I was first made aware of Little Simz through her performance on the Gorillaz track Garage Palace a few years ago. The energy and charisma she brought to the track made it one of the better Gorillaz tracks from the Humanz era (I'm suprised it didn't make that record if I'm being honest). So when basically every outlet under the sun praised her new album to no end (It's now bagged a Mercury Music Prize nomination) I'd thought I'd check it out. I'm so glad I did, because this record is definitely one of my favourites from this year.
Simz has an intense and exciting flow, rapping over equally powerful and snappy instrumentation. She wears her heart on her sleeve, baring many sides of her for us to see. She starts the record in a sassy, righteous state on the first two tracks, Offence and Boss. Offence is driven by this groovy bass line as Simz convincingly bigs herself up and sells that she is such a great rapper. The track provides some great quotables, "I'm Jay-Z on a bad day, Shakespeare on my worst days" and "I settle with my chest and I don't care who I offend, uh-huh!". The lavish woodwind and strings which garnish the track give it this intense sense of drama. It just sounds so cool. Boss is just as empowered and intense, but rather than selling herself to the listener, Simz is taking fire at a previous partner, and absolutely destroys it on the mic. Her performance is filled with power and anger, as she demonstrates what this person has lost by messing her around so much.
This failed relationship takes a large bulk of the lyrical content here, as Simz approaches it from different angles.On the following track, Selfish, she takes a more self-questioning stance, with some restrained and reflective vocals from Cleo Sol on the hook. The track is smooth and gentle, as opposed to the brashness of the opening two songs. The Little Dragon assisted track, Pressure, details how Simz is experiencing so much pressure in her life through other factors, and now the person she relied on to release that pressure has now become one of those contributing factors. These different approaches to this traumatic break up create this raw and real sense of confusion and hurt throughout the album. This all comes to a head in the back to back tracks of Therapy and Sherbet Sunset. Therapy details Simz's experiences with therapy and how it hasn't helped her. It's raw and poignant, as she goes on about how she's not a charity case and 'doesn't need saving'. Sherbet Sunset goes the deepest into the relationship and is blatant and honest about Simz's confusion and hurt. The placement of these two tracks gives the idea that her work is her therapy. While traditional therapy doesn't seem to work for her, she can pour her heart out into these songs and get some perspective and catharsis out of it.
Not everything on the record revolves around this, though. 101 FM is an ode to her childhood with references to playing Playstation games and pirate radio in London's tower blocks. The track has this East-Asian styled beat and is just a lot of fun. Wounds is this reggae infused track about gun violence. Venom is exactly what the title suggests, venomous. Simz speedily and harshly raps about how she is just as dangerous as any guy and that the fact she's a women isn't a detriment, and in fact it's an asset. The closer, Flowers, is very reminiscent of To Pimp A Butterfly. It slowly winds the album down and ties the ideas together, as Simz talks about the 27 Club. It's lush and warm, and seems like a final moment of clarity as the album closes.
While writing this I realised that it isn't just one of my favourite albums of the year so far, it is my favourite. Simz has crafted this incredibly tight, cohesive album, where every track tackles something different (or something from a different angle) but it all comes together to form this fantastic whole. The instrumentation is lively and exciting, and is so lushly produced. All of the features absolutely knock it out the park, and are perfect for the tracks they appear on. A simply excellent album.
Top Tracks: Offence, Boss, Selfish, 101 FM, Pressure, Therapy, Sherbet Sunset, Flowers
9/10
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