Dope KNife Releases New Single “Beast Mode”

Savannah rapper and producer, and friend of Athens hip hop, Dope KNife released the music video for his new single “Beast Mode” today, with the track available for streaming on all platforms tomorrow. It packs a powerful nearly four-minute punch with rolling bars from KNife painting the personal toll of a life dedicated to music over melodic instrumentals from reggae rock band Passafire.

The title might have you anticipating a high energy or classically boastful track, but “Beast Mode” instead takes a contemplative and self-aware inward look. As per usual for KNife, it requires a few enjoyable listen-throughs to fully dissect the winding story he has to tell. Maturity as an artist and the impact of the state of the world can be felt in this track. 

Joining forces with Passafire came from KNife seeking out new musical inspiration, and the “creative back and forth” took place while Passafire was on the road touring. The end result feels organic, and left KNife wondering why they hadn’t done this before.

“I’ve known a lot of those guys for a long time; it was just one of those things of our musical journeys taking us diverging paths from our times in the Savannah music scene. It was just a matter of time,” said KNife.

After two years of co-hosting and producing iHeart Radio’s “Waiting on Reparations” podcast with fellow hip hop artist and former Athens-Clarke County Commissioner Mariah Parker (Linqua Franqa), KNife has returned to rapping as a personal outlet. The single comes out as a first glance at KNife’s new album The Dope One coming out Nov. 11.

“At the end of the day, I just try to do different shit from the last shit I did. Songs like ‘Beast Mode’ represent that. The album sounds like I got a hold of beats for a much more popular artists’ album and did my thing over them; I’m hyped for people to get an earful,” said KNife.

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