Stylo (feat. Mos Def and Bobby Womack)

This is the first single from animated quartet Gorillaz's third studio album, Plastic Beach. The song was leaked on the net hours before it was due to premiere on Britain's NME Radio. On his Twitter account Gorillaz's Murdoc Niccals attributed its leakage to Russian pirates. He wrote: "A leak! A leak! Plastic Beach has sprung a leak! One of those Russian pirates has put a bullet hole in my island! My single's leaked! STYLO!"

The song features R&B singer Bobby Womack crooning the chorus, as well as rapper Mos Def, who joined Gorillaz as an animated character named "Sun Moon Stars" on the album. Womack told Rolling Stone about being recruited by Gorillaz for Plastic Beach. "They called me from London and said, 'Man, we want to do something with you.'" Womack added that when the unfinished track arrived at his California home he was going to turn down the collaboration but changed his mind after his daughter recommended the band. "In the days when I would get loaded, I would have thought this was great," said the singer. "Now that I'm straight, I think I'm too square to know where they're at. I kept listening and thought, 'Damn, why do they want me?' It's all new to me. The only thing that convinced me was my daughter said, 'Dad, you got to do this. They're awesome.' I said, 'You're hip to them?'" Womack went on to say that he thought Gorillaz was a band of actual primates until his daughter explained they are a rotating cast of musicians: "I thought she was talking about a real gorilla. I said, 'I worked with a lot of people, but I never worked with a gorilla.'" Womack then called the band and agreed to participate. "I just called them back and said, 'I want to be a help and bring something to the table. I gotta be honest though, I don't know why you want me.' They said, 'It's about a plastic ocean. Just imagine yourself in a plastic ocean. Just get on there. Do what you wanna do. It'll work out.' It should be interesting."

Before cutting this track, Gorillaz already had a connection with Bobby Womack. On "Gorillaz On My Mind," their contribution to the Blade 2 soundtrack, rapper Redman dropped the lines "Soul survivor, I write with Bobby Womack hands."