Having just received a coveted nomination for his visual for “Look Like Trouble” in the best hip-hop/rap/grime video in the newcomer category at the UK Music Video Awards, Jeshi’s inimitable talent never fails to shine. Jeshi was warmly welcomed back to live just weeks back having performed a sold-out show at Laylow, which was his first in over 18 months, he also played a LFW DJ set for CP Company, and even had his music featured in the Chanel cruise show earlier in the year. With continued press support from the likes of The Telegraph, The Fader, Line Of Best Fit, The Face, British GQ, The Independent, Wonderland, Clash Magazine, Notion, Huck & i-D, Jeshi’s time in the limelight won’t be ending any time soon.
Born in Newham and raised in Walthamstow, Jeshi was brought up by his single mum with his two younger sisters. His early musical experiences were shaped with friends on the local council estate; sharing instrumentals via bluetooth, reciting lyrics in the football cage, and then going on to recording songs together in his bedroom. Starting college he quickly threw himself into a plethora of new music and genres; opening his eyes to a new realm of creativity that would be instrumental in shaping his outlook.
In 2019, he featured on Celeste’s song Summer and Vegyn’s track “I Don’t Owe U NYthing”, in addition to touring with slowthai. His EP, BAD TASTE, came out in 2020 to much acclaim and was praised as “modern British rap at its best”. In 2021, while working on the imminent follow-up Jeshi featured on Vegyn’s “I See You Sometimes.” “Hit By A Train” follows on from “Sick” an anthem for the self-destructive.
Today, Jeshi is as open-minded as ever, rejecting the need to categorise his music and living by his own rules: “We live in a time right now where people are so intent on boxing everything in... it’s all bullshit. My music, my story and my take on the world at the end of the day.” But while Jeshi’s music refuses to be constrained by a single genre and yet it is underpinned by one simple motive: “I just want to make music that speaks into people’s lives,” he says. “In the same way that my favourite musicians have done that for me.”
A unique combination of intelligence, candor and wit, Jeshi is only just getting started.