Nobody Speak

"Nobody Speak" features rap verses from El-P and Killer Mike of rap duo Run the Jewels, who were credited as the song's writers alongside DJ Shadow. It contains a musical sample of "Ol' Man River" by Caterina Valente, and a lyrical sample from "Top Billin'" (from Audio Two's 1987 album What More Can I Say?).^[1]

The instrumental features a funk-like bass and drum groove, brass horns, as well as guitar loops. Shadow chose El-P and Killer Mike as collaborators due to their vocal style fitting the song's instrumental the most.^[2][3]

"Nobody Speak" was first made available through the Run the Jewels Record Store Day release. It consisted of a special virtual reality cardboard viewer, which held a code that granted the purchaser to a free digital download of the song.^[2] The song was eventually made available for a paid download through Mass Appeal Records.^[4] The song was later released as a limited edition 12" vinyl single on August 24, 2016, through Mass Appeal and Liquid Amber.^[5]

A music video for "Nobody Speak" was released on August 24, 2016. The video, which has been described as "brutal [and] politically charged",^[6] features political representatives in a meeting. The leaders of the groups begin a rap battle against each other, staged as a political debate, which after around 90 seconds turns into an all-out brawl involving virtually everyone in the meeting room in a form of legislative violence. The video finishes with one leader preparing to impale his counterpart with an American flag.^[6][7]

The leaders of the groups are played by Igor Tsyshkevych and Ian Bailey.^[7] Shadow commented on the video, saying that they wanted to make a "positive, life-affirming video that captures politicians at their election-year best. We got this instead."^[8] Killer Mike also commented on the video, saying that "It's such a dope video ... it's what I really wish Trump and Hillary would just do and get it over with."^[9]

The video was directed by Sam Pilling and features cameo appearances of Shadow, El-P, and Killer Mike.^[10] It was filmed at the "Ukrainian Dim" (Ukrainian House) exhibition center in Kyiv, Ukraine.^[11]

The song has appeared in trailers for films including Suburbicon, Booksmart, and Good Boys.^[12]

The song is used briefly in Deadpool 2.^[13]

The song is used in The Happytime Murders during a brief fight scene.^[14]

A television ad campaign in 2021 for the electric Cadillac Lyriq automobile featured the instrumental portion of the song.^[15]

The song plays during the end credits for “My Dripping Sleep”, the 3rd episode of season 1 of Netflix’s drama Ozark.

The song also appears in "Prague", the 8th episode of season 1 of HBO's satirical dark comedy drama Succession.

• Mass Appeal — MSAP0034 — Promotional CD-R^[16] and digital download single^[4]

• Mass Appeal / Liquid Amber — MSAP0036LP — 12" vinyl single^[5]

Personnel adapted from The Mountain Will Fall liner notes.^[17]

• Tim Burns – trombone
• DJ Shadow – arrangement, composing, mixing, production, programming
• El-P – composing, vocals
• Mikael Eldridge – mixing
• Killer Mike – composing, vocals
• Graham Pike – trumpet
• Jake Telford – baritone and tenor saxophone