Rapper Drama Left Right Left Full Issue Now
She’s deemed so important by the fashion industry that Gucci send a tailor across town to fit her forthcoming TV appearance on Later… with Jools Holland , but is down to earth enough to conduct said fitting in the middle of the studio’s foyer, surrounded by random detritus.Back in grey sweats and a black Nike puffer after wrapping up the shoot, Simz hugs her hair and make-up team goodbye, and checks in with her driver to make sure he’s managed to eat a proper lunch. She’s a successful actor with two major limited series to her name, and yet is anonymous and approachable enough for a passer-by today to stop her in the street and ask if she’s single. With co-signs from Kendrick, Andr é 3000 and Lauryn Hill, the north London rapper is unquestionably one of the most respected players in UK hip hop, and yet is still operating way outside the skyscraping budgets of the major labels. Turning that magnetism on and off as required, she saunters around the small east London studio to the strains of Jay-Z, an oasis of calm amidst an array of ramshackle props and artfully mismatched furniture.From the outside looking in, Simz’s life can seem a strange tangle of contradictions. Statuesque, and exuding an aura of quiet serenity, the 27-year-old proves a photographer’s dream today, malleable enough to take direction and yet secure enough in her own skin that she needs no instruction to bring out the best in each pose. Little Simz is on the cover of Loud And Quiet Issue 147 – grab your copy of the full issue now.Little Simz is a lot taller than you might expect.
Mary’s Youth Club in Islington, she got into acting at a young age, winning roles in CBBC series Spirit Warriors and, later, E4’s Youngers. Born Simbiatu Ajikawo – known as Simbi to her friends – she grew up in nearby Highbury, the youngest of four siblings raised by a single mother. Somewhere amongst all this, Simz will find time to continue filming The Power , the Amazon adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s bestselling sci-fi novel in which she stars alongside Leslie Mann and John Leguizamo.It’s all a far cry from her roots. There’s an entire afternoon and evening of Zoom calls stretching out ahead of her to plan the US launch of her fourth album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert , promo for which is set to take up much of the year.
Rapper Drama Left Right Left Plus Five EPs
Like, this can’t be it I know there’s more out there. “It was me looking at the environment around me and being like, no way this is it. She went on to share a further three tapes plus five EPs before the release of her debut album, A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons, in October 2015.Today Simz lays the credit for her staggering drive squarely at her upbringing. Encouraged by close friends Josh Arcé, Chuck20, and Tilla – with whom she formed the rap collective Space Age – she put out her first mixtape at 15. Drawn to rap via her interest in street dance and the record collection of her older brother, she remembers obsessing over the story-led approach of stars like Nas, Kanye, Lauryn Hill and The Notorious B.I.G., as well as the low key grooves of Mos Def and Slum Village.
Yeah, I had a rude awakening.”It’s an experience she explores on ‘Little Q Part 2’ from Sometimes I Might Be Introvert. Growing up in that area I’d seen how easy it is to get sucked in and feel like, well, there’s nothing else to do, so I might as well just do that. And seeing people in my area die, get murdered, go to jail, all this stuff… I’m not a gang member or anything – I was never that person – but I knew people like that. Because growing up where I grew up, you don’t just get things given to you: you have to really go and work for it.“I think I had those teachings from early. I just want to work hard and do my best.
But then we regained contact and we just started having some deep heart-to-hearts. “We grew up together but he lived in south London and I lived north, and there was a time where we stopped talking. ” The song is entirely based on the experiences of her cousin.“He’s three years younger than me,” she explains.
So I think as much as my album is about me, it’s also an opportunity for me to shed light on other people’s stories and give them that platform.”In a year where it feels like systemic racism and structural inequality is finally being more widely scrutinised, Simz’s decision to tell this story now feels particularly prescient. And thank God he’s still got his life because if he had lost his life he’d just have been a statistic another Black boy that lost his life in London, and who never got to tell their story. My mind was just blown.“Obviously, it’s his story and it’s unique, but these types of things happen every day, to young Black boys especially.
“Because I’m so ambitious and driven, and have never taken my eye off the prize, it’s caused me to miss out on certain moments. Combine this with the fact she was simultaneously promoting series three of Top Boy – the Netflix drama in which she plays single mum Shelley, acting opposite Kano, Ashley Walters and Dave – Simz found herself being pulled in several directions at once.“There’s definitely been moments of feeling like I’ve not had my priorities in check,” she nods. Released in early 2019, her third album proved a breakthrough moment, finding acclaim far beyond the rap community, and winning Simz a Mercury Prize nomination as well as an Ivor Novello award for Best Album. ”Balancing career commitments with her responsibilities to family and friends is something Simz has always struggled with, but never more so than after the arrival of Grey Area. “ Simz the artist, or Simbi the person? ” she sighs, confiding, “ If I don’t take this winner’s flight that’s career suicide / Though I should’ve been a friend when your grandma died. Finding Simz grappling with her personal and professional responsibilities, it’s a treatise on personal identity as much as it is a clarion call decrying societal injustice.
Speaking to the Hip Hop Saved My Life podcast back in 2019, she described it as “the album everyone had been waiting for me to make.” Though hugely proud of the record still, today she’s less celebratory about it.“I think it made people say, ‘Oh she’s arrived.’ But I still think people are like, ‘Yeah, it’s cool but can she do it again?’ Not that I felt pressure with , but I knew it was gonna be like, ‘Was Grey Area a fluke? Did she just get lucky with that one?’ So as much as it did feel like a breakthrough, it kind of didn’t. So now, as hard as I’m working, I’m just working a lot smarter.”As for whether Simz saw Grey Area as a breakthrough, well, the jury’s still out. So it’s just about paying attention to those things and trying to be present. It’s like, when I miss a birthday party because of work, in five years I won’t even remember what the job was but I will remember I missed that birthday.
And finished between September and December of 2020 – at the same time as filming series 4 of Top Boy – it was recorded with her childhood friend Inflo, who also produced Grey Area as well as both of last year’s acclaimed SAULT records. Begun pre-lockdown in L.A. Represents another giant leap forward.
There’s the cosmic, ’80s funk feel of ‘Protect My Energy’ – influenced by Nigerian singer Steve Monite – and the Afrobeat-inspired Obongjayar collaboration ‘Point and Kill’.
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