The duo Banks & Steelz unites Wu-Tang Clan's RZA with Interpol's Paul Banks, merging the frosty edges of post-punk with the punch of hip-hop in a manner that both echoes and diverges from each artist's prior output. After connecting in the early 2010s, they unveiled their first full-length effort, Anything But Words, during 2016.
While Interpol paused between releases, Banks—who had long embraced hip-hop—dropped his own rap mixtape, Everybody on My Dick Like They Supposed to Be, in 2013. RZA, previously familiar with the band only by reputation, was introduced to Banks by his manager, an admirer of Interpol. Their rapport formed quickly, sparked by a mutual passion for chess before evolving into joint songwriting sessions. The pair ultimately tracked dozens of tracks, many built around beats crafted on a drum machine formerly owned by Sly & the Family Stone, working in an organic, exploratory style across studios on both coasts.
Banks & Steelz first surfaced with the May 2016 single "Love + War," which included a Ghostface Killah cameo and a video styled after Reservoir Dogs. "Giant" followed ahead of the album's arrival. Anything But Words, featuring guest spots from Kool Keith, Wu-Tang's Method Man and Masta Killa, plus Florence + the Machine's Florence Welch, reached stores in August 2016; it registered on the Billboard 200 and climbed to number four on the U.S. Heatseekers chart. Six singles sustained momentum into 2017, when the non-album cut "Who Needs the World" appeared.
