Vampire Weekend were lyrically namechecking Lil Jon the first time we ever heard them, nearly seven years ago now, but it’s taken them until now to drop an all-star rap remix. “Step,” the gorgeously shimmering midtempo jam from their 2013 album Modern Vampires Of The City (one of our favorites of the year) might be an odd choice for the rap remix, at least on the surface, but it’s also a song built around a Souls Of Mischief quote, and it works beautifully. The beat turns out to have a confident lope that works great for rap voices, and the lineup of rappers on the remix — underground stars Danny Brown, Heems, and Despot — turns out to be more than capable of taking on a song like that. All three rappers lock into the song with crazy ease, going into relationship-reminisce mode. Heems, in particular, works wonderfully on this: “Her freckles dance on her porcelain skin / It’s like she got a special force within.” Listen below.

Vampire Weekend – “Step (Feat. Danny Brown, Heems, Despot)”

Modern Vampires Of The City is out now on XL.