The latest record from Perth rapper MALI JO$E is a shimmering, laser-focused exercise in elemental balance.
Destiny staring at me from afar, spliff blowing in the dark.
Yeah I grew up by the sea, yeah I grew up by the sharks.
Water is a significant aspect of GOD IS THE WIND. References to it pepper the entire tracklist, and you can even hear its fingerprints across OJC43’s ambient production. Whenever Mali mentions water, he talks about it as the catalyst for the man he is today. On ‘stepwide’, he dryly says that a life by the seaside meant he “dealt with reflection”, a hyper-awareness of self that pervades the album’s tight 38-minute runtime.
‘FIRE IN THE SOUL’ gives us Mali’s vision of flame. While water can shape who you eventually become, on GOD IS THE WIND fire is something more instinctive - you kinda have it or you don’t. Chewing through a minimalist beat, Mali confidently describes a security in life most would envy, ‘fire burning in my soul, I ain’t give a fuck about who’s next’. The track ends with a familiar sentiment from Malcolm X, words I’ve heard sampled all over the hip-hop world, from Trouble to Skepta to Yasiin Bey, and with good reason. “No, I don't worry, I tell you, I'm a man who believes that I died 20 years ago and I live like a man who is dead already.” The flame burns on.
It’s the wind, in the end, that seems to push Mali forward. For a long time now (and a few times on this record) he’s described himself as a ‘breezecatcher’, able to recognise the whims of the world around him and move accordingly. Perhaps it's this spirit of free motion that entices the album’s many talented guest stars: JUPiTA, Pink Siifu, Tha God Fahim, Yasmina Sadiki, Jay Orient and Wiki. Each artist appears over instrumentals intricately tuned to their strengths, a testament to Mali’s approach - further-reaching and stronger than ever.
Words by Mateo Baskaran