Hannibal Buress’s New Single Is All About Getting Swole

WHEN HANNIBAL BURESS really loves a song, he’ll play it over and over and over again. That’s what happened when he got the first version of his new single, “I Lift Weights,” which he recorded under the moniker Eshu Tune.

“I stayed up all night playing Rocket League and listening to that song on repeat,” he says. “It’s only three minutes long, so I probably listened to it at least 100 times that night.” The track, which features an amped-up sample from former NFL cornerback Joe Haden, was originally meant as sort of a lark, a way for Buress and his crew to warm up one morning in the recording booth. The process went so well, though, that it’s become one of his most popular tracks, with powerlifters and mall walkers alike rapping along with tongue-in-cheek lines like “20 sets of 10 / Double up the reps / Then I go again.”

Buress’s new video for the track is equally eccentric, following the comedian and rapper as he dons a very pale muscle suit (backwards, for some reason), then galivants all over L.A. looking for famous friends he can help bulk up. Kumail Nanjiani, Chelsea Peretti, NBA legend Richard Jefferson, and Buress’s former Broad City co-star Ilana Glazer all make appearances, laying down one-liners while doing a few dumbbell curls.

In many ways, the “I Lift Weights” video is a blending of the past, present, and future of Buress’ career, with his burgeoning hip-hop endeavor taking the place of relentless, grinding stand-up tours and drop-ins. Though he first started rapping in college, more than 20 years ago, Buress put his musical passions on the back burner for about 20 years while he pursued comedy, only to circle back around to rap during the pandemic, when he started to re-evaluate what he really loved doing most.

Buress sat down with Men’s Health to talk about the song, comedy, and who he thinks are the funniest rappers.

MEN’S HEALTH: Where did “I Lift Weights” come from?

HANNIBAL BURESS: I heard the sample of Joe Haden on one of those mic’d up NFL videos, and told the engineer I collaborate with to clip it for later. Typically, when we do a recording session, I’ll try and pull up different pieces of ideas just to get things going and have fun. So I said ‘Let’s pull up ‘I lift weights’’ just to kick off the session, warm up, and then move on to other stuff.

But I started messing with the sample, adding stuff to it, and was having fun. I laid down my vocals while lifting weights, just to goof off and get a laugh. We kept adding stuff to it, making it sound epic even though the song itself is lyrically a bit limited. It’s got some fun lines in there and lots of energy, so we wanted to make the music dope.

MH: Have you played it for Joe Haden?

HB: Yeah, I talked to him last year around when we finished it. I sent it to him, and he said he digs it. I sent him the video, too, but haven’t heard back. I think we did him justice with the sample, though. It’s a fun record.

MH: What was the process behind the video?

HB: Some of that stuff was shot last summer, and some of it was shot just this past February. I had a burst of energy around it. My assistant, Vanessa, got a random muscle suit online for when we did the song live, so I used that and started shooting stuff with the conceit that I’m this crazy personal trainer trying to get people to work out.

I made it a pretty easy lift for everyone once I started asking around. That was my pitch: “I'll come to you, and we'll be done in half an hour max.”

Anyway, we shot a few of those and had a version of the video together, but then at the beginning of the year I started working with a production company called Swimteam, and they brought a treatment and added some other scenes and ideas. The stuff that’s better lit and higher quality is what they did, and you can see the difference if you look at my hair length. There are like five different lengths of my hair in the video, if you rewatch it.

MH: You started doing open mics and rap battles in college, so you’ve been doing music for about as long as you’ve been doing stand-up, but it still seems like people are really shocked you’re making this pivot. Why do you think that is?

HB: I think it's a couple of things. I don't know how many folks know my history with hip-hop and my track record, for one. A lot of folks got a casual look at me, maybe through a bigger film, and then went to my stand-up without really knowing my history.

I haven't really consistently presented it at a high level yet. The other aspects of my career and public facing work have had high level budgets and marketing behind them, and people have had lots of years to spend with the work. I mean, I’ve been doing comedy for a while. My first CD dropped in 2010, and my first comedy special was in 2012.

It’s just like anything new: it takes some time. Even if folks are excited about it or welcoming, it's still not gonna hit the same way as something they've been living with for four or five years.

It’s also been dope to do stand-up now, because the balance of different worlds really helps my energy on stage. It's more focused, because it's like, ‘I need this to do this show to pay for this music video’—it’s nice to have a direct focus and a bigger goal. Before, I wasn’t laser focused and it was more generally about staying active and working.

MH: You do some shows where Hannibal Buress the comedian opens for Eshu Tune, the musician. Is there a difference between the two, other than what they’re doing on stage?

HB: I think Hannibal Buress is a little darker. The comedy has more cynicism in it, along with some fun elements.

My music has a fresh energy, so it's more exciting. I’m excited doing comedy too, but it’s a different thing. It’s a different level of action, expectation, and responsibility. Doing music has helped my energy on the stand-up stage, too, because—especially performing with my band—you have to have the energy and performance of somebody worthy of having a band, or having that many motherfuckers on stage. Because of that, my comedy is a bit more physical now. I still have my long-winded stuff, but it’s tighter at points because, like with writing music, I’m trying to figure out how to say more with less and really get the most out of a sentence.

MH: Finally, as someone who both does comedy and raps, who do you think the funniest rappers are?

HB: Danny Brown and Open Mike Eagle are super funny. Phonte from Little Brother is really funny. Yuno Miles, I was listening to his stuff just last week and that was funny, like ‘I just got a pair of shoes and they light up up up up.’

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