10 Things We Love About: GoldLink

DC rapper GoldLink is back and it’s like he never left, his latest offering is ‘ENOCH’ a 12 track album that was birthed through creativity and conversation, a genre blending record that bounces between anything from energetic dance numbers to wordplay heavy hip hop tracks. ‘ENOCH’ see’s GoldLink tap into his signature sound with the likes of Juls and KAYTRANADA lending a hand on production, alongside features from a variety of GoldLink approved artists. Released earlier in the year, ‘METATRON’ is the lead single from the album and already holds all of the components to become a summer anthem with its bouncy rhythmic sound and sweet vocals from singer Lola Moxam. 

‘ENOCH’ is a refreshing re-entry into the scene, it’s mind blowing to think GoldLink has been been making music for just over a decade, collaborating with a plethora of global talent it’s hard to think about who he’ll work with next, Wizkid, Wale, Pinkpanthress, Mya, Jazmine Sullivan, Tyler The Creator, Masego are names of just some of his collaborators and not forgetting his 2017 link up Brent Fiayaz for the Grammy nominated triple platinum record ‘Crew’. GoldLink’s most notable bodies of work include ‘At What Cost’, ‘Diaspora’ and for the OG fans his debut album ‘And After That, We Didn’t Talk’. 

A man of many talents who isn’t defined by any genre, GoldLink is set to disrupt the rest of 2025 as he kicks off his European tour in September and it only makes sense for his first stop to be London, as it’s a location he considers home. Continuing to push the boundaries of his innovative yet ever evolving sound, here’s 10 Things We Love About GoldLink…

We love the fact you’ve been so consistent with your music over the last 10 years, the time has flown by, how does it feel to be in the music game for this long? 

That’s weird, that’s a good question I never really had to think about before, so I just have to answer it off the top of my head (laughs). I feel like every artist wants to achieve some kind of staying power, but it’s one thing when you actually do it, it’s weird being in a basement with your friends hoping you’ll make it versus actually making it. It’s quite humbling especially looking at some of the top class artists who came out during that era.

We love your Grammy nominated hit single ‘Crew’ ft. Brent Fiayaz how did the collaboration come around? 

It was quite simple, I did the session with Brent because we were both from the DMV area in Washington. At the time Brent didn’t really have any records out , so it definitely wasn’t for clout, it was just the same place as me. I just did off the whim of loving home and supporting the artists who come from where I come from.

We love your album ‘At What Cost’, it’s pretty timeless - Do you have a favourite track from that era? 

It’s actually impossible for me because we are just making things. For example, I recently watched a video with the engineer of Biggie - Juicy, and they asked Biggie ‘How Does it Feel To Make Juicy?’ and he was like ‘I don’t f*cking know, I just made Juicy’, it’s just music, you’re just making these and seeing what happens, Biggie pretty much summed up how i feel about my music. 

We love the fact that you aren’t shy of a collaboration, you’ve worked with the likes of Kaytranada, Jamzine Sullivan, Marsha Ambrosius, Christina Aguilera, Brent Fiayaz more, who has been your favourite person to work with?

I think it’s just a lot of mutual respect, I think it kind of goes back to the first question you about being a musician and how it feels, I think it starts from a lot of mutual respect and it’s hard to say who’s my favourite but If I had to pick one person I’d say Andre 3000, we worked together once, but the record never came out, however it was leaked so I’m sure people can find it somewhere. Working with Andre was something, he was really critical of himself and I found that interesting. He is a perfectionist and I've never been so close to someone at such a high level, who has been doing this for such a long time. It was kind of a cheat code or a glimpse into time of how someone of such a high stature can still care about their craft, it was very fun and interesting to work with. It’s funny because this was around the time of At What Cost and Andre was often seen walking around New York with his flute. 

We love that fact your music isn’t really restricted to one genre, it’s quite varied, is there anything in particular that inspires you? That could be a conversation, a place, a person or another artist. 

That’s another good question, I almost approach things like a method actor, not that I’m physically acting but I just take the approach of a method actor, I like to stay out of the comfort zone, like whatever we do that’s comfortable we just try and get out of it, If I find something that I can perfect then I move on and try and do something else, whether I fail or succeed, whatever the most challenging or interesting thing is we go for that. 

I guess when it comes to being creative, everything is borrowed or inherited in some way, so I think it’s just about being receptive to inherit thoughts, that’s kind of how these processes start for me. To go back to your original question if you and i are having a conversation in my kitchen and we go down memory lane, you start talking about college and what you were listening to at that time, conversations like that can open up a portal of thoughts and ideas, whether that's musically or energetically, that’s why I gained a love for reading because you finally get to read something from someone else’s perspective with detail. Everything starts with a thought, it never really starts with music, as weird as that sounds. 

We love your single ‘METATRON’ taken from your latest album ‘ENOCH’, but we noticed you haven’t released any music since 2021, what made you want to return to music at this moment in time?  

I think it was a collective thought, I’m going to be including a lot of ‘We’, we kind of decided this is a great track that’s easy to get back in the market, it’s for the people, it’s really a really good track that doesn't give away anything we’re working on, it feels like a very easy re-introduction and reminding people where I left off and what I was loved for. I think it also says something when someone still has the ability to deliver things that people love them for, I think that’s very difficult and there aren’t many artists that can figure out how to transport their listeners to a particular place when it comes to their music. 

We love your sound, but we would love to know what you were listening to when you were growing up?

It’s crazy, but kind of a loaded answer because I didn’t actually want to be a musician growing up, I grew up with my mum, dad and brother, who was listening to what was considered as underground hip-hop at the time and then my dad listened to neo-soul and a lot of black traditional artists, where as my mum was listening to a lot of gospel, because she had just turned Christian, so it was like three different lives and I was getting carried along three completely different vibes. Funnily enough Outkast had dropped Speaker Boxxx / The Love Below that one definitely stuck out to me because the sounds were different, so random but I used to listen to this rapper called Pastor Troy and then when it came to gospel music it was The Clark Sisters, but yeah it was really random, just different artist that did different stuff. 

If i’m being honest the pivotal moment that got that got me where I am today spans from being pretty bored at the age of 19, I was around a lot of dudes who were always rapping, I never wanted to try, they would ask me what I thought and I’d give real constructive feedback, I would basically demonstrate what I thought they should do and eventually they were like you should just try it yourself and eventually i did. 

We love the fact that you are set to go on a world tour this year, where are you most excited to perform?

I’m always excited to perform in London, I’m not going to lie, you guys love music, plus London feels like home to me, I used to live there for such a long time I just know it like the back of my hand. I can’t wait to hit up my favourite food spot BAO. I know it can seem kind of basic but for me it’s the perfect spot, it’s small enough, it’s cute enough to be considered for date night. My go-to dish is a vegetarian dish called the green monster, I don’t eat meat so this is always a top choice for me, they have a vegan ice cream too! 

We love that you are back making music, what’s next for you? 

I think within the next year, people can expect a lot of disruption. I feel like I'm going to disrupt within the next year, which is what I was meant to do. 

BONUS

We love how talented you are, if you weren’t a musician what else would you be doing?

I’d probably be selling hair to girls for real, for real, I’d sell weave and bundles, I'd be rich!

'ENOCH' is out now, listen here if you haven't already!