Wunmi wrote “Bottom Line (ICE)” fifteen years ago with producer Jeremy Mage. The song stayed unreleased for over a decade before appearing now as a radio edit, framed by a simple explanation: “We must not look away. We must not stay silent in the face of all that is going on all around us. That is the Bottom Line.”

The track addresses migration as both a fact of life on a warming planet and a wedge issue used to divide people. Wunmi wrote it in solidarity with what she calls “the voiceless ones”: people forced to leave home for economic survival, working long hours for low wages and living as illegal second-class citizens. The lyrics speak directly to immigration enforcement, repeating one demand: “Treat me like a fellow human being.”

The song also calls out the political game around immigration. “All you government / Play immigration card game / Left say no more / Right say no more,” she sings, before cutting to the economic reality: “But the truth is you need us right here / Cause cheap labour is what makes things cheap / Cause cheap labour is what make you rich.”

Born in London, raised in Lagos, and now based in New York, Wunmi grew up steeped in afrobeat, with its sounds, style and ethics. As a teenager back in London she absorbed soul, rare grooves, acid jazz, funk, broken beat and drum and bass, and that range shaped everything that followed. Her first recordings came as a featured vocalist on house tracks by Masters At Work, Osunlade, Bugz in the Attic and Pasta Boys, and her first songwriting credits were in collaboration with Roy Ayers.

Through reworking Fela Kuti tracks like “Expensive Shit” and “Zombie”, Wunmi became a catalyst in bringing afrobeat into the American mainstream in the early 2000s, contributing to projects such as Red Hot and Riot and New York’s Jump n Funk parties. Her debut solo album A.L.A. (African Living Abroad) was praised by Gilles Peterson as “an essential release from a unique artist.”

“Bottom Line (ICE)” reunites her with Mage, who produces the track and plays keys. The band includes Abou Diarrassouba on drums, Ofori Kwadwo on bass, Oren Bloedow on guitar and Dave Masucci on flute and sax, with Jon Perl engineering the recording and all vocals by Wunmi.

She describes music as her weapon of choice during good times and not so good times, and this song, written fifteen years ago and released now, is proof.

Listen and stream the track HERE