ON THE RISE
Hip-hop and R&B duo AstroBlack delivers a new single, “What You Came For,” reminding listeners to get with the vibe or walk away. The single is authentic and uninhibited — listeners can feel the pulse running through it — while introducing the world to AstroBlack’s fresh take on old-fashioned R&B and hip-hop.
AstroBlack is the brainchild of musicians KingJu1c3 and AcWolf. KingJu1c3 is a Bellflower, California, native who has transformed from a combat veteran into a full-time musician. With a deep understanding of pain, struggle, and war, KingJu1c3 explores the contradictions of life through a positive lens as much as possible. His style is influenced by ’90s R&B and early 2000s hip-hop, creating a new layer with his penchant for authentic storytelling.
“I started writing music in high school,” shares KingJu1c3. “Then life got in the way, and I took a hiatus. Now I’m back and figuring it out.”
When he first began, KingJu1c3 looked to Michael Jackson for inspiration. It wasn’t until the 2000s that R&B — particularly Ne-Yo — took over.
“That was the prime era that I want to encapsulate in a bottle.”
AcWolf hails from Inglewood, California, where the artist developed a passion for music through overcoming obstacles, including gang life. AcWolf now guides others toward spirituality and personal growth, inviting listeners to partake in the higher vibrations of life.
“What got me started in music was, at a particular point in my life, I was going through different things, and music was the outlet I could be heard and be completely transparent. It was the vehicle to express everything going on in my mind and heart — music was my pulpit.”
AcWolf found inspiration in many musical talents, including the late Nipsey Hussle, also from Inglewood. After leaving gang life, AcWolf found solace in music. Nipsey taught him to appreciate his viewpoint of struggle.
“It’s a space where others can learn, and you can’t judge a book by its cover,” adds AcWolf. “It’s about recognizing that light and believing in yourself.“
AcWolf also admires Drake’s ability to talk about life authentically, openly.
The artists chose the moniker AstroBlack as a representation of a more spiritual side.
“When we look inward, there’s a black shadow we all have,” shares KingJu1c3. “Inward, there’s a shadow of the things we hide. Astor is the possibility that we can create infinitely. It’s all connected.”
AcWolf adds, “The universe is vast. There are different meanings and factors. Everything is part of the design. Nothing is confidence or happenstance. It’s all part of the process of you becoming complete.”
It wasn’t until KingJu1c3 and AcWolf joined forces as AstroBlack that AcWolf jumped into the music scene. Together, they created “What You Came For” to capture a very real sentiment.
“We out living life, and there’s a higher level inside that’s taking place here,” shares AstroBlacK. “‘What You Came For’ breaks down the wall of social nonsense. It gets the foolishness out of the way. We’re literally high off life, not substances. It’s a euphoric space.”
The single tells listeners, “I know why you are here and what you came for. We’re vibing and you’re coming in with foolishness.”
As authentic as its message, the song came together organically during a recording session. While browsing beats, AcWolf was thinking about KingJu1c3’s versatile style and how they needed a song to bring that out.
“When I came to the studio, I put the beat on and described an event, like when we were two boys. And we tuned into that,” shares AcWolf, recounting an adventure they shared driving through Iowa.
“I was seeing him in that space. The ride, the road, clear and dark. Cornfields. The sky all clear. It was that perspective I wanted to fall on this track.”
“We’re just trying to get back to the chord, the reality of the art,” AstroBlack explains.
“What You Came For” is meant to capture the feeling of what comes after all the chatter is done.
“This record creates the feeling of being made in a space of organic flow. Life is chaos, but in the midst of it, we’re thriving. We’re here for what we came for. Bring the right energy and be synergetic, or I’ll look at you like, ‘Why you over here?’”
“What You Came For” will be followed by AstroBlack’s EP, Watch Close, coming in August. The duo is also planning to perform in the Coast to Coast rap competition.
“We’re doing this for the people, not for the recognition,” they add. “We already know we’re great. This is to inspire and uplift—and inspire others to be creative and use their talents and gifts as well.”
Make sure to stay connected to AstroBlack on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
ON THE RISE
As Belle & Sebastian share their buoyant 2026 Scotland World Cup anthem ‘It Only Takes One Lion’, frontman Stuart Murdoch has spoken to NME about capturing the feeling back home and his hopes for the team since childhood.
Released today (Tuesday June 2), the Scottish indie heroes’ bid for their nation’s tournament anthem was written after the team’s surprise 4-2 qualifying win against Denmark.
“I felt like we were watching history in the moment, like the hand of God from the old National Lottery adverts was pointing at us,” Murdoch told NME about that game-changing victory. “It was meant to be. Scotland aren’t a terrific team and Denmark are better, but it just felt that day that Scotland were destined to win. Three out of the four goals were things of beauty.”
Produced by and co-written with Pete Ferguson and premiered at the band’s recent London Royal Albert Hall show as part of the anniversary tour for their classic first two albums ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’, the soaring song is intrinsically Belle & Sebastian as it morphs from a hymn to a an orchestral disco jam as Murdoch sings of a nation’s hopes and his own boyhood dreams.
NME spoke to Murdoch from the band’s North American tour, where we found him in a graveyard in Texas. “I was just looking for a park because Austin is a pretty scary place downtown now, so I’ve ended up in the Texas Cemetery,” he shared via Zoom.
Was there anyone famous buried there?
“I was looking around and I found the founder of Austin City Limits, which is pretty cool as that’s where we’re playing tonight. I’m looking at one now and it just says, ‘Martin: he loved the law’. Then underneath it says, ‘Billie Louise: she loved the lawyer’.”
We joke that there’s the opening to a Belle & Sebastian song if there ever there was one. “It’s great! It’s given me inspiration.”
For now, read the rest of interview with Murdoch below as he tells us about Scotland’s chances, 30 years of hurt, if fans will be singing it at the top of their lungs in Canada, the US and Mexico this summer, and what’s next for the band.
NME: Hello Stuart. Here we are with ‘It Only Takes One Lion’ Who needs three?
Stuart Murdoch: “Who needs three? Good question. I wouldn’t know!”
What’s the mood been like in Scotland since you qualified?
“It’s funny. I’ve noticed this everywhere: with the World Cup there’s a mixture of cynicism and anticipation. When the actual tournament starts, everyone will get excited about it. Because of FIFA, the peace prize, the ticket prices, people seem quite down about it. I found that in Mexico. They were quite fed up with the general hype about it. I’m in the States just now and you shouldn’t believe all the hype: people are people. The States are just as ‘great’ as ever. We love coming here, we love the cities. The general sense of North American optimism will make for a good tournament.”
“With Scotland though, people will definitely be excited about it. You have to understand, it’s been 30 years since Scotland qualified so I think everybody and their dog has written a song for the team.”
How do you meet the challenge of penning a World Cup anthem, when there have been so many legendary bangers and absolutely shite duds?
“I never planned it. I woke up with a tune in my head and a feeling. That’s the way it should always be for songs. I couldn’t control myself and it was quite straight-forward. I wrote this initial bit about how I felt about the current World Cup team and the qualifying game. It was more introspective.
“When it starts off with, ‘The days are dark and long…’, it’s just my general feeling about football. I’ve been going to see my own team quite a lot recently. It’s my little anthem for how I feel about football and following Scotland for the last 50 years, just the ups and downs. It’s quite a heartfelt thing. When I was eight or nine, the Scottish team meant so much to me, it the thing I was most invested in. There’s a line in there about how I used to memorise the whole squad before ‘78 and 82.”
Tell us about lyric: “This is Scotland, where everyone knows you start with nothing… where you can join an army for peace”…
“My wife made the video for it and she said, ‘I’m not sure I like that line about everyone starting with nothing’. Our first game is against Haiti and they really have nothing. Their country is pretty poor and they’re going through hard times. It was almost a throwaway line and I’m not sure what I meant by it, but in a footballing sense every game starts with nothing. Even if it’s against Brazil, you’ve always got a chance!
“The army refers to The Tartan Army, which has really been quite a remarkable institution for the past 30 years. We changed from drunken buffoons that used to wreck things to this excellent supporting brigade.”
It’s not your standard football sing-along. Can you see it being sung in the terraces?
“I’m not sure, I didn’t cynically design it for that. Many people have said to me in the past, ‘None of your songs have a chorus, you need to write one’. ‘This is Scotland’ is a chorus! They things need to happen organically. I’m sure the fans will still be singing ‘Yes sir, I can boogie’ for years to come.”
What do you actually think of Scotland’s chances right now?
“With the last Euros, they maybe got stage fright or didn’t have that tournament experience. I think Andy Robertson [captain] will be telling them, ‘We really need to produce our best stuff’. If they do and we see them actually playing football, then I don’t really care about the results that much. I just want to see Scotland exceeding our expectations of them. That Denmark game was so crazy that everything after just feels like a bonus.”
If miracles do happen and Scotland make it to the final, how will you celebrate? A free gig in Glasgow?
“Of course, yes! Free everything. If we even got close, I think the whole country would shut down for a year and the GDP would drop. We’d go into a massive recession but no one would care.
“We were playing a gig in Mexico City and I told the crowd, ‘It’s you and us, Mexico and Scotland in the final’. Mexico have never really got close either. I told them it would be five goals a piece, even after everyone takes a penalty and we have to share the trophy. I would settle for that.”
You released two albums in quick succession with 2022’s ‘A Bit of Previous’, 2023’s ‘Late Developers’ and then your debut novel Nobody’s Empire in 2024. You’ve been busy! Is there any progress on new material?
“We went through a period where we recorded a lot and we said, ‘Let’s not record for a while and give ourselves a couple of cycles off’. We’re doing these 30th anniversary shows so we’re just going to lean on the back catalogue and cruise for a while. We’re doing a year on and a year off so everyone can focus on different things.
We’re not looking at new Belles stuff for a while. I’m meant to be developing Nobody’s Empire into a film, so that’s my next task. It’s a long way off from being made but I’m going to write the script for that.”
Scotland’s first World Cup tournament match is against Haiti on Sunday June 14, before they go on to play Morocco on Friday June 19 and Brazil on Wednesday June 24.
The band’s ‘Tigermilk’ and ‘If You’re Feeling Sinister’ anniversary tour continues throughout the summer, performing the iconic albums in full during across the UK, Europe, North America, Mexico, Australia, Singapore and Japan. Visit here for tickets and more information.
