Offie Mag

Manchester’s underground continues to produce some of the UK’s most uncompromising artists, and few embody that spirit quite like artist and producer RenzNiro as he returns with new single ‘2Selfish’, lifted from his forthcoming mixtape No Weapon Shall Prosper, due July 7.

Arriving alongside a new visual directed by Ben Wescott, ‘2Selfish’ which is produced with longtime collaborator wudini, leans into warped electronics and instinctive songwriting, pushing further beyond the grime-adjacent sound Renz has steadily carved out across the last few years.

Since first emerging, RenzNiro has quietly built one of the most distinctive catalogues in the UK underground, while consistently performing across the UK and Europe. Existing somewhere between rap, experimental electronics and club music.

Speaking on the new single, Renz explains:

“This was the last addition to the project. I didn’t originally want it on the mixtape, I thought it should be a standalone single. But after sitting with it, it felt like a real departure from my normal style. I wanted it to be a shock to the system, to catch your attention.”

That same sense of reflection runs through the accompanying visual, the video blends present-day performance with lo-fi footage shot on the same camera and in the same locations where Renz’s earliest videos were filmed back in 2018, turning the release into something deeply personal.

“The idea came from the feeling the track gave me — the weight of everything we’ve experienced, and how it all leads to now,” Wescott explains. “There’s a heaviness in it, but also hope. The lo-fi clips were shot on the exact same camera we used back then, in the places we grew up around, so this video became a full-circle moment for both of us.”

Developed gradually over several years, No Weapon Shall Prosper brings together newly written material alongside revisited ideas and reconstructed recordings, shaped through a collaborative process. While much of the mixtape began as self-produced work, the project eventually expanded through contributions from wudini and a wider network of musicians and artists.

Sonically, the tape moves between ambient textures and heavier rhythmic moments, pulling influence from rap, club music and contemporary composition without settling into any one lane. Live instrumentation plays a major role throughout, with guitar, viola and saxophone giving the project a wider, cinematic scope.

The mixtape also features collaborations with Klein, 00ab, Ceesho, Amil Raja, Space Afrika and Big Animal Theory, a line-up that reflects the widespread reach of Renz’s creative world and Manchester’s wider alternative underground.

At its core, No Weapon Shall Prosper is a project rooted in reflection, resilience and transformation. Across the mixtape, Renz examines family, ambition and identity through songwriting that continues to cement him as one of the UK underground’s most compelling emerging voices.

As he puts it himself: “No Weapon Shall Prosper.”

Words By Louis Rowland