Ekelle, Hood Pop Artist, Joins Forces with Rapper Ervin Mitchell on Laid-Back Track “Games”

[Lawrence Curtis]

Ekelle is an artist and songwriter from Toronto, ON who rhymes about what she knows best – her real-life experience. Key music themes include money, sex, drama, and identity through a black feminist lens. Her genre of choice is a style that she created called Hood Pop – popular music with a street edge. Hood Pop combines elements of hip-hop, pop music, and R&B. Ekelle’s previously released 2023 track, “Flo,” produced by Andre Kaden Black and Jon Karkar, currently sits as her most streamed song on Spotify. It received acclaim as one of Complex’s Best Canadian Tracks of the Week and received radio play on Vibe 105 and Flow 98.7.

Ervin Mitchell is a songwriter and rap artist from Memphis, Tennessee who is currently based out of the hotbed of urban culture – Atlanta, GA. He has quickly gained over 4,000,000 monetized streams and hundreds of thousands of Shazams of his songs. Ervin’s overarching theme is the power of the mind to manifest our reality. He internalizes the philosophy that the job of a true artist is to convey meaningful messages and emotions in the simplest way. 

On “Games,” Ekelle & Ervin Mitchell team up to deliver a sexy single that’s inspired by the swipe culture of online dating. Although we usually have an idea of who we’d like to be with, there’s this energy nowadays where everyone thinks they’re going to find someone better so they keep looking. The song’s protagonist (Ekelle) doesn’t necessarily want to be in the streets anymore, but is forced to because of the current culture.

Fun fact: I’ve known Ervin Mitchell for about 10 years! I met him when I was in Atlanta for work. I was just getting started with music so it was amazing to meet another down to Earth artist who had a lot of the experience I wanted to have as well. It’s such a great full circle moment to finally collaborate together. I probably could have asked earlier but I wanted to wait for that right song. – Ekelle