Dublin hip hop supremo Kojaque has shared a dark, cinematic video for his latest single ‘Shmelly’ which he premiered recently via a Colors show which has generated over 390,000 views to date since its release last month.

Shmelly emerged from a period in Kojaque’s career when he had returned to Ireland after failing to find suitable accommodations in London.

“I gave up on living in London and it left me feeling like I’d failed and I was back where I was, so when I wrote ‘Shmelly’ I was dwelling on that feeling. I’d been away so long and came back to the same situation that I’d left – shit doesn’t really change in Dublin. I had Ryan Hargadon do the sax on the track and he killed it, we were going for that Untitled Unmastered sounding shit. 

The intense video for Shmelly, directed by Sam McGrath emerged from a story brainstormed by Kojaque and McGrath in under an hour, but took months of planning to pefect.

“Me and Sam McGrath came up with the treatment for the vid in 40 minutes, it was the fastest we’ve ever worked out an idea. Him and Freddie O’Donohue worked on it for the next 3 months getting all the bits in place, proper powerhouses. The concept was simple enough, there was some sort of Armageddon-esque storm dwelling over Dublin that for some reason only I could see, and it was turning people crazy. We filmed it at the beginning of March right as the pandemic starting kicking in, it felt like a weird premonition because the world shut down as soon as we wrapped the video – it’s the best shit I think I’ve ever made.”

If ‘Shmelly’ is any indication of what Kojaque has instore for us with the follow-up to ‘Deli Daydreams’ then the Soft Boy head honcho may just have changed the game in Irish hip hop once again.

You can read our Plec Picks feature on Kojaque by clicking on the image below.