In Rotation: Maleigh Zan

If your uncle was spinning ballroom and house records in Atlanta while your mom was fighting for a spot on MTV's Making The Band, your ear for rhythm is probably built different than the rest of ours. That’s the actual pedigree Maleigh Zan brings to the table. Born in Savannah and raised in the A, she didn't just pivot to dance music because it's currently trending. She grew up inside the BPMs. Right now, half the rap industry is trying to make four-on-the-floor club records, and most of it sounds like cheap house cosplay. They treat the beat like a gimmick. Zan treats the groove like a native language. You can hear it perfectly on "CUNTY," where she boldly flips Justin Timberlake’s "SexyBack" into a ballroom-ready stomper. It takes serious nerve to touch a Timbaland production, but she actually makes the sample sweat. Her recent run of drops under We Push Art and gamma. shows a ridiculous range. She linked up with Take A Daytrip for the electronic bounce of "Ready, Ok" and traded bars with fellow ATLien Anycia on the hip-hop leaning "Such A Time." It all clicks when you realize she spent the tail end of 2024 on the road with jungle revivalist Nia Archives and Detroit ghettotech trio HiTech. She’s absorbing global club culture—even moving out to London recently—and filtering it back through a Southern hip-hop lens. The mainstream is finally catching up to what the underground already knew. Program directors aren't usually early to this kind of regional-global hybrid, but the FM dials are lighting up. She just pulled in 15 major radio adds this week, stretching from WPGC in DC all the way down to WWPW in Atlanta. The energy is translating. We need more artists making club music who actually know how to sweat in a club. Check it out below.