Jelani Blackman drops hard-hitting new single ‘Cheers’

London artist Jelani Blackman has unveiled ‘Cheers’, his third single of 2019, out 23rd August via 18RECORDS.

Tapping into the sombre vibe cultivated on recent releases, ‘Cheers’ sees Jelani deliver his deep, baritone flow over the top of a sparse yet forceful trap beat.

“I’m from the UK where we say ‘cheers’ for everything but probably don’t celebrate positive things enough,” Jelani explains. “I wanted to chat about how I felt, for people and places and the things that made me who I am, even the bad stuff cos the bad stuff is sometimes the best.”

‘Cheers’ is Jelani’s first release since the acclaimed ‘Brixton’, a single that was premiered by Annie Mac on her BBC Radio 1 show and went on to receive further support from BBC Radio 1Xtra’s DJ Target and Kenny Allstar amongst others. ‘Nobody’s Son’, his first release of 2019, was crowned BBC Radio 1 ‘Tune of the Week’, Annie Mac’s ‘Tune of the Week’ and BBC Radio1Xtra ‘Introducing Track of the Week’.

Jelani burst onto the scene in 2014 with the critically-acclaimed dark anthem ’Twenty//Three’. Racking up over 3 million Spotify streams and coming in at #7 on the Noisey end-of-year poll, the track was soon followed up by a collaboration with UK innovator Brian Eno and duo Sylas for the single ‘Layer’.

Yet another stellar release, ‘Cheers’ confirms 2019 as Jelani Blackman’s strongest year to date.