Elujay began making beats and producing songs in his bedroom when he was in middle school. He kept up his musical pursuits during his years at Oakland Tech. “I play guitar, keyboards and bass,” he said, speaking from his home studio in Oakland. “I was making stuff for myself and other rappers and singers. Mainly, I was honing sounds for myself. I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my music, and collaborating with others was a beautiful thing. I wasn’t making music to be popular. I just loved the feeling it created when I made stuff up. I used to rap, but I’ve always liked multiple genres. I was into R&B, jazz and soul [for] as long as I can remember. Those elements made my sounds more appealing.”
As his style evolved, Elujay put the tracks he was making on his Soundcloud page, YouTube and other streaming platforms. One song, “Locked In,” received more than a half-million views. By the time he began studying sociology in college, at the University of Redlands, he’d produced close to 100 tracks, including several EPs and a collection entitled Jentrify. That album explored the way gentrification was impacting his Oakland neighborhood, with a sound that combined rap with components drawn from jazz, ambient music, R&B, Latin and many other genres. The lyrics were insightful descriptions of the social, racial and economic problems facing the city’s inhabitants. He worked on the project with Oakland friends—including Wax Roof, Drew Banga and Mars Today—who helped him to develop his production skills.
“I made Jentrify when I was in college,” Elujay said. “It doesn’t represent where I’m at currently. It was a stepping stone, and it came out during a great time period. It was musically playful. I was putting up ideas to see if people would like them. There was no formal release; it was just a lot of experiments. I try to do that a lot with my music, and that collection got my foot in the door. I made some lifelong connections with the people I worked with, and it changed my life. I’m hoping that Circmvnt, my new release, will do that, too.”
As promised, the 11 songs on Circmvnt continue to explore a wide variety of styles, touching on R&B, world music, jazz and pop. Elujay produced, or co-produced, the tracks at his home and several other studios, with various collaborators. Simon Ajero, who plays keys in Elujay’s live band, was especially helpful and influenced the project’s overall sound. Part of the album was made during the past few years of Covid lockdown and involved a lot of back and forth with other artists, with the help of email, Zoom and Facetime. One track, “Tenfold,” is a collaboration with the British R&B star Christian Gregory. Elujay said he had no idea how Gregory discovered his music. “He hit me up over email,” Elujay said. “He said he heard my songs playing someplace in Bali, when he was on vacation with his girlfriend. He asked me if I’d like to team up on something. He sent me a demo with guitar. I added some things and sent it back to him. It went from there. He’s a good man and a good friend.”
“Pandemia” looks at the lockdown from another perspective, with flutes and a subtle bossa nova beat adding a gentle dance rhythm to the mix. “Luvaroq,” which features a verse sung by Serpentwithfeet, is a love song that combines elements of reggae and R&B, with a dub-heavy keyboard melody to praise the soothing effects of love, Jah and smoking ganga. Elujay’s interest in international sounds came to him naturally. “A lot of great music comes from the Caribbean,” he said. “My mom is from Trinidad. Calypso, soca and reggae got played in our house. It’s a part of my roots and culture.”
Circmvnt, released in late January, has a smooth flow of songs, styles and tempos, moving easily between genres. Elujay wasn’t consciously concerned with the overall sound during the compositional process. “It was all experimenting and tinkering,” he said. “Not a lot of thought was behind it. I just did it. My homies and friends were all making music, so I wanted to keep up.”
Although he’s been remarkably prolific over the years, Elujay considers Circmvnt his official debut. “This is the first album that represents everything about me and all of my musical aspects,” he said. “It’s a good coming-out party. It’s the best I have to offer right now, but it’s the just the beginning.”
