Sainté has dropped brand new track ‘Fancy’, featuring Chow Lee, the final preview of the hotly-tipped Leicester MC’s debut mixtape.
Still Local, is due out on March 29 and features acclaimed singles ‘Tea Over Henny’ and ‘Stop Crying’. ‘Fancy’ arrives with Sainté among the first wave of artists announced for this summer’s All Points East and We Out Here festivals, with more to follow soon. On ‘Fancy’ Sainté leans into the rise of global British rap, recruiting NY Drill kingpin Chow Lee on a trippy, attitude-heavy two-hander. Sharing a collaborator in Cash Cobain, the pair exchange braggadocious flow, sung and rapped, in a taste of more surprises still in store across Still Local.
In 2024 Sainté takes a step towards the big leagues – but not without reminding listeners that at heart, he is Still Local. A textured body of work that’s as sonically broad as it is lyrically raw, the MC’s debut mixtape marks a young man refusing to depart from his ideals – whether that’s the commitment to his work ethic, harnessing of friends and family, or in navigating the love and positivity you deserve.
Listen to ‘Fancy’ by Sainté on our Leicester City Fan Playlist on Spotify.
First single ‘Stop Crying’, for instance, is about being 100% yourself, accompanied by a darkly comic video in the style of ‘Get Out’ (also featuring a cameo from Leicester’s spiritual mascot, The Fox). ‘Tea Over Henny’, meanwhile, pays tribute to life’s finer things (in this case, the simple pleasures of tea over the temptation of Cognac). And throughout, Still Local soundtracks an evolution in vulnerability and confidence from this unassuming vanguard of UK rap.
Still Local is the latest chapter from Sainté’s unorthodox, unhurried rise to date. He first moved to Britain as an infant, and started to rap between his then-trajectory into professional basketball. As the lockdowns closed that window, another opened: Sainté’s music blew up instead, with viral hit ‘Champagne Shots’ earning him his first independent disc and a surprise call whilst working at Nando’s leading to his work soundtracking a show from the late Virgil Abloh. Having gone on to star in his own fashion campaigns for the likes of New Balance, Burberry and Jean Paul Gaultier, Sainté ultimately strives to stand at that cultural intersection where music, style or sport need not stay in their own lane.
Today, he’s inspired by polymathic talents ranging from 50 Cent and Skepta to Sade (so much so he named a song after her). Widely acclaimed DIY EPs – Vacation, Out the Blue, and Local MVP – have set Sainté on the road towards his debut mixtape, on top of collaborations with the likes of Knucks, A2, Zack Bia and Miraa May. Having toured with Denzel Curry and Kenny Beats, word on Sainté has also bubbled far beyond his beloved neighbourhood – with over 300 million streams, and a sold-out European tour including a London show at Village Underground.
Although the potential is global, the future for Sainté is also right next-door (“there’s no way I’ve come from this sort of background and there’s not more of me here, deserving of opportunities”). He enters his debut mixtape and a new phase of his life with work that feels aspirational, authentic, and ambitious – new Sainté, Still Local.
