cbakl.

For his second single of 2024, Belfast based producer cbakl once again teams up with a vital new voice in the city. This time his collaborator is LeffJante,  the UK born / Cairo raised MC who arrived in the city in 2023. “I’ve been trying to get a foothold in the Belfast scene since I touched down last year" says the rapper.  "The people I’ve brushed shoulders with know that I never needed the time, I just needed the resources. When cbakl opened that door for me it was just second nature you know? As long as his DAW keeps working we have this on tap.”

An alternative hip hop artist producing eclectic beats drawing influence from jazz, R&B, soul and house, cbakl started uploading tracks to SoundCloud aged 15. He began gaining an organic following online and has now progressed to becoming one of Ireland’s most in demand beatmakers. Successfully transitioning focus from SoundCloud to Spotify & Apple Music, he has amassed over 10 million streams across various platforms and had two songs featured on the RTE / Netflix show Kin.

Joining Word Up Collective in early 2022, he released two more soul sampling singles - 'man she loves' and 'new girls every night' - before starting work on material featuring some of the most exciting musicians in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK, the first example of which saw him collaborate with Yorkshire MC Chiedu Oraka.

His 2023 project Former Blessings continued this journey over four tracks that expanded on his previous sound and moved into a more garage and house influenced approach, while maintaining his hip-hop roots. Throughout the record the likes of Alicia Raye, Keanu The Pilot, Bricknasty, Curtisy, Leo Miyagee and Kibo all found common ground in very different experiences, weaving their rhymes around cbakl's ever innovative production. Having DJ'd at All Together Now and Electric Picnic over the summer, cbakl was invited to perform live at the BBC Introducing Live event as part of Belfast International Arts Festival.

Management: phil@wordupcollective.com