ChantiMan – Got The Stride

# ChantiMan – Got The Stride

There’s something very compelling about an artist coming back to the music after a number of years working behind the scenes and ChantiMan (the man behind the name “Lyrical Chanting Man”) is no different. His work has always been across a broad range of musical territory, from hip hop and rap performance through to beat making, audio engineering, house DJing and video production. He’s never really been confined to one role. Rather than constantly chasing the next solo release he’s spent a lot of time in the past working on sounds and producing for other artists and other projects in the Belfast scene. “Got The Stride” is a track that’s been in the pipeline since 2025 and it’s finally time for him to return to his own music.

ChantiMan’s earlier output provides a useful context for this return. “We Can Make It Thumpin” in 2012 was the track that really got his name out there in the UK and the video for it made the Top 20 of the British Black Music Awards’ Favourite Domestic Black Music Videos in July 2013. Subsequent singles “Fantasy Fog” and “Feel Alright” in 2014, followed by “Storm in a Tea Cup” in 2015, indicated that he was still very much in the studio. His path then diverged as he moved into production, engineering and multi-media entertainment and in doing so developed a very strong identity as a video producer, video journalist and actor. That experience is important because “Got The Stride” comes from an artist who has spent a number of years in the studio and has a real understanding of music from all angles, not just the person with the mic. His sound is a blend of traditional hip-hop/rap with electronic house and dance.

‘ Got The Stride” is very much a statement of intent in a sense of being back at the front of the music again rather than a complete reset. That period of time away from a regular solo release has been one of constant creative output, technical development and collaboration. Chantiman has built his career as an independent artist in Belfast by constantly adapting, learning and finding different ways to stay in the entertainment game. This new single is the opportunity to put all that experience back into his own sound and get back to the listeners under his own name. It’s a very positive step for an artist whose career has never been a straight line and whose return suggests that the creative force behind ChantiMan has definitely not gone away.