Rita Ora’s Opening Move

That Biggie sample lands before she even introduces herself. How We Do (Party) opens on The Notorious B.I.G.’s Party and Bullshit and by the time Rita Ora’s voice comes in you’ve already decided whether this is going to work. It works. She was twenty-one, signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, and the single hit number one in the UK almost immediately—a party record that doesn’t apologize for being a party record, built for maximum damage at two in the morning. Her debut album ORA would follow later in the year, and whether it could sustain this particular energy was the only interesting question left. As opening statements go, this one made the argument without asking permission.