Malik Elijah
Image via Creator K+
Malik Elijah aka Malik Gaither was taught by his father at age 4 to play the drums. Since that day, Malik’s love for music has only grown. Originally from Upper Marlboro, MD, Malik is currently based in Taunton, MA. After learning the drums, Malik joined choir, both at school and at church. This, along with listening to some of his favorite artists like Kanye West, J. Cole, and Kendrick Lamar, inspired him to start writing music, specifically in the genre of alternative hip-hop around the age of 13. Fast forward nearly a decade later, Malik would continue to draw inspiration from the next generation of hip-hop, especially Wiz Khalifa, Mick Jenkins, and IDK. As he puts it on his song, “sfts,” he also “studied Ab-Soul,” not only to “illuminate [his] mind,” but also to enhance his skills as a wordsmith. All of this together pushed Malik to start releasing music, starting with the self-produced, King Of The Critters on SoundCloud in 2017.
Then in 2018, Malik Elijah would release Lazy along with producer, Ciro Mont. Highlighted by the opening track, “Believe It,” the project sounds something like the crossroads of dance music and hip-hop. In the two years following, an improving Malik would return with his next two projects, Medium Volume EP and Free Lemonade with standout track, “Cuban Link.” Since these releases, Malik Elijah has focused on single releases, most notably, the EDM club banger, “Kayakontheriver” featuring William Crooks, “Icannotbethem” featuring Nuke Franklin, and “Blinding” featuring ICECOLDBISHOP.
In July 2022, Malik Elijah released his album, DETOUR with standout tracks, “QUIETDOWN,” “ATITAGAIN” featuring Isaac Zale and Nuke Franklin, and “NOWHERE” featuring Marco Plus. He followed up DETOUR with the three-track bundle, Smoke Signal in March 2023, highlighted by “Ownlane.” As for what’s to come, Malik Elijah continues to be inspired by the newer generation of artists like Brent Faiyaz.
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