How Little Simz Created This Decade’s Greatest Rap Album

‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ is a 65 minute epic that instantly joins the leagues of ‘Miseducation’, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ and co. to become an instant classic

Little Simz’ (real name: Simbiatu Ajikawo) fourth studio album begins with a grand orchestral swell that wouldn’t sound out of place on a epic action movie’s soundtrack. After nearly a minute, the grandiosity is scaled down to little more than a piano and the occasional snare beat; creating a brooding and quietly sinister atmosphere, as Simz, and collaborator Cleo Sol tell of “wars”, “Kingdoms on fire” and “sinners in a church” — and that’s all in the first 3 lines. The otherworldly hellscape painted by Simz on ‘Introvert’ in these first few lines is then revealed not to be otherworldly at all, but instead a stark reflection of our current world; as she tells of “mothers burying sons”, “young boys playing with guns” and “parts of the world still living in apartheid”. Then, just as Simz’s political reflections reach their bleakest, she flips the switch; opting this time for the staggeringly personal (“I see the illness eat my aunt laying in her bed / I see her soul rising as her body gets closer to death”). ‘Introvert’ continues to blend the personal and the political with…