There’s few artists in this world that I pull for more than Malik Elijah and that’s for good reason. Outside of his undeniable bar-spitting and brilliant performance abilities, Malik Elijah is an artist that will impress you in just about every facet of his artistry. Nowadays everybody seems to be trying to blow up off of one big moment, but ultimately it’s a culmination of a lot of significant steps over a longer period of time that will determine an artist’s success. Brick by brick, committing to the slow build and growing something that will stand long-term is ultimately what’s most important and that’s something that I’ve seen Malik do time and time again over the past few years. Whether that’s consistent releases or touring up and down the east coast, Malik Elijah is a beast and nothing is going to get in his way, so I’m thrilled to show him some love on the site today!

Released last week on March 10th, Malik Elijah’s new 3-song project, “SMOKE SIGNAL”, is a classic hip-hop tape that I’d imagine we’ll all be listening to on repeat for the remainder of 2023. His first release since his highly-successful album, “DETOUR”, “SMOKE SIGNAL ” is a brilliant follow-up to an album which really moved boulders for his artist project and the perfect dose of new Malik Elijah music that I needed in my life. Encompassing three records, “OWNLANE”, “BRANDNEW”, and “HALLELUYAY”, I was thoroughly impressed by each tune. For starters, Malik kicks off the tape with “OWNLANE” where he glides over a sample-heavy instrumental reminiscent of an early Kanye or The Alchemist beat. A bit more laid back than it’s next door neighbor, “BRANDNEW”, in the ensuing record where Malik delivers with energy-fueled bars and a stank-face worthy beat. To finish it all off, Malik called on another one of my favorites, Kinrose, to collab on the final song, “HALLELUYAY”, and damn did these guys snap. A synth-led instrumental which Malik compliments with slightly more melodic rapping than the previous two, Malik and Kinrose came together and made an absolute smash on this one and couldn’t have ended the project on a better note.