Left: Isaiah Rashad. Photo courtesy of Top Dog Entertainment. Right: Bando. Photo by Amir Ali. Graphic design by Xavier Abraham.
Bando. and Isaiah Rashad have shared the video for their first collaborative single, "Payday." The track is a major milestone in Bando.'s young career. The Dallas native achieved modest success in his hometown, releasing a string of songs as B. Anderson, but it wasn't until his 2020 name change and move to Los Angeles that he dropped his first two widely available EPs, Greenhouse and Bellflower. "Payday" finds him leveling up in prestige with Rashad's feature. In the two weeks since its release, it's racked up over 860,000 Spotify streams, more than four times his previous high water mark.
Rashad has been busy too, returning from a troubled five-year hiatus to announce his July 2021 album, The House Is Burning, in The FADER's May cover story. In November, he released a deluxe edition of the long-awaited LP featuring four new tracks.
"Payday" is a win for both the Texan Bando. and the Chattanooga-made, Rashad — based in L.A. for nearly a decade now — and its new video lets the duo run a victory lap across their adopted city. The slick, black-and-white treatment features a lens that sweeps rapidly from studio and venue interiors to L.A. landscapes, with a recurring shot of a money machine counting hundred-dollar bills spliced into the mix.
Watch it below, and read our brief Q&A with the artists.
The FADER: What's the best payday you've ever had—not financially, but in terms of the satisfaction you got from working hard on something and putting it out in the world?
Bando.: I'm originally from Texas. I pay homage to it throughout my lyrics and flow. I remember reading my first article. I really wasn’t looking for any media recognition when I put out my first project, but to have someone listen and relate to my songs. At the time, I was nervous as hell about releasing music and when I finally did it I probably didn’t look at my phone for a whole day. So when I saw an article it gassed me because it gave me that validation I was on to something. It was from a pretty well-known magazine in Dallas too, so I was hype.
Isaiah Rashad: It took some time making my last album, The House is Burning. I was going through life, depression and sorting through my own thoughts. I’d say being able to perform these records in front of so many sold out crowds was definitely my payday… I immediately liked the record when Bando played it for me. It reminded me of the place that everyone starts at, Zero— trying to make something out of nothing . So I asked if I could get on it, he said yeah, and now we’re here.”
