Oakland rapper demahjiae reaches back while looking forward, breathing new life into the sound of golden age hip hop, and continuing to innovate on a style that broke so many boundaries nearly 3 decades ago.

When it comes to sonics, one could even say that he shares more in common with the New York sound than with the G-Funk of his home region.

Sure of his strengths, and of his singularity, demahjiae continues to blur the lines on his latest, a track where he fully assumes what he is: an artist as comfortable in rough rap as in rhythmic changes and pachydermic beats.

demahjiae proves his prowess in boxing with words, and that the absence of a capital letter in his pseudo does not prevent him from seeing the future in a big way.

Written by Maxime Delcourt