Jelani Blackman drops his first new single of 2023 with ‘Rise’ ft. Biig Piig, out now via 18 Records / MNRK UK. The track, which premiered as The Hottest Record In The World on BBC Radio 1 last night, tees up a busy second half of the year with more new music and news of the London rapper and singer’s debut album on the horizon.
With its blissed-out, summer’s morning sonics, love song ‘Rise’ showcases Jelani’s vocal versatility, perfectly complemented by hotly tipped Irish artist Biig Piig’s delicate harmonies. Speaking on track, Jelani says: “Being in love and waking up next to the person you wanna be with and the sun’s out is one of the best feelings in the world. Couldn’t have asked anyone better to share this song with; me and Biig Piig met last year at a festival, I think her voice and lyrics bring out all the feeling of that emotion.”
Biig Piig adds: “This song really captures a moment in time, when you’re with someone and love is so intense, it’s like the golden hour all the time”
Heavily influenced by R&B and soul, yet coming up at a time when Grime was everywhere, Jelani Blackman’s sound swerves stereotypes, blending the hard with the soft, the dark with the light; reflected in an impressively diverse rollcall of collaborators that runs from Gorillaz, Fraser T Smith and Ghetts all the way through to Brian Eno, Burna Boy and Wolf Alice. Forging his own lane in a UK scene bursting with talent, the tips from tastemakers have continued to roll in, spurred on by a now iconic COLORS Session and the release of his much celebrated Unlimited Mixtape at the end of 2021, last year the hype continued to build with Jelani’s first UK headline tour, a busy summer of festivals including Glastonbury & Leeds Festival, and his single ‘Comfy’ being playlisted on BBC Radio 1, before collaborating with Kojey Radical on the incendiary ‘Izit’.
