Ear To The Ground: Jelani Blackman - Don't Matter

West London’s Jelani Blackman takes to the altar to deliver his latest infectious entry ‘Don’t Matter’, married with a complimentary energy-fuelled performance courtesy of the guy’s over at Lockoff.

With not one, but two intoxicating Colors performances under his belt; features alongside industry greats such as; Burna Boy, Ghetts and Poppy Ajudha AND cooking up a remix to Wolf Alice’s Don’t Delete the Kisses - Jelani has truly accumulated a number of mind-boggling accolades for his time within the game; and this number right here only continues to fuel the fire behind the man’s undying hype. 

Ensuing Feux’s seamlessly smooth entry following the series’ aesthetic revamp; Jelani enters the holy house to absolutely shell this spirited offering, bringing an infectious spout of energy to the juxtaposed melancholy settings with that signature bellowing voice he posses; as he breaks off across Jacob Manson’s drill-infused soundscape into a brash chain of assertive bars; encompassing the titles narrative: why none of the stunting within this scene actually matters.

Garnering attention from industry heavyweights such as Annie Mac who branded him ‘amazing’, a true ‘musician, rapper and lyricist’ and even the sound board button-mashing phenom Charlie Sloth referring to him as a musical unicorn; stating ‘man like Jelani come round once every two years, he’s a rare specimen, a unicorn’. The young talent only continues to put West London on the map sonically, alongside fellow goats in the making such as Finn Foxell and Pit favourite Lord Apex. 

Shout out to the team bringing this one together: Executive producer - Willem Lord, Co-producer - Luke Stilwell, Director & sound mix - Louis Lincoln, DOP - Harry Basey, Steady Cam - Devan Clarke-Sheward, Focus Puller - Gabriel Niedojadlo, Gaffer -  Robin Niedojadlo, Photography -  Alex Evans, Location sound - Ray Alex.

Go take in the conscious-seizing performance over on Lockoff’s YouTube channel before it blows; it’s already touching 32,000 streams in a matter of days, so it’s looking like it’s got potential to do some numbers - oh, and make sure to run up the audio on those streaming platforms too!