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Home » 2000-2003, Info, Songs

I Against I

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Primarily Found On:

Digital Download available from massiveattack.co.uk as of the 11th March 2002. (Has since been removed)

Also Found On:

The links below will take you either to the Collector section of MASSIVEATTACK.IE, or to an external website - either amazon.com or discogs.com, where you can find out more about all the the album (s)/release (s) that this particular Massive Attack song appears on.

Blade 2 - OST Special Cases (Single Release), Collected (Special Edition), I Against I

First Released On:

11th March 2002

Duration:

05:40

Variations/Remixes:

Instrumental - The instrumental version of I Against I is exactly that, an instrumental without any vocals but otherwise the same. Included only on the 12″ vinyl promo release.

Credits:

Written by Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge, Grant Marshall and Dante Smith (Mos Def)

Produced by Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge

Arranged by Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge

Mixed by Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge

Mix engineered by Lee Shephard

Additional Production by Alex Swift

Sampled:

I Against I is sometimes mistakenly confused as being sampled from a Bad Brains song from 1986, also known as I Against I. The two songs share nothing in common though besides the obvious; their name.

Covered:

N/A

Vocalist(s):

Mos Def

Lyrics:

I-ya
I against I
Flesh of my flesh
And mind of my mind
Two of a kind but one won’t survive
My images reflect in the enemies eye
And his images reflect in mine the same time
I-ya, I-ya
I against I
Flesh of my flesh
And mind of my mind
Two of a kind but one won’t survive
Right here is where the end gon’ start at
Conflict, contact ‘n’ combat
Fighters stand where the land is marked at
Settle the dispute about who the livest
Three word answer
Whoever survive this
Only one of us can ride forever
So you and I cant ride together
Can’t live or cant die together
All we can do is collide together
So I skillfully apply the pressure
Won’t stop until I’m forever… One!
A door step where death never come
Spread across time til my time never done
And I’m never done
Walk tall, why ever run?
When they move if I ever come?
Bad man never fret the war, tell’em come
General we have the stock, the mad fire burn
I-ya
I against I
Flesh of my flesh
And mind of my mind
Two of a kind but one won’t survive
My images reflect in the enemies eye
And his images reflect in mine the same time
I-ya, I-ya
I against I
Flesh of my flesh
And mind of my mind
Two of a kind but one won’t survive
Survive (x16)
Reign supreme in your U-N-I
V-E-R-S-E with the sharpness
Narrow row building no space for partners
No space for drivers, no space for walkers
No space regardless
Your on my path then get off it
Hardheaded and unresponsive
Get they lives put on target with harshness
Come with the canons sparkin’ they darken
Who am I? One man squadron
Ma stir the fire this time that’d snatch your tomorrow
The thousand yard spear that’ll pierce through your armor
You can get it on right now if you want to
But when ya front 9 get marched through
I warned you
You know who forever belong to
I-ya, I-ya
I against I
Flesh of my flesh
And mind of my mind
Two of a kind but one won’t survive
My images reflect in the enemies eye
And his images reflect in mine, survive!
Survive (x16)

History:

NME broke the news in October 2001 that Massive Attack had done a collaboration with hip-hop rapper and occasional turned actor Mos Def for an as yet undisclosed film project. It was then announced in January 2002 that the film in question would be Blade 2. It was agreed to release the song both simultaneously as a free download single on massiveattack.co.uk and as part of the Blade 2 soundtrack album.

Additional Info:

This song marks the first appearance of programmer Alex Swift, who would go on along with Lee Shephard to form an integeral part of the production team behind Robert Del Naja and Neil Davidge for all of Massive Attack’s future releases.

I Against I was Massive Attack’s second download only single after Nature of Threat in 2000.

Besides I Against I, Massive Attack also made an unnamed instrumental song for inclusion in Blade 2 that is featured at some point during the film but is nowhere to be found on the soundtrack album. It is still unknown exactly where in the film this instrumental appears or what it sounds like.

Live Appearances:

I Against I has only been played live once ever at the Brixton Academy in London, UK on the 9th July 2004. It is also the only occasion that Mos Def has joined Massive Attack live on stage. This was a lucky occurence as Mos Def was at the time filming his role in the film “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” at the same time in London and found the time to perform at the show.

Quotes:

3D on the initial recording of I Against I - “He (Mos Def) did the lyrics and we completely reconstructed the track, took the lyrics off and started again in our usual fashion. Everyone really likes it so hopefully it’ll appear in some form or another” [NME Magazine - October 2001]

3D looking back on I Against I for Collected - “MINUTES OF FUN SLAMMING SCI-FI BEATS AND ORGANS AGAINST MOS DEF’S MACHINE GUN RAP”[Collected PR - January 2006]

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