Twenty sixteen saw Jonathan drop eight singles + music videos, lecture at schools, land numerous acting gigs in movies and television, win a court case against Universal Music, TDE and Interscope Records over the unlawful takedown of his 2015 breakout single “Heaven Help Dem” featuring Kendrick Lamar, and to close the year out, Emile releases his second full length project “Phantom Pain“.

“Phantom Pain” is like an echo of things lost. It’s a big part of what I experienced battling cancer. It’s a loss of faith, innocence and certainty. The whole project is a dark commentary on struggle and what it means to lose something and continue pushing forward; being changed by time itself. A lot of it is inspired by existentialism and phenomenology. So much of life is about making it through adversity, knowing parts of yourself are gone forever and understanding how that changes your very existence.

“Phantom Pain” is where your heroes are exposed as frauds, your abilities are slowly handicapped and the truth is revealed as exhausting and complex. I grapple with survivor’s guilt, inner frustrations, grievances with industry and knowing the world itself has taken a major turn for the worse.” – Jonathan Emile

The project takes a darker turn than Jonathan‘s previous work, and features a melange of vets and up-and-comers, including 17 year old producer Lowgo, 18 year old vocalist Ezra Lewis, guitarist Dylan Lazarus, MC/vocalist Natasha Marie, producers Young Kico, Dandeezy and Cee Goods, and Australian expats/labelmates Cee (on vocals) and Notion (on the beats).