Purveyors of: Hip hop, Rap, Smooth flows, quick-witted lyrics
File next to: Cadence Weapon, Haviah Mighty, Noname, Smino
Playing: Wavelength Winter Festival, March 1st, 2024 @ Hart House Music Room (7 Hart House Circle). More info here.
Toronto-based rapper DijahSB makes navigating synth loops, booming bass claps, and smoothed out production look easy. With tens of thousands of listeners across streaming platforms and features on popular Spotify playlists including Northern Bars, Fresh Finds and Fresh Finds Hip Hop, Dijah’s music is testament unto itself. “I manifest and start to dream,” she raps on “I Wonder.” “That’s hard to deny.”
Wavelength chatted with Dijah about their latest album, The Flower That Knew?, future collaborations and future plans.
*Editor’s note: this interview has been edited for clarity
WL: Can you tell us about the first moment when you fell in love with rap?
DijahSB: It’s not really clear to me, that’s one thing that I feel in my life isn’t a definite moment I remember, I just remember having a giant CD player and listening to a lot of West Coast rap. Then as I got older I discovered East Coast rap. Definitely early elementary school.
WL: Can you take us through the creative process of your latest album, The Flower That Knew?
DijahSB: I love a good metaphor and I love making albums feel fluid and like they’re following a theme, and the journey of a flower was very easy to compare to my journey as an artist and as a human being.
WL: You’ve mentioned that you want to do more collaborations in the future. Which artists can we see DijahSB collabing with?
DijahSB: I’m honestly open to collab’ing with anyone. But my dream collabs range from Hayley Williams to Kid Cudi.
WL: How do you hope your music impacts listeners, especially with your latest album?
DijahSB: I love when people tell me I’m relatable and like they’re not alone. I just want anyone that may feel the way I feel but not have the words to express themselves to find themselves in the music I make. It’s the way music impacted my life and I want to reciprocate the feeling.
WL: Any upcoming DijahSB news that you can tell us about?
DijahSB: I’ve honestly just been doing shows here and there and I want to write an album but this year I’m really just focused on getting people to connect to the music I already have out. Honestly just hoping I have a breakthrough year.
Don’t miss DijahSB on Friday March 1 at Hart House as part of Wavelength Winter Festival 2024. Get tickets here!
Interview by Tara Hejazi