10 Things We Love About Jelani Blackman

You can’t help but smile when speaking with Jelani Blackman. He loves to talk, in fact, he'll talk about almost anything. He recently released his “Unlimited” Mixtape cataloguing his musical efforts over the last few years and he can't contain his excitement for what’s coming next. Jelani carries a unique energy and vibe as he wades through the UK’s saturated Rap scene, from delivering a scorching ‘Fire In The Booth’, working alongside heavy hitters such as Ghetts and Big Zuu, to being featured on the international COLORS platform (with an Encore performance to boot) and delivering exciting live performances. This energy has served him well while establishing his brand and has garnered him well-deserved attention.

Now, his tone and style are transitioning towards the sweet spot in his career, one that sees him gain collaborations with the legendary Gorillaz and strengthen bonds with artists/friends such as Jords and Finn Foxell.

“I’m very happy, I’ve got nothing really to complain about which is very unusual in life… I’ve basically found the rhythm that got disrupted during lockdown.”

Jelani Blackman has had a hell of a 2021, even with all the challenges up and coming artists are facing, and kicking off the new year he has released a brand new single titled 'Cold' today. As we saw 2021 come to a close, New Wave Magazine were privileged to have the chance to chat to Jelani and learn a few about him.

Here are our 10 Things We Love about Jelani Blackman:

1. He doesn’t believe in a boring conversation. “I’m not going to have a boring conversation. I’m just trying to get as deep as possible as quickly as possible. Everything else is small talk and small talk is boring.”

2. Jelani is starting a new chapter. He’s excited, he’s ready to go. This is the best time to get into someone new, when you are able to see what they started out doing and then observe their come-up. “It’s good to get this mixtape ('Unlimited') out of my system, as there’s music there that is nearly two years old that needed to come out… and get ready to make some new stuff… it’s nice to have a long-form project to have in the world and to get the energy going and I feel like it represents that. I know what’s coming next.”

3. He loves a good question. When we asked him if he believes in aliens he replied: “I think there’s probably something else in the universe, I think it would be crazy to think that there wasn’t. I find the description of aliens in the sense of lifeforms that are coming to our planet less [believable] so... I mean think about time, it’s a relative thing. Obviously, for us, we have an expectation that we will be in space in a different capacity in the next 10 years and for some reason we expect alien life to run parallel to our own reality. If there was alien life, they probably would be aware of us already and either choosing not to engage or facing similar problems, like the distance [to travel] is too significant because they haven’t really worked out how to get over interstellar travel yet.”

4. He’s thinking about his future, his legacy and what’s coming next for music on a global stage. “[Music] is in a good place, I think with a lot of things there’s going to be a massive shift not too far in the future where things change for a couple of reasons… I mean it’s already happening and will become more significant… I don’t know but I know enough, it’s just adapting to a digital space… there’s a parallel world developing and most people in the general public have no idea...”

5. Jelani’s attitude is key. “I don’t see a point about being apprehensive [about the future], things are going to happen are gonna happen."

"You lose twice if you worry about things that are gonna happen anyway.”

6. We love his energy. Where does it come from? “It came from when I realised my energy was wrong, and then I realised it was something I needed to manage. I didn’t clock it was a thing until 2018. When I did, I was like ok ‘cool’, that’s something I need to be aware of and the more aware of it, the better it got… like, it has to come from you and then the rest will follow. Whether it’s good or bad, if you’re putting out bad vibes the rest will still follow it just won’t be what you want.”

7. His goals outside of music. “I’d like to write a book. I’d like to find a way to connect education to music. I used to work in schools and those were some of the best times I ever had.”

8. His best quality is that he is: “smart... I’m laughing because I think my worst quality is that I’m not particularly modest. I’m not a dickhead! [laughs]. Own your achievements, own what you’re good at, own what you’re bad at and just balance yourself out… you have to own everything. If you’re gonna do anything, you have to own everything. You can’t pick and choose and feel bad for the things you should be better at."

"Just own it all and you’ll end up being more comfortable with the person you end up as.”

9. His mum is his biggest supporter. “My mum is my biggest supporter… she’s actually going to be coming to one of my gigs… she’s very excited”.

10. He digging the Latin vibes. “One of my first musical experiences was with this guy who played the Spanish guitar. I was rapping, he was playing. I always liked that vibe… A lot of rap isn’t like that. What’s popular at the moment isn’t that kind of stuff.”

So there you have it, a unique artist with a unique perspective on life and music. New Wave Magazine is truly looking forward to what Jelani Blackman has in store for us, from his voice, the style he takes to next, his future live performances and of course his music.

Stream the "Unlimited" Mixtape by Jelani Blackman now and check out his new single "Cold".