The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf just dropped a hip hop track

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Malaysia is turning up the volume for Merdeka with a new hip hop track created with Roshan Jamrock, an artist associated with Kajang-based K-town Clan.

The track forms the centrepiece of CBTL Malaysia’s Merdeka 2026 campaign, bringing together English and Malay lyrics, trap and phonk beats, and plenty of local flavour.

Don't miss: 11 campaigns that struck the right chord this Merdeka

Produced by Big Lion Enterprise, the project was creatively directed and executive produced by Roshan, who also wrote, composed and performed the track. He worked alongside director Iskandar Zulkarnain of TwntyTwo Degree, with production management by Ese and Suzy of T21 Management.

The accompanying music video takes viewers into a CBTL Malaysia outlet, where the track is brought to life through choreography and scenes featuring the brand’s customisable OTR (On-the-rock) and Mixers range.

Musically, the track moves between two distinct sounds, opening with a trap beat before switching into a phonk groove for its refrain.

The campaign also brings CBTL Malaysia’s own employees into the track. Roshan brought a portable microphone to a meeting with the brand, recording staff shouting “Merdeka! Malaysia!” before incorporating the voices into the final song.

According to CBTL Malaysia, Roshan was chosen because the brand was drawn to his K-town Clan release Makeya Badego. While the musician was given a brief for the campaign, his own creative direction ultimately shaped the final track.

M. Amar Shah, managing director of CBTL Malaysia, said the campaign was intended to give customers a more memorable experience for National Day.

“What we hope for, more than anything, is that our audience and our customers simply have fun. In the spirit of Merdeka, we wanted to give them a more memorable experience this National Day,” he said.

The project was developed with Amar Shah’s team, including general manager of operations EY Lim, marketing manager Li Lian and brand executive Aqilah, alongside agency partner onetwojus.

Amar Shah added that the brand had wanted to take this approach for some time, but previously lacked the means to do so.

“We've always wanted to do something like this. We just never had the means before. Now that we do, we simply want to be a little more fun,” he said.

Earlier this month, ZUS Coffee celebrated Merdeka in their own way with a collaboration with Mamee Monster. The partnership saw the release of new limited-edition drinks, snacks, merchandise and a dual-drink cup.  

Meanwhile, another coffee chain, Luckin Coffee Malaysia had teamed up with a homegrown adult animation series Kisah Bawah Tanah for "Rasa kita, cerita kita" ('Our flavours, our stories'). The campaign combined locally inspired coffee creations, original animated content and limited-edition merchandise. The campaign was rolled out nationwide on 14 August and will run across August and September.

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