Malik Peay is a seasoned Black music journalist that uplifts other Black artists with his conversations on their multi-faceted talents and the overall human experience. Through relatable storytelling and personal connection, he spotlights minority icons and their communities and the individuals who thrive through their passions. Peay has been featured in Vanity Fair, Hollywood Reporter, Essence, W Magazine, Complex, Allure, Elle, Them, Teen Vogue, and more.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated on Monday, Jan. 22 to include mention of Victoria Monét and reflect D’Mile’s 2024 GRAMMY nomination. "He is a genius. I don’t feel like most people realize how much of a genius he actually is" producer D’Mile asserts when thinking back on his popular project with Bruno Mars. But prior to the formation…
During a cool evening at the tail-end of a New York summer, Ari Lennox and I are eating dinner at the Sixty Hotel on the Lower East Side. She is coming off a whirlwind of a week, partaking in the slew of New York Fashion Week festivities and the release of her sophomore album Age/Sex/Location, which dropped Sept. 9. Amidst…
As the fog rolled in, mist engulfed the seas of bundled festival goers pouring onto the western lawns of Golden Gate Park. A lighthouse structure beckoned at the Lands End stage and marine projections appeared on the stage's backdrop readying the crowd for Outside Lands 2022's Friday headliner, SZA. The GRAMMY-winning artist born Solána Rowe closed the first night of the…
Brent Faiyaz weaves tales of suspenseful, allegorical fictions, sung in a spine-tingling R&B tenor that soliloquizes for the broken-hearted and those who break hearts. On his new album, Wasteland, Faiyaz spins the fatal tragedy of a despairing, lovelorn man driven by vice who is teetering on the brink of crash and burning. Released July 8, Wasteland is a melodramatic, dystopian landscape where…
Giveon Dezmann Evans’ mesmeric baritone vocals are a rare jewel in R&B music, where his distinctive voice flutters from a uniquely low register to even deeper. In 2022, the 27-year-old crooner hit the GRAMMY stage alongside Canadian singing sensations Justin Bieber and Daniel Caesar to perform "Peaches." Onstage, the GRAMMY-nominated tropical summer singalong was reimagined into an instrumental rendition that…
Long before 24-year-old Danielle Balbuena signed onto Kanye West’s GOOD Music label and Def Jam, she was culling an elusive musical identity. The artist now known as 070 Shake anchored her image in poetry that ruminated on mortality — and the mere fact of human existence. But as she's contemplated the existential, 070 Shake has steadily ascended the stratosphere. Shake…
"Being in the studio…[feels] like my second home," R&B artist Ella Mai says over Zoom from her sun-drenched Los Angeles abode. The singer's eyes brighten as she recounts her stream of consciousness creative process, where she transforms the disorienting unfamiliar into art. "I made almost 80 songs during this process," she confesses, chuckling. "Narrowing them down to 15 was very hard." Those…
"I've always been infatuated with whatever's up there," vocalist Ravyn Lenae Washington says over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles, gazing upward to the ceiling and perhaps into the heavens. "I try to create that sense of the unknown down here through my art." Lenae’s fixation on the twin mysteries of the divine and the galaxy served as the…
Spirituality, sprightly compassion and a reverence for her South Asian heritage permeate the euphony of Asha’s Awakening. While Asha, a fictional space goddess, experiences a coming-of-age infused with ambient sounds and multicultural instruments, her Awakening is the brainchild of Raveena. Popularly known for her soothing R&B and soul ballads, Asha's Awakening was less of a genre changeover and more an…
Born to parents who happen to sing, in her formative years, Priscilla Renea knew she was destined to be a recording artist. The Los Angeles-based musician put in the self-work, and eventually signed to Capitol Records where she released her debut album, Jukebox. Yet Renea's words had the most resonance; as a songwriter, Renea used her pen to generate salable…
