Frank Ocean, Diplo and Mick Jones and Paul Siminon of The Clash have collaborated on a new track, "Hero," the ninth installment of Converse's Three Artists One Song series. The song rivals the crazy, 13-minute union of 2012, which brought together James Murphy, Gorillaz and Andre 3000. "Hero" premiered yesterday afternoon at Converse Rubber Tracks in a panel hosted by Sway, where all artists minus Ocean were present and Diplo dwelled upon the fact that his most notable contribution to society thus far involves a Clash sample. They all spoke of hip-hop's correlation to punk rock, and Diplo called the track "somewhere between doo-wop, punk and garage… and Frank brings soul to it." Read a full statement from him below. The team's other memories of recording included a Russian drum machine from Damon Albarn's West London studio, and Siminon and Jones forcing Diplo to watch Tony Curtis' The Vikings in its entirety on YouTube. “Hero” will be available as a free download on Monday, March 10th.
DIPLO: The Clash were always teachers to me, even before I shared a studio with Paul and Mick. Their musical anarchy and constant attitude to disregard rules and forge their own path was inspirational to me. They meant death to genres, music and message above everything. Frank lives by the same creed in being married to his vision and seeing it through at any cost. We had to challenge each other to make something that we hope no one could expect and Converse valued everyone’s artistic freedom to let us shine throughout the past few months to make this thing happen.
