We know him for Academy Award-winning performances in Moonlight and Green Book, not to mention a range of prominent roles that’ve made him a staple in Black Hollywood — justice for Blade! However, digging deeper into the lore of actor Mahershala Ali will unearth his former rap career as Prince Ali under the Bay Area record label, Hieroglyphics Imperium. While we only got two albums and a handful of underground features before he fully went Hollywood, hip-hop culture has a way of always reeling you back in. For Ali, that now comes in the form of production.
His latest is with rapper Radamiz, a true jack-of-all-trades as commander and star of his independent label, Big Enough Home. Together they’ve crafted up the new EP, Bottom Of Heaven I, which showcases their respective raw talents and a shared respect for the art of rap.
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Radamiz flows with a preciseness that makes him a perfect fit for Ali’s laid-back production style. A mix of soul samples and slow strings complimented by groovy synths are matched by quick-witted rhymes from an emcee with the backstory to truly give it meaning. For Radamiz, making a post-pandemic move to the West Coast brought forth a series of events that, as he put it, “opened up a new heart valve,” that was found in making these songs. In speaking of his production partner, he also stated in the press release, “the love and patience from Mahershala has helped me become a better MC and a better container for attention and acclaim should God give it.”
On standout track “1%,” a piano-driven instrumental starts off the track before Radamiz blends in effortlessly with a firestorm of bars that never seem off or out of place. It’s a synergy that carries throughout the whole EP.
With more expected to come from this new age rapper/producer duo, we can only hope the next one is just as solid and maybe just a bit more extended. “Caring about Hip Hop and its future and our pure expression of it was at the helm of this endeavor and taking no shortcuts was imperative no matter what,” Radamiz expressed in his own words, and it’s a sentiment we can wholeheartedly get behind.