Taj the Elephant Vibes Out in the “Spotlight”
Taj the Elephant has released “Spotlight,” celebrating having blown up and living the good life. For him, the spotlight hasn’t come easily despite his raw talent.
“It takes nothing but grit,” he says about persisting through hundreds of setbacks and failed opportunities. Taj knows a thing or two about grit, coming up in a strict and abusive Punjabi family and pivoting away from early signs of delinquency. “I was arrested for selling drugs and expelled from school in 8th grade in the middle of the year. That changed it all. I was suffering at home,” he reflects. At that young age, he realized he needed to find an outlet to express his pain and nurture his skills. Having written since he was nine years old, he found the transformation he sought in Rap.
“Music and being an artist have given me a platform to exercise my gifts and share my story: the ability to make music, to inspire people,” Taj says. Coming up having spent countless hours studying Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye, and Motown greats, the rapper learned about song craft before immersing himself in Jay-Z, Kanye, and Lil’ Wayne to learn about different rap styles. He got his start in local Rap battles, working to improve himself after each one.
With that experience under his belt, Taj is now turning out catchy, uplifting songs like “Spotlight.” “One of my producers played the beats for me and it instantly struck me. It could’ve had a different vibe and told a different story but the story it told was about a guy who just blew up, who’s new, successful, has the girl of his dreams,” the rapper says. The video, which he directed himself tells the same story, showing him enjoying the company of beautiful woman.
“I wanted a single that everyone would like, not too gritty or too commercial, and ‘Spotlight’ was it. It gave me goose bumps. Whenever a song gives me goose bumps, I know I have something,” Taj says. He likes that the song is so versatile, saying he wants people “to play it and vibe out to it. You don’t have to play it when you’re in the butterfly stage of a relationship. You can play it in a club or if you’re driving. The song just makes you feel good.”
“Spotlight” is just one of the many bright spots on his debut album, Punjabi Reject Vol. 1. The artist is working on a deluxe edition now, and more singles and videos will follow. Taj is also hard at work on an autobiographical film, and he looks forward to doing more acting, directing, and producing of film. In all his creative pursuits, passion is what drives the rapper. “It’s the only thing that keeps you going. You have to truly love the art of music, because if you don’t the journey will destroy you. For me, it was that and the pain of constantly getting betrayed and getting my heart broken and finding myself in crazy situations all the time. I failed hundreds of times. I refuse to take failure as an answer,” he says.
Everyone can find inspiration in Taj the Elephant’s unique story of being a Punjabi descent rapper from the streets. Everyone can relate to betrayal and heartbreak. And everyone deserves to bask in the “Spotlight.”