How DijahSB Overcame Every Obstacle to Drop Their Timely-Yet-Timeless New EP

Even Canada’s swiftest ascending MC still has hurdles to climb.

Things couldn’t have looked more promising for DijahSB after the back-to-back acclaim of their debut 2020 the Album and last year’s Head Above the Waters, which not only led to widespread Canadian news coverage, but also a shoutout from the one and only Kid Cudi. But just as the increasingly high-profile Toronto rapper was building on that momentum for a follow up, 2022 The EP, they were blindsided by a key collaborator’s amateur move. DijahSB didn’t let that blemish their shine, thankfully, and the nimbleness needed to recover resulted in songs that give them a sense of accomplishment rivaling the fanfare the EP received. As the rapper put it on Twitter on Mar. 7 in response to praise for 2022 key track “Been a Star”:

The beatmaker’s galling vanishing didn’t end there, but also on four of the EP’s other five tracks, tweeted DijahSB.

When asked about it by Complex Canada, the rapper said: “It feels amazing that people champion the records I had to change.” That’s because it chafed with the rapper’s strict writing-to-the-beat practice. Having such an integral part of their process fall through left them with “a bit of doubt if it would sound as natural or as good as the originals.”

Instead, DijahSB has basked in praise polar opposite of that, saying: “Some people even say the newer beats sound better.”

Damage control came courtesy of Cheap Limousine. His music couldn’t sound more different than his name because it brims with what DijahSB calls “beautiful synths and drum loops” that have led the pair to collaborate on a number of prior songs like “C’est La Vie” and “Mama Said.” Cheap Limousine, meanwhile, told Complex over Instagram DM that it’s a pleasure to work with DijahSB because they “sound old and new at the same time. Right now, that’s what I’m looking for in new artists.”

The remaining 2022 track “Things” was produced by beloved Canadian hip-hop live band Keys N Krates. In an email, the trio described how they made the beat off the cuff, and were happy to see DijahSB follow suit with a “raw approach to it, and just spit some real stuff from a real place.”

2022’s remaining contributor, nascent R&B heartthrob Terrell Morris, calls DijahSB’s work ethic “unrivaled.” Morris laid his feathery upper register on single and EP key track “Green Line.” It’s an ode to not only taking the TTC, but also passengers commuting to grind for flashier transportation and other status symbols in the economic pressure cooker that is Toronto. Terrell has no doubt DijahSB will continue climbing that ladder and many others, saying, “I’ve known them personally for over a decade, and every song I’ve heard is better than the last. There’s something very fulfilling about working with someone who puts everything they’ve got into their work, so when they asked me to get on ‘Green Line’ I jumped at the opportunity.”

Be it Keys N Krates, Cheap Limousine, go-to Head Above the Waters producer Harrison, or others, DijahSB says one element binds their eclectic collaborators: “A bouncy vibe. Lo-fi house-hip-hop fusion. That’s my pocket.”

The rapper, who embarks on a mini Canadian tour this month, hit a similar lyrical sweet spot on 2022. They dismantle rivals who bring “a gun to a bomb fight,” then liken themselves to NBA legend Hakeem Olajuwon on key track “Daily” (though they admit a more accurate basketball comparison would be the subtly impactful Allen Iverson, a poster of whom visibly graces DijahSB’s bedroom wall during our Zoom call).

Yes, those boasts are riveting good fun. But the MC is all the more skilled at down to earth, soul-baring rhymes. Prime examples on 2022 include bars about taking out payday loans and struggling to keep the utilities on. DijahSB’s vivid snapshots of such stresses are not only “things I’ve been through and conquered” as a former retail employee scraping by in pricey Toronto until they hit it big in hip-hop. The rapper also wants to soothe struggling fans through music. And when an elder artist who did the same for DijahSB shouted their music out, the Toronto rapper knew they were now part of a special lineage.

Yes, none other than the gravel-voiced-yet-tender-hearted Kid Cudi re-tweeted one of DijahSB’s performances last summer, calling it “tasty.” That inspired the younger artist to release an entire EP called Tasty Raps, Vol. 1. But on top of that, the co-sign gave DijahSB a special “confidence boost.” After all, as the Canadian artist puts it, Cudi was “one of the originators of being open and vulnerable, taking it on the chin and expressing true feelings in front of millions of people. He’s one of the ones that broke that ground.

Today, fans wouldn’t stop at agreeing that DijahSB is taking up the Cudi vulnerability torch—they’d also call the nascent rapper an innovator in their own regard, as a proudly out non-binary artist in a genre once notorious for homophobia and toxic masculinity. So, does DijahSB see themselves in good company alongside the likes of fellow Canadian MCs Backxwash (who won the Polaris Prize with the gothic-rap groundbreaker God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It, and spearheaded transgender visibility in hip-hop) and Haviah Mighty (whose recent Stock Exchange includes the queer rap narrative “Coulda Been U”)?

DijahSB admits to not yet considering that notion, but agrees: “We’re not afraid to champion queer artists in Canada. Because we exist, and we’re here, and we do get support. Though in comparison to other places, I’m actually not too sure.”

Regardless, some LGBTQ+ fans have told DijahSB just how empowering their music has been. For the rapper, that’s “beyond anything I could have dreamed of. I never realized until then that I could do a lot for the community in that way. That it’s more than just the music.”

But of course, DijahSB deftly mixes LGBTQ+ representation, mental health, economic turmoil and other meaningful themes with a fun-loving flow that bounces as assuredly as the beats her collaborators put forth. That timely-yet-timeless quality that Cheap Limousine praised is about to incorporate new sonic shades, however. DijahSB calls 2022 The EP a final collection of songs they were eager for fans to hear, before hunkering down on a more experimental album with new producers.

DijahSB says: “The EP was to remind everybody ‘This is what I do.’ But you never want to get too comfy, or for things to start sounding the same. So, my next album will hopefully come out as something that’s still me, but is new and different and sounds fresher.”