Converse has a history of enlisting recording artists from disparate ends of the pop music spectrum to create original, genre-defying MP3s. The most recent installment of their Three Artists, One Song series is a doozy, featuring Frank Ocean, Diplo, and Paul Simonon and Mick Jones of The Clash. Simonon first met Ocean last summer following one of the R&B crooner's UK performances, and the two began tossing ideas around. "Hero" is the polished product of an eight-month undertaking, which saw Ocean recording his parts in Los Angeles while The Clash dudes posted up at Damon Albarn's studio in London. Diplo, naturally, hovered between the two spaces. The track also features more than a dozen elementary and middle school-aged singers from the West LA Children's Choir, a vibe-altering addition that Ocean deemed essential. You can download the song over at Converse's Tumblr, and the complete lyrics are posted below.
"Hero" lyrics:
My flag is American
But I love some Queen
I'm young enough to vote
& toke the trees
I'll be playing concerts in the mud
Until the sequel
I'll be finding subjects to paint
In the buff
Behind the easel
Tryna fuck
I'm a bad boy
I'm a punk
I'm a black man
I could dunk
& I'm hanging low
& I'm swinging far
Home
What you say?
You need a hero
Heard em say
You need a save
Hey
How high - tell me how high
Shall we jump
How far - really how far
Have we come
I was wondering were we better off without it
I was wondering were we better off before
Who needs you
Who needs you
Who loves you
Who doesn't
Love a good hero
We all love the heroes
Hey
