on the duo’s new track.